12 Steps to Shift your Focus from Counting Calories
And follow a healthy lifestyle instead.
If you are following a diet to lose weight, you might still be missing the mark when it comes to being healthy. Most diets just focus on short-term weight loss. While that’s tempting to try, unless you make a mindset change by following a healthy lifestyle, the weight loss won’t last. This is because you can’t be on a diet forever — most are not sustainable in the long term.
A healthy lifestyle, on the other hand, is entirely sustainable.
So what exactly is a healthy lifestyle?
According to the WHO, a healthy lifestyle is a way of life that lowers your risk of heart disease and cancer, two of the biggest killers in modern society. But that’s not all. The WHO also states that since health isn’t just the avoidance of disease but also about physical, mental and social wellbeing, a healthy lifestyle is a way of living that helps you enjoy more aspects of life. When you follow a healthy lifestyle incorporating all aspects of health and not just calorie counting, you can also help reduce your stress levels, be happier, and at a healthy weight as a bonus.
Here are some very simple but effective tips that anyone can follow for a healthy, happy life.
- Eat nutrient-dense whole foods. Whole foods are foods closest to their natural form, so they are minimally processed foods. Examples are vegetables, fruits and whole grains such as brown rice (instead of white rice), steel-cut oats (rather than instant oats), whole grain bread (instead of white bread), as well as raw and unsalted nuts and seeds. When you eat these real, wholesome foods, portion control happens naturally because all the fiber adds bulk and fills you up quickly, making it difficult to overeat. Their nutrient density prevents cravings. More importantly, diet remains one of the main determinants of several degenerative diseases, including cancer and the plant-based whole foods mentioned above protect against cancer and heart disease.
- Avoid refined carbohydrates, sugar and trans fats. These ingredients lead to obesity, insulin insensitivity, diabetes type 2, heart disease and many forms of cancer. You can still enjoy an occasional sweet treat. As long as you know it is a ‘treat’, meant to be enjoyed in moderation. If you are addicted to sugar, cut off refined added sugar completely and have frozen or fresh fruit (but not fruit juice) whenever you feel like having something sweet.
- Quit smoking and avoid alcohol. Smoking poses one of the most significant self-imposed health risk. Smokers suffer from respiratory illnesses, heart disease and lung cancer. Smoking just one cigarette a day also increases your risk for heart disease and stroke, so it’s a good idea to completely quit rather than cut down on the number of cigarettes smoked. When it comes to alcohol, many studies actually tout the benefits of low to moderate drinking (1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men), but all agree that heavy drinking is hazardous to health. However, one particular study states there is no safe limit for alcohol consumption and even light drinking is associated with an increased risk for various types of cancer.
- Drink lots of pure (not tap) water to hydrate yourself. Tap water contains many heavy metals and toxins which add to your toxic load.
- As far as possible, cook your meals from scratch so that you avoid unnecessary ingredients and additives such as sugar, preservatives, flavor enhancers, rancid fats, and food colors. Not surprisingly, a study found that people who frequently ate meals cooked at home had healthier eating habits and were less likely to be overweight and less likely to have excess body fat. However, if you must eat processed foods, try to choose only the ones with no added sugar and limited ingredients. Read ingredient labels carefully.
6. This point is far more important than most people realize. Minimize exposure to chemicals. While it is virtually impossible to eliminate all chemicals from our lives, we can certainly minimize the chemicals we are exposed to, especially those in household products. Choose biodegradable and non-toxic options for cleaners, detergents, and personal care products. We absorb all these chemicals through the skin and inhale them, adding to our toxic load. The liver then has to detoxify these chemicals, adding to its burden.
7. Exercise at least 3–4 times a week (ideally every day). Exercise helps improve blood circulation, metabolism, brain function and all other body systems in general.
8. Practice stress management. Stress is a major contributor to unhealthy weight gain and disease. Stress releases cortisol, which converts stored fuel sources into glucose because the body needs energy for the fight-or-flight response. This used to be particularly useful for our ancestors when a predator was approaching, or other dangers. But why is this a problem now? Cortisol converts stored fuel from various parts of the body such as muscles, leading to a decrease in lean body mass which in turn causes the metabolic rate to fall. Since our current stress is usually non-life-threatening and a completely different, chronic kind of stress (such as work or finance), we do not need the available glucose especially when taken from our muscle mass. Add to this our sedentary lifestyle, and the glucose does not get used up and instead is deposited as truncal adiposity (belly fat). This also causes blood cholesterol levels to rise. Studies have found that over time, chronic stress can take a major toll on the body, contributing to reduced immunity, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, anxiety and depression.
9. Minimize caffeine. Replace coffee and tea with herbal teas, because caffeine also increases cortisol levels. This is why you feel alert after a strong cup of tea or coffee — the stress hormones suppress sleep (from an evolutionary perspective — you can’t be dozing off if there’s imminent danger from a predator). While we are so used to getting a daily fix of caffeine in order to get things done, we need to understand that we are tired and sleepy because our body needs rest to repair and rejuvenate our tissues. Rested bodies perform better. The amazing human body would not need a rush of adrenaline or cortisol for energy to get through the day if we could only give it what it truly craves — good nutrition and rest. We would then be able to get through the day without any ‘help’ from caffeine — which is actually no help at all, when you really think about it. But what do you do when you feel like having a cup of coffee? Find a healthier substitute such as a herbal tea or a grain-based or herbal coffee alternative.
10. Sleep at least 8 hours a day. Lack of sleep causes stress hormones to rise, leading to the same effects as above. Some short-term problems associated with a lack of sleep include reduced quality of life, emotional distress, mood disorders and problems with memory, cognition and behavioural issues. Sleep deprivation can cause other problems such as a decrease in insulin sensitivity (risk for diabetes), decrease in leptin — the satiety hormone, and increases in ghrelin — the hunger hormone and appetite. In the long run, sleep disruption can cause heart disease, obesity, type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and even cancer.
11. Maintain good relationships with family and friends. Many studies report that those who have good relationships with their spouse and parents or have strong social networks are healthier than those who do not. Spend less time on social media and more on personal interactions with people (this part of course doesn’t hold true during the current COVID-19 pandemic).
12. Laugh a lot. Laughter reduces stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine and increases the levels of feel-good hormones such as endorphins. Laughter also has many other benefits, such as increased pain tolerance, positive mood, cognitive benefits and an increase in the activity of the body’s natural killer cells.
While counting calories to ensure a caloric deficit may appear to be the best option for people wanting to lose weight, it’s not the ideal way to be healthy since it can cause unnecessary stress and take your focus away from health. Calorie restrictive diets are not sustainable in the long term and most people who ‘diet’ to lose weight typically regain much of the lost weight. On the other hand, when people make a conscious decision to change their lifestyle and focus on health, lasting and sustainable weight loss follows as a bonus. If you can follow the 12 simple steps listed above, you won’t need to worry about your health, or your weight!
