It is often said that there is nothing more important than your health. While there is certainly an argument for that, it seems more to me that there are likely a number of things that are important to your overall wellness. Family, friends, sense of purpose, some level of financial security, and a few others could be argued to be on the list.
I would like to say that I have always been in reasonably good health and followed a relatively healthy lifestyle. I don't smoke or use drugs (ok except some weed at the end of high school), drank in moderation (except for an infrequent but consistent number of party binges). I had a relatively good diet, was active with a great marriage and family, and a good network of friends. I enjoyed and was successful in my business career and although I certainly had stress and anxiety in my life I would assess my mental health as good.
The flip and probably more accurate side is that there was lots of room for improvement. I was 25-30 pounds overweight, 185-190 on a slight 5'10" frame. Although active in the sense of a busy job and growing family I certainly did not have any semblance of a regular exercise schedule, ate too much meat, too few fruits, and those infrequent but consistent alcohol binges could definitely be lessened. I did not sleep particularly well, primarily because of heavy snoring (which Teresa made a point of me knowing).
Beginning around age 40 I started running with some regularity. It began as something I did when my brother-in-law Richard started running and we prepared for The Sporting Life 10k in the spring and then the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (we ran the half marathon) in the fall. In addition to committing myself to run in these two events, I used the opportunity to raise money for charity as part of the run. I found this was a great motivator to keep up my running 3-4 times per week. I certainly was not going to be able to run 10k (and even more 22k) without training. In addition, once I had taken pledges from friends, family, and co-workers I felt I could not very well go back and say I had slacked off and not completed the run. I ran these races for 4 years and it definitely helped me get into a regular routine. I now considered myself a runner! Although I would never say I enjoyed running I did feel good once I finished my regular 10k run and 3-4 times a week schedule definitely left me feeling that I had significantly improved my overall fitness. Interestingly I did not lose any weight and if asked if I felt my energy level had improved I would answer no. I would have assessed myself with a high energy level anyway so that did not seem to be a problem. There was no noticeable improvement in my sleep.
I kept up this routine until about age 45 when I found out I had prostate cancer. That is likely the subject of a whole other blog post but certainly was a devastating life event. With the advice of my urologist, family doctor, and father-in-law and brother-in-law (both MDs), I quickly decided to have my prostate removed, had the surgery and started my three-month recovery.
It was during this recovery time that I began to get a little more serious about my health. I increased my 10k runs to 4-5 times a week and began to track my calorie intake and burn off on an app called Fat Secret. Although there are lots written that tracking calories are not a good means of improving your health or losing weight I found the discipline of using the app very helpful. I became very aware of how much food, how many servings I was eating, which foods I was eating that were high in caloric content, whether I was burning off more or fewer calories than I was consuming. The combination of exercising more frequently and ensuring that on most days my calorie burn was greater than my intake allowed me to reduce my weight to 165, a drop of 20-25 pounds! I definitely felt like I had made progress. My energy level was noticeably higher and I slept better (less snoring).
For the next 10-12 years, I kept up a fairly consistent routine. I definitely kept up my running, although I was no longer running in the two races a year. I had stopped tracking my calories in the belief that I was now sensitive enough to my calorie intake that I could manage it without the app (I was wrong!). Although my running remained consistent I began to gain weight and by age 58 was back to 185-188 pounds. With the weight snoring came back and sleeping less well was noticeable. I definitely experienced a lower energy level.
It is at this point that because of a number of factors I was fortunate enough to fall into a new routine that really began a journey to better health and more importantly overall wellness. I say fall into because I don't think it is fair to say I consciously searched out a change, but rather by reading two books close together I ended up on a path to a significant improvement in my health. What I am going to try and do in the balance of this blog is to outline the materials, books, and movies that provided me the motivation for change. I am also going to leave you with the aids, apps, and watches that help me stay on track. At the bottom of the blog I am going to list other books I have read, but I would say they are optional, the core material I cover in the blog.
The first book is Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley. I found this book incredibly impactful. I am not going to go through a complete book review but here is what I got out of the book. Using some of the latest science around aging Chris makes the case that by age 50-55 and multiplied as you retire your body begins to decay (not a pleasant thought). His argument is that your body is receiving signals that you are in decline (decaying). Supported by the research he includes in the book he states that the only way you can reverse this decay is by sending a signal to your brain and body that you are not decaying. How do you do that? By significantly (and he means significantly) increasing your level of physical activity. His view, again supported by science is that you need to be exercising 90 minutes a day 6 days a week, including days of high intensity (high heart rate) exercise. I know this sounds extreme but if you take the time to read the book with an open mind I think you will be convinced.
The second book that led to the changes I made was, How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger. This book, again based on a great deal of science examines the top 15 causes of death in North America and recommends changes in nutrition and lifestyle to significantly lower or eliminate your risk of dying from these 15 causes. In addition, Dr. Greger presents amazing information on how these nutritional interventions can reduce or eliminate the need for prescription drugs to fight the disease.
The combination of reading these two books back to back had a huge impact on me. I would describe it this way. Younger Next Year is focused 70% on exercise, 20% on diet/nutrition, and 10% on community. How Not to Die is focused 70% on diet/nutrition, 20% on exercise, and 10% on community. Although there are lots of books on health and diet I think these two books together give you all the information you need to start on a path to improved health and overall wellness.
