What are your healthy lifestyle habits?

[Kelt]

Mental health is my current personal project and honestly I know very little about it. I have been talking to some friends lately and we seem to be experiencing sort of a common thread; age making things seem closer to the surface. I thought it might be man-o-pause (thanks Dak for the term!), but a lot of my friends are men, so out with that idea.

I am putting the first and a middle paragraph here and a link to the whole article at the bottom.

Trapped in negative emotions?

Why don’t we apply the same standards and value for filtering out unhealthy thoughts, as we do for filtering out unhealthy foods? I find many people logically understand that if they eat something unhealthy they get that it will make them feel awful, and therefore avoid eating foods with undesirable consequences. Yet, this same logic is not equally applied to filtering out unhealthy thoughts which make an individual feel awful. If you wouldn’t eat stress inducing foods all day long, than why would you allow yourself to sip on the “I’m not good enough, “or “I am bitter and angry, it’s not fair” Stress-Slurpee all day long?

********

To understand why these Achilles Heel emotional and mental triggers are so powerful picture a large reservoir of water in your mind say the Hoover Damn. Behind the dam is an amazing amount of pressure. The reservoir took time to fill up, but overtime the pressure began to build and once full the force behind the dam grew to be enormous. Achilles Heel triggers are like a dam, they have an accumulation of trapped emotional kinetic energy behind them, and once triggered an overwhelming amount of emotions and strewing mental tangents gets released inside an individual – temporarily overtaking an individual’s logical, reasoning mind.

Link to full article.

[Kelt]

This has me pretty wound up today. Driving along listening to the radio when I hear that there are new guidelines around proscribing statins for cholesterol lowering and that now it will include people who do not have high LDL levels, but also for a number of other reasons.

I still have homework to do on this BUT, now about 25% of the population is on these meds and the changes could raise this to 50%. Not a fan of statins to begin with, or the pharmaceutical industry in some instances, I'm giving this the hairy one-eyeball.

What about you? Are you taking statins already?

Do you see this changing as a result of the new parameters?

I am also wondering if we can find ourselves being labeled as 'uncooperative' patients if we opt to not take them under the new guidelines or as part of the new rules of healthcare in the USA?

Here are a couple of early articles for the public with different opinions about the way the numbers will play out. Both mainstream press.

Forbes: When Should You Take A Statin? The Answer Just Changed.

NPR: Shift In Cholesterol Advice Could Double Statin Use

Time to buy shares in Crestor?

One more item, here is a link to the American Heart Association risk calculator

*At this moment it is overwhelmed, may have to try later*

[silkepus]

Originally Posted by Kelt

Trapped in negative emotions?

Why don’t we apply the same standards and value for filtering out unhealthy thoughts, as we do for filtering out unhealthy foods? I find many people logically understand that if they eat something unhealthy they get that it will make them feel awful, and therefore avoid eating foods with undesirable consequences. Yet, this same logic is not equally applied to filtering out unhealthy thoughts which make an individual feel awful. If you wouldn’t eat stress inducing foods all day long, than why would you allow yourself to sip on the “I’m not good enough, “or “I am bitter and angry, it’s not fair” Stress-Slurpee all day long?


Link to full article.

That is such a sensible thing. Mental health should be seen as just as important as physical health I think. And I have noticed I’m always physically healthier when I am mentally healthier too. If I get enough sleep and have a positive outlook being healthy is just easier.

But overall I don’t think I do much to be healthy. I don’t go to the gym and I haven’t stopped eating sugar and carbs like many of my friends have. My sister eats wheat grass mixed with water for breakfast- that’s taking it a bit too far for me.

I think the healthiest thing I do, is not owning a car. I know that’s not possible for everyone. But it makes me walk or cycle a lot if I want to or not. And I am lucky enough to live next to not only the sea, where it’s lovely to walk and swim (when it’s not too cold), but also several mountains and forests where I try to go for long walks or ride my bicycle at least three times a week. I love walking up one of the smaller mountains and see the sun set in the sea. It’s really lovely.

[Happy_Go_Lucky]

Healthy lifestyle habits include seeing humor in everything!

