Caring for our own health

Caring for our own health is so important because the really important lifestyle choices are not made by the doctor; we have to make these decisions or suffer from much pain and an early demise long before our time.

Professor Shadrick Mazaza in a recent opinion piece in the Witness entitled Holistic Health laid out pretty clearly for South Africans what the future of medicine holds for us. He was not optimistic. 10 000 doctors and nurses have left for Canada alone in the last two years.

Lifestyle diseases like cancer, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes have increased by over 60%; and exceed deaths from infectious illnesses like AIDS and TB. Over a quarter of all adults are depressed. Of 695 health facilities, only 5 met even 80% of performance standards, in particular in relation to infection control.

We all have friends, family and acquaintances who went to hospital for routine operations, and found themselves afflicted with a “hospital acquired infection;” many died.

He sees the need for training of a new kind of doctor, one who will be able to treat his patients holistically; to be effective it needs to deal with us “psycho-spiritually.” That will not happen overnight and will probably to be realistic never occur.

So where does that leave you and me? For me the undercurrent, unsaid it’s true, was a call for each of us to start caring for ourselves. There is little cost involved. If we want to be fit and strong then it is time to embark on a new journey in which we see the person most able to bring health, wellness and happiness to our lives is not the doctor, the pharmacist or the hospital but we ourselves.

It is a journey that we could undertake on our own but it’s likely to be far more effective were we to meet in small groups, others to whom we become accountable. Because we humans find it incredibly difficult to make lifestyle changes.

The first rule is to make no changes that we are not willing and determined to continue with for the rest of our lives. Stopping smoking, losing weight or starting to walk daily is an utter waste of time if we are not very determined that this is the new status quo. It’s for ever; or don’t bother starting.

As a general rule, it’s a lot easier to add new things to your lifestyle, than taking bad habits out. So where could you start? My simple answer is where you are, what you instinctively know needs to change and what is clearly achievable.

Don’t plan to turn your life upside down on the first day; every journey starts with a single step, one that you will continue with for ever. When you have successfully ticked that box, only then move on to the next. What follows is a list of small but profound, simple things that you could do to improve your health at little cost.

Step 1

We start with a strange and unexpected step; start flossing your teeth daily. Every day, perhaps even after each meal. Food particles stuck between our teeth become a major source of infection in the body. Astonishingly, it will even reduce ischemic stroke by nearly 50%^[1].

This is particularly true after a meaty meal but corn on the cob and mangoes too for example can easily be your undoing.

On a personal level since I start flossing daily I have not had one new hole in my teeth in 5 years. My dentist’s bill has dropped dramatically. You can often reuse the same piece of twine for a month; make it longer to twist around your fingers than too short. It takes about 2 or 3 minutes once you are in the groove. It is more important than brushing but obviously we recommend both.

Step 2

Only once you have achieved flossing daily successfully for a whole month, start on step 2 of these lifestyle changes. Begin taking short, brisk walks following every starchy meal; after supper is the only difficult one. Don’t go straight from the dining room table to the computer stool, car or couch; put your tackies on and take a short stroll.

• Take a walk after supper
  

That alone has enabled me to get my raised blood glucose under control without any meds. You’ll be astonished how this improves your mood too. You will notice that I deliberately did not say how long you should walk; you are the new person in charge of your wellness. So you decide, remembering that it is daily for ever.

If you cannot see yourself doing it faithfully, don’t bother starting. Begin with something else.

Step 3

My third easily achievable new lifestyle change is to start fermenting a probiotic in your own home. Don’t cheat and take pills, brew your own. The easiest to my mind is kefir^[2] which you can make yourself, taking about two minutes every morning; for the cost of half a cup of milk.

The volume of research coming out in the literature of how homemade probiotics will improve almost every aspect of your wellness is staggering. Yoghurt is not enough; maas and magewa may be. Kefir is easier.

Sauer-susu is another favourite; it takes about an hour to prepare this large bottle. After a week of fermentation you will several months of very cheap probiotic food at hand.

• How is sauer-susu made?
  

Also known as chaote fruit they grow so prolifically that we consider susus free food.

In a world where food choices are getting worse susus should to our mind be a staple; they are surprisingly rich in protein for a vegetable. With kwashiorkor and stunting haunting almost every community in South Africa that is not unimportant.

• Stunting of children
  

Step 4

My fourth step is to start eating more roughage. It’s getting increasingly difficult now since fibre-rich foods require much chewing and that takes time; extra minutes that we think we do not have. Only 5% of those enjoying typical supermarket nosh are getting the required dietary allowance.

Legumes, fruit and vegetables are the easy ways to increase your fibre.

Sauer-susu would make a great choice.

You may have to start gardening to make it affordable. On a personal note, getting my fibre to over 40 grams per day has conquered a lifelong struggle with constipation and profoundly changed the happiness of my innards.

The friendly flora in the gut, that “microbiome” is incidentally totally dependent on fibre for nourishment.

Step 5

My fifth and last step is to start eating many coloured foods daily. Strong research shows that enjoying just seven every day will decrease the all-cause of death by a staggering 33%. A few leaves of spinach, a tomato and a carrot are so common place; it’s really not difficult. Add a slip of parsley, a few shavings of turmeric and a butternut soup and you are almost home.

A bowlful of berries with muesli or wholegrain grits for breakfast would be perfect.

We choose yellow grits over white for the beta-carotene; it tastes better too.

• Beta-carotene is also called vitamin A
  

Caring for our own health

And, yes of course these are only the first baby steps of caring for your own body. But these five alone successfully achieved daily will turn your life upside down.

Professor Mazaza is absolutely right; this is a psycho-spiritual business. It begins with seeing your body as a sacred place, not something to be ill-treated and abused. Do that and Brother Ass will turn around and bite you.

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