Close your eyes, where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, and 20 - even 30 years from today. What is your health like? Are you full of vitality? Can you see in your mind’s eye, “future-you” participating in all the activities of daily living that you might want to? Are you healthy enough to have fun with friends, with kids? Can you play with grandkids? Are you healthy enough to exercise in the way you want to? Do you feel well enough to vacation like a rockstar and take advantage of all the things you have been planning to do on that famous “someday?
Some people think disease conditions are just a part of getting older but evidence shows that indeed it isn’t. And well, for me personally, I refuse to buy into that. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that I give my body the best possible advantage so that in 20, 30 maybe even 50 years from today I’m in my best possible health. What do you think?
There is a quote that I love that could have been from Hippocrates “The Father of Medicine.” I think it was again re-quoted by inventor extraordinaire Thomas Edison. Whatever the attribution, it goes like this: “The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Well dear reader, apparently I am the doctor of the future who was prophesied, and it may very well be that the future is NOW. But on a serious note: It is my intention, for every single patient every single time, to live a healthier, pain free life. That’s why in office we are continually focused on sharing with all our patients about clinical nutrition and the role lifestyle plays in overall health and wellness.
For those of you who are regular readers, you know that I am a work in progress and that I tend to share my “aha” moments freely. So here it is: Here is my personal 5 point plan to a healthier quality filled life:
1) Reduce stress
2) Use the “Farmacy”
3) Know our risk
4) Develop our personalized healthy lifestyle plan
5) Implement, implement, implement!
Reduce Stress
“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that's very important for good health.” Dalai Lama
When our bodies are exposed to stressful situations, a wonderful thing happens. In order for our bodies to focus on removing the stressor effectively, the hormones cortisol and adrenaline are released. It’s pretty complicated what happens from here on, but the short version of the long story is that cortisol and adrenaline act to shut down the body systems deemed unessential in an emergency, and focuses the body’s resources where it can be used effectively to get you away from the stressful situation. Then once the stressor is past, cortisol and adrenaline should be eliminated from the body and the body can get back to digestion, growth, repair etc. – You know, all the good stuff. But… you guessed it, there’s a big BUT. For many of us, our lives for the most part seem to be stress filled. As such we are in many cases making more stress hormones than we need and are unable to fully flush our stress hormones from our bodies. You can see how that is a big problem. The first step on my 5 point plan to a healthier me (and you…) therefore, has to be stress reduction.
Use “The Farmacy”
“Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments.” Bethenny Frankel
Almost everyone now-a-days has heard of power foods. From TV shows, to magazines, to even this very column - everyone talks a lot about the benefits of eating a varied and plant based diet. The truth is that when you walk into your produce department of your local grocer or when you open up your spice cabinet, a world of amazing health benefits await. I spend a lot of time in workshops and seminars, talking about the potential health benefits of various fruits, vegetables and spices / herbs. And while some foods like your beets, kale and avocadoes deserve special mention, what we do know is that increasing our intake of fruits and vegetables in general, to about 12 servings per day, can go a long way to a healthier me. It sounds like a lot, I know, but keeping in mind how small serving sizes are, it’s actually quite easy. Here’s my typical fruit and veggie day: I have about 4-5 servings of fruits and veggies mixed together in my green smoothie in the morning. I try to have a serving of fruit mid morning but I’m not going to lie, I get busy and that rarely happens. At lunch though, I usually have a big salad: 4 servings of veggies easy, and in the mid afternoon I may have 1-2 servings of veggies to keep me going. At dinner time I like to have a few servings of cooked veggies (about 3) with my meal and that usually takes me over my 12 serving quota for the day. Delicious and doable.
Know Your Risk
“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Thomas Edison
When it comes to our health most of us, including myself, tend to be more reactive than proactive. We try to, in a very general way, “eat right and exercise.” The health care paradigm up to now has been: We wait for symptoms of disease to show up or for something to be abnormal on our lab work to know our potential for long term illness. We are living in reaction mode, waiting for something to actually go wrong and then we hope that at that point it won’t be too late and that we can fix it. Science promised us a day when we would be able to look at our genome, determine our risk and act accordingly. Fortunately, we now have access to safe reasonably inexpensive tools that can give us deep insight into our potential health problems. For many of our patients, a quick DNA cheek swab analyzed by the lab can provide a lot of information. Do I have a gene that suggests that insulin resistance and perhaps diabetes may be a problem for me in the future? Does my DNA show me to be at increased cardiovascular risk? Am I genetically predisposed to have thinning bones? Currently the technology that exists allows us to analyze 48 genes and 61 variations to give us information that can help us lead longer healthier lives.
Develop a personalized plan
“With great power comes great responsibility…” Spiderman’s uncle Ben?
Knowing what my risk is, well that’s great, but now what. So now I know that I have a gene that predisposes me to higher cholesterol even though my lipid profiles to date have been pretty normal… what now. Clearly this seems like a moment to panic, but maybe not. What I do know is that knowledge is power. Now that I know what I know about my genetic makeup, I can work with my doctor to put together a health and wellness plan that will help me be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Did I mention: Knowledge is power? This knowledge allows me to make decisions for my future based upon cutting edge science.
The Implementation
“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do...” Lou Holtz
There isn’t really very much to say on this topic. Knowledge is great, developing a plan is outstanding, but the key is in the implementation. Being committed to the lifestyle changes that can lead to the long healthy high quality life that we all desire is the bottom line.
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Mahatma Gandhi
In closing, I’ll share a story, with permission, from one of my absolute favorite patients. She and her husband had worked hard over the years and they really put in a serious plan for retirement. They did all the things we are supposed to do and then retirement came. My patient said to me one day: “Dr. Shepherd, money is not our problem. We saved and planned for this retirement. We planned that when we retired we would be able to take all these vacations all over the world, travel to spend time with our grand kids and generally just be healthy. But with [his] health problems and mine it’s really put a damper on our plans.”
I will say again what I said to her: It’s never too late to start being healthier, the healthiest you can be under the circumstances. You don’t have to do this alone or rely on guess work or chance.
The future is now...Will you join us?