If you want something easier to get started I would watch two documentaries, Forks over Knives and Game Changers, both available on NetFlix. I can't imagine watching these two movies and not at least having your interest sparked but I strongly suggest reading the two books. They will provide you with all the information you need to start your journey to better health.
Just like books and movies, there are tons and tons of apps and gadgets for your health. By no means, the definitive list on the subject here is what I use to keep me on track:
Garmin vivoactive 3 watch and accompanying Garmin app - I find this an amazing health assistant. I originally bought it for golf function (which is great) but the health info quickly became my primary use of the watch. It tracks all your physical activities, running, swimming (it is waterproof), elliptical, cycling, etc etc, your heart rate, steps, intensity minutes, floors, stress level, calories burned, sleep. It tracks the information for the current day, week, and keeps historical data. It also gives you your VO2 Max and indicator of health and fitness age.
MyFitnessPal app - I have already acknowledged that much of what you read indicates that tracking calories does not lead to better health. That may be true but I find the discipline of tracking what I consume and burn off a great way to stay on track. This app is easy to use has lots of automatic information to help you track the right foods and exercise. I find it reminds me of what and how much I am eating, serving size and calorie content. It also has a great feature where you can see the nutritional values (fat, sodium, vitamins, etc) that you recorded based on what you ate for the day.
sleep score app - assuming you agree that sleep is important to your health (if not see the book listed below) then this app will help you track both the quantity and quality of your sleep. If you are one of those people that fear your phone is listening to you, you will not want to use this. Essentially once you download the app and start the tracking feature the app tracks your breathing as an indicator of your sleep quality. Apparently the app can do this even if you are sleeping with someone. In the morning the app will provide you with your sleep duration, time to fall to sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, and wake time. It provides you an overall score out of 100 for your sleep, your MindScore (REM sleep) BodyScore (deep sleep), and breathing rate. You can then drill down to see the details of your sleep throughout the night in addition to the number of times you awoke. Like MyFitnessPal, rather than just say you are focusing on something these apps allow you to track and get feedback on how you are doing. Are they 100% accurate? Probably not, but as an indicator of where you are at and if you are making progress I think they are both worth the effort.
Scale and blood pressure monitor - I have a scale at home that measures my weight and body fat percent. I weigh myself daily. I use the blood pressure monitor at the gym and again measure my blood pressure each time I am at the gym.
iHealth - probably the least important of the aids, I use this for tracking my blood pressure, which I take every time I go to the gym, my weight, and body fat percent which I measure daily. Some of this information I could and do store in the other apps but particularly for tracking blood pressure I find this app useful
So now that you have read through all this information what are the results?
my weight is down to 155-158 pounds
my blood pressure has declined from 135-140 over 70-80 to 100-115 over 60-70
my resting heart rate is 45-48, VO2 Max 45 with a fitness age of 30 (I am 62 years old)
we have changed our diet (Teresa has been instrumental in this) to 60-70% plant-based. We eat very little processed food, have reduced our meat and dairy intake.
my sleep score is consistently in the 90s, I fall asleep within 10 minutes and get a healthy amount of deep and REM sleep to reenergize my body and mind.
Here is what I think is the best about the changes I have made. I don't have any doubt my overall health and fitness have improved. The combination of the increased level of exercise and significantly improved diet seems to have a number of my health indicators pointed in the right direction. Having said all that I don't feel like I am a fanatic (Teresa may disagree with this (smile)). I have been able to introduce these changes to my lifestyle relatively easy. I still enjoy a beer and a glass of wine a few times a week and certainly enjoy foods (not to often) that would not make it on to any healthy food list (delicious breads, chips with beer are just a couple of my weaknesses).
So that's it, my journey to better health. I hope it gives you some ideas on how to get started. The one area I have not focused on in this blog, but very important is mental health. More posts to come on family, friends, hobbies, and activities and activism. If you have ideas or suggestions leave a comment. Below I have listed some of the additional books I have read that may help. As I read more I will add them to the list and if something big changes I will add another post.
Additional reading:
The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age - by Steven R. Gundry - certainly not in the class of the two books mentioned above. I found the style of writing annoying but with some useful information
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health - by William Davis - directionally I found some information interesting (white flour and white bread are not good) but I found much of the premise and information extreme and the author's humor annoying and inappropriate
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us - by Michael Moss - not really a book that helps you as an individual improve your health but rather a very thorough examination of how the food companies, often with the support of government agencies have deliberately misled consumers to encourage a very unhealthy diet.
The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss - by Jason Fung - I found the book unnecessarily long but definitely some helpful information in the book
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About it - by Gary Taubes - probably the next book that I would recommend after the two above. Lots of good information and easy to read.
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - by Matthew Walker - when my daughter Lauren asked me what the book was about the simple answer is, sleep is important. If you already know that you can probably skip this book. However, if you think l ess than 8 hours a night is "normal" or you have problems falling asleep, read the book, you will learn.
Quench: Beat Fatigue, Drop Weight, and Heal Your Body Through the New Science of Optimum Hydration - by Dana Cohen and Gina Bria - worth reading. Lots to learn about how to get hydrated (it is not just about drinking more water) and the positive impact on your health.
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