'One thing I thank you for,' said my daughter, 'is that you were never on a diet, mentioned the word or suggested we should not eat/eat certain foods to lost weight.
It had never occurred to me that this was the case. It wasn't deliberate, but our natural way of evolving within our household. She continued to say that she felt that she and her two sisters had grown up with a good attitude to food. This, from a grown woman who, when she was two years old, ate little else but chips and weetabix. Shows what growing up can do for you!
It is true, though, that dieting has never been in my psyche. Brought up by a mother who maintained two pregnancies in the war and survived rationing with a slim figure - have you ever seen any pictures of the war where the people were fat? I doubt it.
No, I have never been on a diet, except for aonephase in my life when I lacked energy and I followed the food combining diet whereby proteins and carbohydrates are not eaten at the same meal. A few weeks of this eating plan did make a difference and the whole family ate the same together totally ignorant of why certain foods were not on their plate.
While my daughter may thank me for her 'no-diet' upbringing, I do thank, in return, my two elder daughters for having introduced very healthy eating and drinking habits into their homes. This means that, as a grandparent, keen to stay in favour with my grandchildren, I have to resort to other means rather than turn up with a plate of cakes, packets of sweets and biscuits. Crisps and other nibbles are also not welcome. If Mum does decide to produce crisps at a family event, then that is fine - she is, no doubt, balancing these with the other healthy options on the table. Snacks for the children usually comprise cucumber, carrot sticks, apples and pears and they drink only water and bedtime milk. The only time they do have a flavoured drink is when they visit me (hmm) as I have found unsweetened peach drink by Robinsons to be very popular. But I always ask in advance if this is permissible. I have never sneaked chocolate, sweets or crisps to the children as I know some grandparents do.
I have five older grandchildren who are like stick insects. You certainly can't pinch an inch on them. But, they are not lacking in energy. In fact the opposite is the case. They are also all doing well at school, their brains fed plenty of fish, oily or otherwise and a variety of vegetables which they have eaten as finger foods since they were 7-8 months old.
My younger daughter is following in the footsteps of her two sisters. She has the baby of the family and boasts a shelf full of books on babycare including many on cooking healthily for toddlers. She updates me on my visits as to the amount of sugar in apparently healthy, low fat yogurts and many other snippets of acquired information which I do try to remember.
So what do I take on my visits. Well, there are good 50p books in charity shops, the occasional comic and the very occasional small chocolate bar to share, with the parents deciding the time they can be eaten. On their visits to Swanage they are treated to ice creams like any other child but there are no pasties or sausage rolls eaten from the local bakery. Other Half and I save those for our child-free days.
After moving to the south west in 2001, Other Half was under investigation for a variety of niggling problems which raised a question mark over the health of his heart. At a stroke we stopped all cakes, crumbles, pies and other foods ridden with fat. Instead, we ate salad, brown bread and jacket potatoes, casseroles and roasts cutting down on the roast potatoes and Aunt Bessie's. We had a border collie so exercise was plentiful or so we thought.
I attended a weekly yoga class and swam twice a week in winter at a local pool and most days in the sea in the summer. So, with the dogwalking, and chasing toddlers round the playground, I expected to lose weight. I didn't. In fact, the weight gradually increased, some due to certain medications and a contented semi-retired life no doubt contributed to this. For ten years I have been puzzled at my inability to lose weight. Then at Christmas 2010, I was horrified to see five pounds more when I stood on the scales and, no matter how much I reduced portions, abandoned biscuits, chocolates or puddings, nothing seemed to work.
Even some of my less generous size 16 items failed to meet at the waist or at the blouse buttons. More and more items were taken to the charity shop as I resorted to baggy tops, loose trousers, elasticated skirts, black clothes, brightly coloured scarves to distract - well anything comfortable.
Last October, Other Half and I embarked on our first serious walking holiday, travelling to the Peak District and enjoying a week of sunny weather punctuated by some cloud but only one morning of rain. To occupy ourselves in daylight hours, we needed to walk between 5 and 9 miles a day. Evenings were spent sitting watching the television as we were too tired to venture to the local pub and preferred to drink our own wine. Walking was the best way to see this wonderful part of our country and certainly the ideal opportunity to get good photographs, essential for our hobby competing in the local camera club.
We returned energised, both of us feeling exceptionally well and 'sharp'. Our fuzzy brains had disappeared in the week and we enjoyed our new sparkle. We therefore decided to continue walking long distances when we returned. One day we took the bus from Swanage to the Sandbanks Ferry and walked back via Studland beaches and over Ballard Down to Old Harry Rocks and then down via Ulwell back to Swanage. This walk is reckoned to be between 8 and 10 miles. It took most of the day with refreshment stops and a picnic looking over the wide expanse of Poole Harbour. Other days I walked over Ballard Down and back through Ulwell, the whole walk offering generous portions of beautiful views. Twice we walked over the Down to Studland and took the bus back.
