What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

This is a very interesting question for me at this point in my life. When I wrote about Weight Matters and all I did to gain a healthier weight for health reasons my aim was to eat whole food and “clean food.” I was strict about not eating gluten or empty carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, pizza and of course sugar. My focus was 100%. At the time it was lock-down during COVID 2020. I couldn’t go to restaurants so I developed a new hobby of cooking delicious clean dishes with whole foods that would satisfy our food cravings in healthy ways. As for exercise I did Pilates but I was not able to walk far or fast because I was struggling with my ankle. Still I managed to loose 15 kg. I kept 14 kg off for 2 years and then in 2022, 11th July it was decided that I needed ankle surgery because my tendon was badly damaged due to an old break.

After the surgery I couldn’t stand and prepare meals and my friends very kindly brought me food. I am immensely grateful for having a caring community. It wasn’t always “clean food” or whole foods but I needed to eat and I appreciate their help and generosity. Sometimes I think you have to “choose between two evils” – not that food is evil – it just wasn’t always the best but I am not complaining. Not to go into it too much but I was reliant on what my husband could produce. Say no more. So began the upward swing of my weight gains.

Fast forward to a year later having moved countries, finding new routines, visited family and friends for extended periods (5 times) I have put on 7kg. Oddly enough now after the surgery I can go for long walks and walk quite a lot faster.

All this may be excuses or it may be just a fact of life that we go through things that are hard to manage adequately for the desired outcome. Old strategies don’t work in new circumstances and new strategies need to be developed and put into practice.

So here are some of my new strategies:

1) Compassion
I believe my first strategy, always, is to gave compassion, grace and humility. I sum it up with one word: kindness. Self-Kindness. It’s easier to be honest with myself when I have tripped up if I show myself kindness. Showing this type of kindness is not about being permissive or giving up. This type of kindness invites forgiveness – self forgiveness, allowing for new beginnings. Allowing me to start over again and again and again if necessary.

I have tried the harsh strategy in the past. The result, years ago was to get fatter and fatter; this was because I was rigid and unforgiving of myself. This attitude made me feel worse and because part of my problem is to placate with food I would just eat more. You don’t have to eat a lot more than you need to put on weight. And it’s easy to not be honest with oneself when you don’t eat a lot more. But it’s a fine strategy for putting on weight.

2) Consistency
My self talk: “No, I don’t always get it right. I aim for a consistent percentage of effort per week and per month.” Consistency is one of my strategies. I use to be an “all or nothing” person but it easily disintegrates to being “all amounts to nothing” and I achieve nothing.

3) Value health and well-being
My next strategy is to focus on my value of health and well-being. It’s not about being thinner for the sake of being thinner. It’s that my body’s optimal performance runs better at a lower weight. It also runs better when I concentrate on the correct foods for me: low sugar, complex carbs, high in fiber, colorful fruit and vegetables and enough protein and water. It also runs better when I follow the circadian rhythm (sleep matters) and moving my body sufficiently. I guess that covers diet and sleep; goals which I try to practice as best possible in all circumstances. I love reading and learning about “Blue Zone Cultures.” You can find that on Instagram or you can search for it, Have you heard about them, National Geographic has done studies on these peoples for the last 40 odd years? Netflix is bringing out something on these Cultures and I can’t wait to see it.

4)Value movement
I believe that moving ones body is vital for optimal health. I know many people focus on this to burn calories but that, to me, is a simplistic view. The older one gets the more important it is to build muscle. We literally start wasting away from 40 years onward and we need to make a concerted effort to maintain our muscles. Yes, this will help with burning excess energy and help with fat reduction but the more important reason is that strong muscles hold your body together better, core muscles hold you up and help you move more fluidly and successfully. If you want quality of life it would be a sensible thing to build muscle regularly. Now I know a few of you are struggling with troublesome backs and joints. Please don’t think I am referring to you. It is imperative to be checked out by the right professionals before you start on a whole movement regime; I know from experience, being the person who didn’t pursue the investigation of my ankle until it was almost too late.

In the past year I have learned more about maintaining the quality of my body through stretch, yoga, and building muscle. I want to move through this world and on my journey for as long as possible. Have you heard the not so recent saying “sitting is the new killer, it’s worse than smoking”? Well these days movement therapists say “it’s not that you are sitting, it’s how you sit.” Sitting on the floor or squatting is very good for keeping your muscles, pelvic floor, feet and hip flexor in good condition. I found Petra Fisher Movement an interesting person to look at (not that I am trying to sell you anything. you have your health journey, I have mine). Here she demonstrates sitting and getting off the floor movements. This is part of my new challenge for myself: keeping my musculoskeletal system in top condition. I am certainly not there yet but I am a work in progress.

5) Value Nature bathing
Having grown up in the country and moved to the suburbs to raise a family my conclusion is that living in the country or getting into nature or forests or on the sea is so important for our mental-emotional-spiritual well-being. This is why we chose to live in the country this time around when we bought our house. I think it invites one to move and to be still in this environment. Obviously I value a quiet morning start with meditation/prayer and gentle planning. And what better place than living within nature.

So it might sound like it is not a high powered approach to strategies and that is because I choose a much gentler approach to strategies. I enjoyed this prompt: exploring my strategies to health and well-being, it reminds me of the daily practices prompt.

My struggle
I would like to tell you that I struggle most with the sleep routine. From before I could write my name as a child I remember sitting up with my mother and father listing to the late night news because I couldn’t or wouldn’t go to sleep and I think that same little 5 year old resides inside of me still refusing to go to bed at a better time. That is my challenge: to relinquish my resistance to sleep.

Take Care and be kind to yourself, Self-care is important.
A warm smile coming your way,