Wait… but what are all the things?

Setting out to make a change for the better, whether for your health or otherwise, can often feel overwhelming. On one hand, when you decide to take the leap and move towards building a positive healthy habit, motivation is high and ideas pour in. There is a risk here of biting off more than you can chew, only to fizzle out a few days to weeks in. On the other hand, it really can feel like you can do it all. For instance, the Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine on the surface are simple: Nutrition, Movement, Sleep, Stress Management, Avoiding Substances, and Social Connection. Simple to know, but difficult to act regularly and lifelong. Simple, but not easy.

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As tempting as it can be to want to or try to change your behaviour across all 6 pillars at once, this again is a common pitfall where changes just don’t last. In the spirit of progress over perfection, making one small change at a time, one pillar at a time, gives you a much better chance of making the new healthy habits stick. And once you master one small change, you can add another, and then another, and one at a time, you will be doing a lot more than you once thought possible. And more importantly, for much longer and with much less effort.

A few weeks ago, you would have read about a series of common challenges people like you and me face when we set out to make changes: Expectation Management. I know that can be a bit of a reality check and a tough read for some, but a better understanding of your perceived and actual expectations, behaviours, and results, goes a long way to help you long term.

Many people often share with me a common sentiment: “I am doing all the things, but nothing is changing”. I understand how frustrating this can be. Knowing what “all the things” actually are, helps avoid confusion and helps you manage expectations and make changes accordingly.

So, with all the above in mind, here is a brief summary of some key details from each Pillar of Lifestyle Medicine. While I cannot cram an entire speciality into one list or post, I can definitely share highlights so you get a better sense of what to do for better health.

Here are “all the things”:

1. Nutrition
   1. Follow a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern most of the time, with some room for flexibility, living, socializing, and still enjoying your life.
   2. Prioritize foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients. Good news, this happens to mostly be whole plant foods anyway.
   3. Aim for at least 25-38 grams of fibre daily, ideally from whole food sources.
   4. Aim for at least 1.0-1.5 grams/kg/day of protein, ideally from whole food sources, including plant proteins.
   5. Hydrate with 2-3 litres of water daily.
2. Movement
   1. Target at least 150min/week of moderate intensity, aerobic activity. E.g. walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc.
   2. Target at least 135min/week of strength and resistance training.
   3. Move your body throughout the day as much as you can, and keep sitting and staying stationary to a minimum as much as possible.
3. Sleep
   1. Quantity: an average goal of 7-9 hours per night is appropriate for most adults.
   2. Quality: prioritize getting restorative rest and use sleep hygiene or at least a pre-sleep routine to help you wind down and improve this.
4. Stress Management
   1. Do whatever you can to eliminate sources of stress if/when it is in your control to do so.
   2. If triggers and stressors are external, and out of your control, focus on what you can do to manage the stressors and cope in healthy ways.
5. Avoiding Substances
   1. Ideally eliminate all consumption of risky substances including smoking, vaping, alcohol, and drugs of all kinds.
   2. That may not always be possible, nor what you want, so at least consider reducing overall intake and be mindful of the health risks if you do continue to partake.
6. Social Connection
   1. We are wired to connect and to be connected. Keep in touch with people, whether friends, family, community, neighbours or others.
   2. Isolation and loneliness is detrimental to your health, especially your mental health. Combat this by building deep, meaningful relationships. Even one or two connections with more depth goes a long way.

There you have it. Simple, but not easy, right?

An important bonus point to add is that once you build these habits up, it is critical to keep them going. Oftentimes we do not give ourselves enough of a timeline or runway for the results to show up. A focus on showing up for yourself and the new behaviour you are practicing, will often serve you much better than a focus on waiting for results. The latter feels like an eternity and can make habit change feel like a drag. The former helps because, results or not, you can keep chipping away at the healthy behaviour… and yes, the results do come, it might just take a bit longer than you think.

Now, I’d like to be very clear: this list is not meant to overwhelm you and is not to be done all at once. Think of this more as a reference, something to look at when you set new goals, or glance over at to make sure you are moving in these directions. These are targets and ideals and goals, but not starting points for everyone. That is okay.

Where do you go from here? As you read at the beginning, take it one small step at a time.

Your Action Plan

• Choose one small goal you want to work on, from any of the above categories, and make that your focus for 2 weeks.

There are lots more tips and tricks on how to actually approach this list of all the things, which we’ll go over next week!

As always, chase progress, not perfection.

I believe in you,

Dr. Khimji

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This Week’s Challenge

Eat one cup of veggies (broccoli is my favourite), with at least 3 of your meals this week.

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