By late November we realised we were both losing weight albeit slowly but more exercise was on the cards. My friend and I joined a Country Dancing class and enjoyed it enough to make it a regular Tuesday evening activity. We then ventured together to the Zumba class one lunchtime each week. As well as losing a few more pounds over the first month or two, we both felt invigorated and it was noticeable that I could walk up the hill to my home without the usual stop for a rest half way up.
My job has for the last twelve or thirteen years involved sitting working on a one to one basis with further and higher education students but shortly after Christmas, I decided to leave and pursue my writing. The job was involving one or two days of sitting and inactivity for a period of nine hours each day which included a one hour bus journey each way. Instead, I volunteered in a local charity shop, responsible for the books, my passion. My four hour stints are spent on my feet either sorting the bookshelves or serving behind the counter.
My other passion is our local musical theatre company who, this year, are putting on Hello Dolly. Our director seemed to put the show 'on the floor' earlier than last year with the result that a second evening a week was spent on my feet.
Soon after Christmas I found I had lost 9-10 pounds since my new active lifestyle began in October. This has now, in mid March, increased to the loss of a stone, my weight dropping from 12 to 11 stone. The best part of this weight loss was dropping a dress size and wearing size 14 clothes for the first time in nearly fifteen years. But the creme-de-la-creme is my flat stomach of which I am quite rightly proud. I can't resist a glance in the mirror as I pass and seeing my reflection in shop windows is no longer a depressing sight.
Another change in our lifestyle was in November when we were allocated an allotment. To get the ground in shape for spring sowing has taken a lot of effort and even painting our second hand shed had helped keep both of us active.
All this without any attention being paid to diet. We eat healthily so nothing has changed except our appetites which have increased. In fact we now feel we can eat a large slice of cake or a few chocolate biscuits either at the allotment or on our return without any damage to our figures.
However, one change has been a reduction in alcohol consumption which, combined with our activities, has contributed to our weight loss and my own lowered blood pressure and a pat on the back from my doctor.
So if you feel you are joining the ranks of the overweight or nearly obese, try increasing your activity levels. As I said at the start, we thought we were active with our swimming and walking but it is the type of exercise that is important and the amount. Three 45 minute walks a week is NOT enough either for good health or for weight loss. Zumba and Dancing have certainly made a positive difference .
When people say, 'you have lost weight,' I now say, 'Look, no diet!'
Friday 16 March 2012
Friday 2 March 2012
Alternative treatments for good mental health
YOGA
For the last sixteen years I have practised yoga as often as possible. I began yoga during a hospital spell when I was under great stress. I began to look forward to the two sessions a week and would travel back to the hospital when I was discharged but allowed back for activities. I had taken an early retirement package from Further Education teaching and, while I didn't regret the move, I was coping alone with a house, mortgage, lodgers and suddenly faced with a reduced income and the need to apply for new teaching posts. I didn't want to teach full time and part-time work is usually only available if you approach the department at a time when they are in need of more staff but not able to fund a permanent post.
My crisis was soon to pass and I settled in to a summer of tennis with other patients, dog walking and pottering around the house completing all the jobs that needed to be done. As September approached I researched the yoga that was available. I had been going to a class in Ruislip taken by the yoga teacher from the hospital and needed to find a class nearer to home. I found an Adult Education class on a Wednesday morning and enrolled. The teacher was excellent, her class slightly different to the one I had been in during the summer. However, when she was away one week, we had a different teacher, who was also in the class. I discovered that people who practise alternative therapies do keep up their own practice within their discipline as they appreciate the need to 'receive' as well as 'give'. At the end of the class I asked the stand-in teacher if she held a class elsewhere. She did and I began to go to her class on a Tuesday morning, still keeping up my AE class as I had paid for the year.
I began to enjoy Celia's class so much that I did not return the next year to the class in Uxbridge and I was to go to her for three to four years. After my move to Swanage I put my name down for the Adult Education class held at one of the schools but was too late to get in straightaway. Meanwhile I had been attending a class on a Wednesday evening which was quite rigorous and, I now know, included movements I shouldn't have been trying because of a health condition. However, it was challenging and I learnt a lot.
A phone call in late September told me that not all people had turned up to the class I was on the waiting list for and that I could begin the next week. Thus began a very long period of yoga practice under this teacher, Pam. Around 2009 I found myself short of money as I had retired once again from a post in Bournemouth so I didn't renew my sub for the autumn term. Instead I went to the library and borrowed some yoga books, fished others off my over burdened bookshelf and sat planning my routine. I developed two or three routines; one for when I had time to devote 30-40 minutes of a morning; one for days I was going to work when I did about 20 minutes; lastly a short routine geared to stretching myself and keeping my body supple. I had noticed over the last few years that people in my class were nowhere near as supple as I was and I put this down to repeated practice over the years with a variety of teachers, all of whom taught me so much.
