By Frederick and Christine Cheng, Pharmacists
New Year, New You
Most people begin the New Year with good intentions to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions, but all too often, these resolutions fall to the wayside because they are too grand and too difficult to follow through on. So, what can be done to help us keep these resolutions? In general, keep your goals realistic, specific, and meaningful.
Exercise: Increasing the amount of physical activity can be beneficial in many ways including reducing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and obesity. The recommended amount of exercise for those over 65 years of age is 150minutes of aerobic exercise per week. This may seem like a lot, but this can be divided into 10 minute chunks of time. Choose something that you enjoy, whether it be walking briskly, hiking, swimming, or dancing. And during the cold winter months, consider joining a mall-walking club, walking up and down your stairs, or exploring the halls of your apartment building. Strength training is also important and can be done by lifting light weights or soup cans, walking up and down stairs, or sitting down and standing up in rapid succession repeatedly. Strengthening your muscles can improve your balance and reduce the risk of falling. Make sure to chat with your doctor before starting any exercise regimen.
Medication review: The New Year is the perfect time to have a sit-down with your doctor and/or pharmacist to review your medications and to make sure you are getting the most out of your medication therapy.
Healthy eating: Developing healthy eating habits can be a challenge, but keeping the following guidelines in mind can make things easier. Include fresh fruits and vegetables in your daily diet; in particular choose dark green vegetables (e.g., broccoli, asparagus, gai lan) and orange vegetables (e.g., carrots, sweet potatoes). If you’re taking warfarin, let your doctor know if you’re increasing the amount of dark green vegetables in your diet as this can affect your INR reading. Switch to whole grain products such as brown rice and whole wheat bread instead of their white counterparts and consider including oatmeal as part of your breakfast. Choose lower fat milk and milk products and use unsaturated oils such as olive or canola in your cooking. A good multivitamin is often beneficial even to the healthiest of diets.
Weight Loss: Increasing your physical activity and making healthy food choices are an important foundation to healthy weight loss. If cravings are your weakness, consider PGX to help increase the feeling of fullness. Keeping healthy snacks on hand is also important. Consider Hemp Hearts (also available in bar form) as they are a good source of protein and good fats.
Quit smoking: It really is never too late to quit smoking. The benefits are numerous and undeniable: your sense of smell and taste will improve, the risk of having a heart attack decreases, your cancer risk decreases, your lung function improves, and fatigue and shortness of breath are reduced…and this is just to name a few. Remember that most people need more than one try to quit. Remember: choosing the right method to help you quit will increase your chances of quitting so talk to your doctor or pharmacist to learn about all the options, some of which are government sponsored.
Good luck! Here’s to the start of a wonderful, joyful, healthy year!
(Christine and Fred Cheng are a sister-brother pharmacist team at their unique family-owned and operated Pharmasave in Cloverdale, BC. They specialize in natural remedies and compounding for both human and veterinarian use. They would love to hear from you! www.cloverdalepharmasave.com)