OH! Magazine - Australian Version April 2016 | Page 13
TEN TIPS TO A
HEALTHIER LIFE
DR
JOANNA
www.drjoanna.com.au
( Nutrition )
Dr Joanna shares her top tips to boosting your health and vitality.
our months into the year, and if
your healthy resolutions are well
and truly waning, then it might be time to
re-evaluate. The biggest mistake is to set
the bar too high and try to change too
many things at once, or make resolutions
that are just not realistic to sustain. To
help you think about what you could be
doing to boost your health and vitality,
here are ten of my top tips.
F
1. Let’s start with food
The truth is there are many ways to put
together a healthy diet, provided it is
built on a foundation of real whole foods,
close the way nature intended. Don’t get
caught by the latest fads, detoxes and
trendy diets. These are only short term
fixes and almost never lead to the kind of
changes you need for permanent results.
Make this year different and change your
eating habits for good.
2. Maintain a healthy weight
Sadly, it’s now more normal to be
overweight than it is to be a healthy
weight in Australia. Let’s turn that
statistic around! You can lose weight with
any number of different diets and the
truth is that the hard part is keeping it
off. That’s why it is so essential to make
dietary changes that last forever and not
just for the duration of the ‘diet’. For help
with this check out my Get Lean lifestyle
change program at drjoanna.com.au
3. If you smoke, give up
It not only damages your body, but makes
you age faster too. Plus, just think of all
the money you’ll save! You’ll even find
that food tastes better when you give up
as your taste-buds are numbed by
smoking. There are plenty of avenues for
help so don’t think you have to go it
alone. Check out quitnow.gov.au for
advice and further resources.
4. If you drink, do so moderately
Take a tip from the Mediterranean Diet
where wine is consumed with dinner, but
weekend binge drinking is out. Aim for at
least a couple of days alcohol free in your
week and only a couple of drinks when
you do drink. Alternating with a sparkling
water is a good way to keep yourself
hydrated and slow down your drinking.
5. Look after your cardiovascular system
This can be done by controlling blood
pressure, blood sugar levels and
maintaining healthy blood cholesterol
levels. Beta-Heart
(available from
chemists) can help with this. It provides
the soluble fibre beta-glucan you’ll find
in oats and barley. This binds cholesterol
in your gut, removing it from the body.
It’s been clinically proven to help reduce
total and LDL-cholesterol levels. It even
helps with blood sugar control, it’s low
GI, has no added sugar and no artificial
additives. And it’s super easy to get into
your day – just mix with water, milk or
add to a smoothie.
6. Break up the time you spend sitting
Sitting for more than eight hours a day is
a significant risk factor to your health,
even if you make it to the gym three times
a week! It’s worth investing in a standing
desk and most big corporations now have
these. I use a Varidesk, which allows me
to alternate between sitting and standing
throughout the day. You can also try
standing whenever you are on the phone,
having standing or walking meetings, and
simply breaking up sitting time with a
five-minute stretch.
7. Exercise for at least 30 minutes on most
days
And if possible, add two to three more
intense sessions into your week. There
are lots of options in addition to the gym,
such as dancing, surfing, cycling, yoga
– even a brisk walk in the fresh air is
great! Remember, you can always add a
few stairs and hills to increase the
intensity.
8. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep on
most nights
We can cope with one or two bad nights
of sleep but most of us do need that
much. If you’re sleeping badly put into
place some good strategies including no
caffeine after 3pm, no more than a glass
or two of alcohol, no screen time in the
hour before bed, go to bed and get up at
roughly the same time every day and
keep the TV out of the bedroom.
9. Manage your stress levels
Chronic stress leads to elevated levels of
stress hormones including cortisol and
can lead to all sorts of health problems.
In fact, too much cortisol will even lead
to fat storage around the middle. A little
stress is good as it motivates us, but the
trick is to keep things manageable.
Meditation, yoga, exercise (especially
outdoors), breathing exercises and
spending quality time both on your own
and with loved ones, are all good ways of
managing stress.
10. Seek moments of joy in every day!
Of course, we can’t be happy all of the
time, but we are ultimately pleasure
seekers, so for any healthy lifestyle to
succeed and become a way of life, it has
to be built on a foundation of joy.
YOU CAN FOLLOW DR JOANNA VIA:
Web: drjoanna.com.au
Facebook: drjoannamcmillan
Twitter: @joannanutrition
Instagram: @drjoannamcmillan
( OH! MAGAZINE ) APRIL 2016
13