Health journey… (with links to reliable articles to explain medical terms and conditions)

I would love to be able to say I eat healthily and exercise every single day and for the most part I do (more or less). However, there are days (and sometimes a week or two) whereby I just don’t.

There are so many articles, books, blog posts, Instagram stories of fit, healthy and fabulous people trying to inspire us to live a better and healthier lifestyle. Some of the thoughts and images are both inspirational and sometimes discouraging as they portray a certain perfection that is not necessarily attainable. Then you have the posts of “real” images – which are better, but still.

I’m kind of one of them. Sort of. I try to show and maintain a fit and healthy image and lifestyle, I try to be relatable and real. I don’t follow any particular “diet” as I find they are limited in nutritional value and primarily set people up for failure. You can follow most diets and achieve weight loss (not necessarily an improvement in your health, unless you need to lose weight for weight related diseases such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and/or type II diabetes).

However, most diets are self limiting and not designed to be ongoing. Especially if they are particularly restrictive, most people will either get fed up with following the diet, start craving the foods that caused their ill health in the first place or stop when they have reached a goal weight. Then go back to how it used to be and wonder why the diet hasn’t worked long term.

I’ve always said that however you eat for health, good nutrition needs to be your actual lifestyle. Your day to day eating plan, exercise regimen and how you live your life will govern your best health outcomes.

Which is why I puzzle my own self when I have days where I either eat way too much or pick up something at the store that is nutritionally unsound (crap, rubbish, junk food). I know most health promoters talk about cheat meals or treats and yes, that is all well and good. But I’m talking more about just sabotaging your own health plan and goals.

I know for me personally I need to maintain a certain body weight, I know 100% that if I go over a certain weight my blood pressure starts creeping up. High blood pressure and heart disease is in my family – inherited and genetically based.

My father had heart disease and had his first heart attack in his early 50s, he also had a stroke in his 60s and a quadruple heart bypass surgery in his early/mid 60s.

Both my sisters have early signs of heart disease. They have both been on blood pressure medication since their late 40s, cholesterol lowering meds since their early 50s and the older one is also on angina medication. So I am mindful of my family history and genetic predisposition, so I have always maintained my health and fitness levels.

So, to wind up, I started on my health and fitness journey probably from my late 20s (I quit smoking and took up swimming and eating better). I am now 64 and very fit and fairly healthy – I don’t have any chronic diseases or any signs of heart disease. My blood pressure (last time it was checked was 116/66 which is really, really good!)

I get disappointed in myself when I sabotage my own health journey. But the good thing is that it’s never all the time, I don’t just give up and give in (I guess I’m tenacious like that!). I’m still trying to figure out the sabotage, it’s sometimes when I’m feeling down or feeling stressed or sometimes I have no freaking idea… but I think because of 40 years of improving my eating and my exercise/fitness, I always want to go back to the health journey that I want to be on and set aside the setbacks as literally just that – setbacks.

There is no magic potion, book, article, blog or Instagram post that will be the “thing” that makes you want to improve your health and fitness. You start with one step forward, the odd step sideways, sometimes a step or two backwards, then back to one step forward.

A little progress each day really does add up to big results long term! You may not always be able to see or feel it, but trust that it will and trust yourself and know that the little “saboteur” within us may wreak occasional havoc, but your better self is mostly in the lead!