Eulalee Thompson

Fresh, new year and yet another chance to turn over a new leaf to a healthier you. For your health makeover 2008, keep reading the Health feature. For the makeover take these healthy choices.

Eating and nutrition

Lots of information is churned out each day on food and nutrition - what to eat, what not to eat, when, how much, good fat, bad fat - it's easy to become confused. The simplest way to go about eating is to have foods from each of the six major Caribbean food groups (staples, legumes, vegetables, fruits, foods from animals and fats and oil) every day.

If you follow the articles of our own nutritionist, Rosalee Brown, you will see her recommendation to lean heavily towards fruits and vegetables. The usual recommendation is to have five servings of fruits and vegetables each day (that is, five servings in total not five fruits and five vegetables) but again it's all about evidence-based behaviour and the latest evidence is that for maximum health benefits, eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Add some raisins to your cereal.

It's not that difficult; a serving is a small amount for example, at breakfast add some raisin to your cereals, a part of papaya is another serving, a small glass of orange juice is another, so you can easily chalk up three servings at breakfast. Then, if you are cooking rice for lunch, add some diced vegetables; if you are having a sandwich add some vegetables. Have fun with vegetable juices - some carrot juice, tomato juice and watch your portions and learn to count your calories. Most people are eating too many calories and excess calories (not expended in exercise) turn into fat around the waist.

Take time to smell the roses.

Mental well-being

How much do you value and accept yourself? Think about it; herein lies the crux of good mental health. Good physical health is only a part of the whole; it's no good without mental well-being. If you continue to follow our own mental health specialist, Dr. Wendel Abel, you will see that mental health is not only about diseases such as schizophrenia and depression but about your relationships, emotions, thoughts, your attitudes to money, food, success, power and so on.

You don't have good mental health, it's something which you are continuously creating for yourself; it's something you do:

Take an inventory of the people around you. Are they really supportive? Are they making you the best that you can be or do you have to 'small up' yourself to make them feel good about themselves ?

Think about this question. Do you really care for and love yourself ? Be your own best friend.

What about your assertiveness? Do you think yourself valuable enough to assert your rights?

What's your confidence level? You have the permission to be powerful, successful, talented and fabulous beyond measure.

Stop and smell the roses. Throw into the mix some rest, relaxation and recreation.

Physical activity and exercise

Take out your skipping ropes and dust off your walking shoes because adding physical activity and exercise to your daily routine is the single most important change that you can make to create a healthier you.

It's all about evidence-based behaviour and that's the evidence. The benefits of physical activity and exercising are numerous from producing glowing skin to controlling risks associated to lifestyle conditions.

Follow our exercise column for workout tips. Kenneth Gardner, our exercise physiologist says that any exercise programme should include cardiovascular exercising (such as running, brisk walking, swimming, skipping, dancing); strength training (get your dumbbells, work those muscles and define your abs) and stretch exercising (especially important at the start and end of your exercise programme to reduce injury and improve flexibility).

Duration of exercising is also important. A minimum of 30 minutes of exercising per day for most days of the week is recommended but hardcore exercisers know that you are really pumping when your minimum duration is at least 90 minutes and you don't have to chalk up those minutes in one session.

Sleep well

Restful sleep boosts the immune system.

Create a comfy, warm sleep environment. Sleep is important in the makeover because it boosts that all-important immune system that fights disease and keeps your nervous system working well.

How much sleep is enough? It doesn't seem like there's consensus among the experts. They do say, however, that newborn babies sleep a whole lot, between 16 and 18 hours each day; pre-school children between 10 and 12 hours and older children and teens need about nine hours of sleep. When it comes to adults, most people are able to function well with seven or eight hours of sleep, but then for some people five hours of sleep appear to be just enough to keep them alert and high-functioning throughout the day.

So try to understand your body and note that when it comes to sleep, it's not just about quantity but quality. The tryptophan amino acid in milk is converted to melatonin and serotonin and promotes restful sleep. If you like that bed time snack then also try bananas, oats and peanuts; they also contain tryptophan.

eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com