I know when I have neglected my yoga practice, as the knee I had treated with an arthroscopy in 2009 stiffens up and I lose the sense of calm that yoga practice provides. Also my concentration becomes intermittently bad. So much better did I feel doing daily practice that I provided a resource for my dyslexic students with links to a web page where they could look at the moves and read yoga information. One of my students came in the next week and said I had changed her life.
'Has it helped your concentration for your studies?' I asked but was surprised at the reply.
'Yes,' she said, 'but the main thing is I feel so much happier.'
This student had practised yoga in the past and I definitely would recommend a novice to attend a class for a few years before embarking on independent practice. I took a long time to learn the correct breathing and postures.
I will add the link to my resource later. Meanwhile, visit the library and get a book so you can practice some simple routines. You will see how better you feel and how much your concentration improves. You may also find what my student found, that you are much happier and feel able to cope with what the day brings.
MASSAGE
Another alternative treatment that works if you are stressed and can prevent you disappearing into the depths of depression that usually result is massage. This year I realised I had neglected to have a massage for 2-3 years so I asked around. In the end I didn't go for a massage but I booked in for a REIKI treatment, something I have never experienced. Below is information about REIKI from the website of the practitioner I visited. Everyone experiences the results of REIKI differently but for me I felt movement in my head and throat area as well as feeling sensations in the rest of my body. My main observation was of the heat which I felt as the treatment progressed. This is the therapist enabling your energy to rebalance within your body. I came away very relaxed and focused and slept for longer last night.
One reason I wanted a treatment was that I have found myself very busy over the last few weeks with my writing which is reaching an exciting stage, a challenging allotment newly acquired last autumn, and other activites which have helped me lose weight, reduce my blood pressure and improve the sharpness of my brain. When I begin to wake extra early I know this is an early warning sign that my mood may be rising to a level where I may make a bad judgement and become impulsive. The REIKI treatment has calmed my whole system down and the quality of my sleep was improved.
My therapist has provided her website link which I will post, but for now, I have copied and pasted below some information about REIKI which may help you decide if this is a treatment worth pursuing.
The intention of Reiki is that, if you can harmonise your energy system, you are putting your body in the best possible position to heal itself on all levels.
REIKI combines perfectly with all other energy & holistic treatments
EXERCISE
For the last sixteen years I have practised yoga as often as possible. I began yoga during a hospital spell when I was under great stress. I began to look forward to the two sessions a week and would travel back to the hospital when I was discharged but allowed back for activities. I had taken an early retirement package from Further Education teaching and, while I didn't regret the move, I was coping alone with a house, mortgage, lodgers and suddenly faced with a reduced income and the need to apply for new teaching posts. I didn't want to teach full time and part-time work is usually only available if you approach the department at a time when they are in need of more staff but not able to fund a permanent post.
My crisis was soon to pass and I settled in to a summer of tennis with other patients, dog walking and pottering around the house completing all the jobs that needed to be done. As September approached I researched the yoga that was available. I had been going to a class in Ruislip taken by the yoga teacher from the hospital and needed to find a class nearer to home. I found an Adult Education class on a Wednesday morning and enrolled. The teacher was excellent, her class slightly different to the one I had been in during the summer. However, when she was away one week, we had a different teacher, who was also in the class. I discovered that people who practise alternative therapies do keep up their own practice within their discipline as they appreciate the need to 'receive' as well as 'give'. At the end of the class I asked the stand-in teacher if she held a class elsewhere. She did and I began to go to her class on a Tuesday morning, still keeping up my AE class as I had paid for the year.
I began to enjoy Celia's class so much that I did not return the next year to the class in Uxbridge and I was to go to her for three to four years. After my move to Swanage I put my name down for the Adult Education class held at one of the schools but was too late to get in straightaway. Meanwhile I had been attending a class on a Wednesday evening which was quite rigorous and, I now know, included movements I shouldn't have been trying because of a health condition. However, it was challenging and I learnt a lot.
A phone call in late September told me that not all people had turned up to the class I was on the waiting list for and that I could begin the next week. Thus began a very long period of yoga practice under this teacher, Pam. Around 2009 I found myself short of money as I had retired once again from a post in Bournemouth so I didn't renew my sub for the autumn term. Instead I went to the library and borrowed some yoga books, fished others off my over burdened bookshelf and sat planning my routine. I developed two or three routines; one for when I had time to devote 30-40 minutes of a morning; one for days I was going to work when I did about 20 minutes; lastly a short routine geared to stretching myself and keeping my body supple. I had noticed over the last few years that people in my class were nowhere near as supple as I was and I put this down to repeated practice over the years with a variety of teachers, all of whom taught me so much.
