MERRY Christmas everyone! We are in the middle of the Holiday Season and it’s the joyous time we spend with our families, friends and officemates to celebrate the happiest time of the year. It’s the time of the usual rounds of parties with plenty of food and drinks, gift-giving and exchanges of Christmas greetings and happy pleasantries.
But it is also the time of the year when we tend to forget our year-long resolutions. set aside diets, cheat on our exercise schedule, sleep late, and overindulge.
But what can we do? It’s Christmas, right? Shouldn’t we enjoy and be merry? We can always go back and pick up where we left off in January, right? We can just update our resolutions and shed the extra holiday pounds we gained.
Sadly, this is what most of us are thinking and do year after year and as a result of this we find that our health tends to fluctuate not only during the holidays but even during the rest of the year. I know because I have been guilty of this for many years of my life.
However, now, I have changed. In the past 3 years, I have learned to change my fundamental thinking towards health. I have come to realize and accept that health is the most important issue for each and every person. It cannot be overlooked or casually set aside. We can’t take our health for granted. Believe it or not, our health has a huge impact on our immediate and long term quality of life. And not just our own, but it also affects our families.
It is most important for each and every one of us to realize the value of health. We need to be aware of our present state of health and decide if this is what we want our health to be for the rest of our lives. If necessary, we should be ready and make the hard decision for big changes. And we should commit ourselves to execute them until they become our new healthy lifestyle behaviour.
It’s not that hard if you have a happier attitude towards creating some key habits for a healthier lifestyle. Just remember to have some holiday C.H.E.E.R.!
Change to healthier food. Nutrition is important. It’s what we eat and how much we eat.
Have enough sleep. Give your body enough time to recharge.
Exercise. Move your body. It will get your blood flowing and even brighten your mood.
Ease up. Learn to manage stress and handle it positively.
Relationships will help you get there. When you have the support of those around you, you will feel energized to reach your goal.
Personally, I would like to pay more attention to food. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. Unfortunately, in modern society, it is not easy to find organic whole food that are nutritious AND affordable. I believe that powerful business interests have taken control of large segments of the economy and agriculture that led to producing GMOs (genetically modified organisms), operating factory farms of poultry, piggery and cattle, and making highly processed food products with little nutrients and even harmful preservatives and chemicals. We have also become addicted to sugar in various forms that create cravings and encourage repeat sales. And sadly, millions are spent to make these nutrient-deficient products enticing, easily accessible and affordable to the public.
That’s why it may take more effort and determination to consistently practice healthy lifestyle habits. But if we do, we will be in better shape, more energetic, clear-thinking, and productive at work. Our moods will be more cheerful. And we won’t easily get sick. We will also have healthier relationships. If you really think about it, having a healthier lifestyle leads to more harmony in the family, stable sources of income, and our children will generally finish school and lead their own productive lives. We may also enjoy these positive benefits way into our 80s or 90s and even beyond.
On the other hand, if you look at the negative effects on those who have the complete opposite mindset and lifestyle, they tend to be overweight or obese, easily fatigued, with brain fog. They are easily depressed and get sick often. I have seen people in their 30s and 40s suddenly getting a heart attack or stroke – an event which disrupts their life and that of their family in terms of emotional trauma, big expenses, extended recovery period if they survive, and loss of income. It is sad that in some extreme cases, the children may even have to stop schooling because of enormous medical and hospitalization expenses or the loss of the breadwinner. So their own life and the lives of their loved ones are overturned abruptly and maybe permanently.
I know you have seen examples of both types. We all have. In our family. Our office. In our neighborhood. You may even see it in yourself.
Allow me to share a short story.
I recently met up with a former work colleague who had transferred to a reputable dining and restaurant chain. During our conversation, I brought up the topic of health and asked how she was. She disclosed that in the past 1-2 years, she had gained 12 kilos, and she was actually getting concerned about it, but so far had not made a personal decision to make the necessary changes. Apparently, she is allowed to eat lunch on the house, and because of the many delicious attractive presentations, she had been enjoying heavy meals, and was now carrying the extra weight.
I told her about my own experience where I slowly gained over 30 lbs. after I retired at the age of 60. Fortunately, I had that eureka moment in time when I reflected deeply and realized that I had to change the direction where my lifestyle was taking me. I knew that there would be an enormous price to pay eventually. But mainly by making necessary changes in the foods and quantities that I consumed, I lost the 30 lbs. It was a difficult process and it took much personal commitment and discipline especially as there were times that I occasionally cheated on my diet because I either had no time and only fast foods were available or because I had a party to attend and they served plenty of pasta, pancit (Filipino noodles) and sweet goodies.
I told my former colleague that I now feel so much better and healthier as a result. And when I look in the mirror, I also look much better. Never mind that I had to spend a little to get new clothes to fit my smaller frame. I told to her to think seriously about her own health. And I hope she will decide to make the necessary corrections, painful and difficult though it may be during the transition.
I realized that our personal lifestyle is heavily influenced by what we ate and did as children. To a large extent, it is what our parents taught us by word or example. I’m not blaming them but looking back to my own childhood, I remember my mother telling us to always finish our food on our plate, saying “Maraming nagugutom sa Ethiopia” (There are a lot of people hungry in Ethiopia) and that we should be thankful that we have enough to eat. Sounds familiar? Those words stayed with me all these years, and I tended to slowly put on more pounds as I would finish all the food before me.
Moreover, I believe my wife and I consciously or subconsciously passed on the same message to our 2 children that they should not waste food and at least one of them, like me, also learned that lesson well. On many occasions when we ate out with him and his family, I observed that he would enjoy eating generous portions during the meal. But towards the end, he would wait for his wife and children to finish eating, and he would consume any remaining food that they had ordered. He had not forgotten what he learned as a child. As can be expected, he has also gained some excess pounds. I am now trying to help him develop a new way of thinking that will help him to form his own healthier habits.
My point is that it all boils down to our habits. Like our current eating habits that were formed during our early years, our lifestyle is an accumulation of habits that were formed over the years. Habits are not bad per se. Habits make life easy and convenient for us to get things done without too much thought or effort. We take a shower, brush our teeth and dress up every day in more or less the same way. Habits affect what and how we eat, work, sleep, get around, and spend our day.
So if you think about it, the main reason why we have become overweight, lethargic, and sickly is because we may have developed many wrong habits. Then we should address the root causes and change those habits, right? We shouldn’t rely on prescribed medications that do not really cure but only address the symptoms. We need to acknowledge that our unhealthy lifestyle can lead to serious health issues. If we are not aware or we don’t admit there’s a problem, we won’t look for solutions and make the necessary changes.
Knowing what to change is the easy part. Remember CHEER? Basically, its nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress management and getting support. The hard part is actually doing it especially since you will be going against a lifetime of bad habits and sometimes unavoidable situations like Christmas parties, reunions and family gatherings. But remember that it is possible to form new habits. All it needs is discipline and repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. And in as short as a month, you will see the changes; your taste in healthier food, the energy to exercise, better mood and better relationships. If it takes longer, that’s ok. Because once your new habits develop, it will get easier and easier that you wouldn’t even need to think about it.
So this Yuletide season, I wish and pray you think about your health. Decide on creating healthier habits. Because I want you to celebrate more and more Christmases and New Years with your loved ones.
Happy holidays everyone!
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