Laughing will cure most anything and prevent many chronic conditions. Perhaps the scientist amongst us may debate this, however I am speaking from an anecdotal observation.

As well as eating anything you want. (in moderation)

Drinking anything you want. (in moderation)

Having a fur-friend around can keep you healthier as well.

[fatallyblonde]

I have to be very careful with things like this as it risks triggering my eating disorder. In fact I ended up having to skip reading most of this stuff as I started to feel anxious. In pursuit of a fictional state of 'utopian health' I really put my body and mind through the ringer with crazy, obsessive habits and unrealistic goals. Then, for a whole mix of reasons including this unhealthy behaviour and an abusive rship, I had a nervous breakdown and ended up bingeing my way to a body I cannot be at peace with. Not that I was at peace with my skinny body *eyeroll* but at least I fit into my clothes!
These days I try and take a balanced and gentler approach and not try to be so 'perfect'... so deprivation diets are right out...
mainly:

- 2 litres of water a day
- try to get early bed and earlyish rise... a good 8 hours of sleep, always
- lay off the booze and barbiturates
- multi-v every day (I used to be supplement crazy... ugh)
- try and move my body a lot through a variety of gentle exercise (I damaged my knees and ankles through lots of high impact cardio) that is still challenging but also fun
- lots of fruit and veggies
- avoid stressful people and situations
- creative outlets I can enjoy
- breaking down housework into small tasks divided into different days
- laughing a lot!!! always looking for funny things to enjoy

[Kelt]

Whew, this thread got dusty!

I just completed binge watching a four part Netflix documentary series "Cooked".

Based on the recent book from Michael Pollan of the same title. He is known for writing the Omnivores Dilemma, In Defense of Food, along with several other books and many documentary appearances on the subject of whole food, I thought it was fantastic. Taking a look through the lenses of history, culture, and science at what food means and how/why we cook was completely absorbing. It is aproached through the elements of fire, water, air, and earth.

I have watched and read everything I could find about food/culture/processing and the horrible state of what we call food in western culture for about a decade and have settled on similar ideas as this fellow.

"Eat good food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - Micheal Pollan

I'll put the trailer here, but **vegetarians/vegans beware**, beyond this point, there be some meat.



As an aside: I was a vegetarian for 12 years and found that for myself I feel and perform better with some, small, servings of consciously chosen and sourced animal proteins. Every person is different and there is no 'one size fits all'. That said, I find myself aligning with this journalists findings as an omnivore and hope that others enjoy it as well.

[girlin2une]

Originally Posted by Kelt

Whew, this thread got dusty!

I just completed binge watching a four part Netflix documentary series "Cooked".

Have you watched the documentary "Forks over Knives" on Netflix?
I highly recommend it.

I have ceased eating meat but do eat a very healthy, organic, plant based and whole food diet. It is working for me.

I respect the personal choices that people make regarding food, but I know that I am doing what is right for me.

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by girlin2une

Have you watched the documentary "Forks over Knives" on Netflix?
I highly recommend it.

I have ceased eating meat but do eat a very healthy, organic, plant based and whole food diet. It is working for me.

I respect the personal choices that people make regarding food, but I know that I am doing what is right for me.

I've seen it twice and completely agree that I will not participate in factory farming or the products from it.

There was an earlier documentary from 2005 that really brought it home for me called "Our Daily Bread", also on Netflix and now Youtube. It is what really started me researching. I won't post the trailer because it's too horrible. Here is the link to the film for anyone with the stomach for it. >link Something like Forks Over Knives is geared more for western audiences.

For myself it's about carefully investigating clean sources, being willing to put my money where my mouth is, and avoiding cruelty. I've spent over a decade experimenting and finding what works for me and my own health and settled in as a "gentle omnivore".

I would recommend that if you are interested in watching the series, you skip the "Fire" segment and focus on the "Air", a fascinating look at bread and grains, as well as "Earth" which focuses on fermentation. I was also careful to post a warning to those who I thought might take offense, specifying vegetarians/vegans. It sounds like this series might not be for you.

I fully respect your choice not to ingest animal protein and am glad it works for you, each person is different and responds differently to their chosen diet. I also respect those from other cultures and tastes that might not align with my own.