I know when I have neglected my yoga practice, as the knee I had treated with an arthroscopy in 2009 stiffens up and I lose the sense of calm that yoga practice provides. Also my concentration becomes intermittently bad. So much better did I feel doing daily practice that I provided a resource for my dyslexic students with links to a web page where they could look at the moves and read yoga information. One of my students came in the next week and said I had changed her life.
'Has it helped your concentration for your studies?' I asked but was surprised at the reply.
'Yes,' she said, 'but the main thing is I feel so much happier.'
This student had practised yoga in the past and I definitely would recommend a novice to attend a class for a few years before embarking on independent practice. I took a long time to learn the correct breathing and postures.
I will add the link to my resource later. Meanwhile, visit the library and get a book so you can practice some simple routines. You will see how better you feel and how much your concentration improves. You may also find what my student found, that you are much happier and feel able to cope with what the day brings.
MASSAGE
Another alternative treatment that works if you are stressed and can prevent you disappearing into the depths of depression that usually result is massage. This year I realised I had neglected to have a massage for 2-3 years so I asked around. In the end I didn't go for a massage but I booked in for a REIKI treatment, something I have never experienced. Below is information about REIKI from the website of the practitioner I visited. Everyone experiences the results of REIKI differently but for me I felt movement in my head and throat area as well as feeling sensations in the rest of my body. My main observation was of the heat which I felt as the treatment progressed. This is the therapist enabling your energy to rebalance within your body. I came away very relaxed and focused and slept for longer last night.
One reason I wanted a treatment was that I have found myself very busy over the last few weeks with my writing which is reaching an exciting stage, a challenging allotment newly acquired last autumn, and other activites which have helped me lose weight, reduce my blood pressure and improve the sharpness of my brain. When I begin to wake extra early I know this is an early warning sign that my mood may be rising to a level where I may make a bad judgement and become impulsive. The REIKI treatment has calmed my whole system down and the quality of my sleep was improved.
My therapist has provided her website link which I will post, but for now, I have copied and pasted below some information about REIKI which may help you decide if this is a treatment worth pursuing.
Reiki
The Japanese characters making up the
work 'Reiki' are usually translated in the West as
meaning 'Universal Life Energy'
The practice of Reiki is based on working with and channelling energy, or a spiritual energy. The energy can be referred to as 'Chi'.
In my experience the general effect of a course of Reiki treatments is to produce a feeling of being 'laid back', calm and serene, more able to cope. If energy levels are low, then they will be boosted. If spirits are low then they will be lifted. Reiki makes you feel more positive and brings life back into balance.
REIKI seems to produce fast and long lasting results in almost all cases of:
meaning 'Universal Life Energy'
The practice of Reiki is based on working with and channelling energy, or a spiritual energy. The energy can be referred to as 'Chi'.
In my experience the general effect of a course of Reiki treatments is to produce a feeling of being 'laid back', calm and serene, more able to cope. If energy levels are low, then they will be boosted. If spirits are low then they will be lifted. Reiki makes you feel more positive and brings life back into balance.
REIKI seems to produce fast and long lasting results in almost all cases of:
- Stress, tension, anxiety & related symptoms
- Emotional Turmoil and Discord
- Sleeplessness
- Feeling unable to cope
- Low spirits, depression
- M.E.
- Long term pain
The intention of Reiki is that, if you can harmonise your energy system, you are putting your body in the best possible position to heal itself on all levels.
REIKI combines perfectly with all other energy & holistic treatments
EXERCISE
There is a considerable amount of research suggesting that an energetic exercise programme can help those suffering depression. I have been going to a Zumba class since last October and I love it so much that last week I bought a card of 10 sessions for £35 rather than pay £4 for each individual session. I can pay out in the confident knowledge that Zumba is somewhere I will be on a Tuesday lunchtime for the indeterminate future. It is not only the feel-good factor that this exercise regime gives you with its wonderful music and the programme being more of a dance routine, I have lost one stone in weight since October and I am told by people who praise Zumba that it is this exercise class which has made the difference. However, I do not want to be too complacent about the benefits so intend carrying out some research via the classes that my Zumba teacher takes and will bring the findings to my blog when they are to hand.
Another activity I and my friend have taken up since last September is Country Dancing. This is in the evening and we have both now persuaded our partners to join us. Whereas Zumba is so energetic you have no breath left to even say 'hello' to another participant for the whole hour, Country Dancing is a very sociable activity and we love its old-time customs such as men asking women to dance. It takes me back to my Youth Club days although the male dancers don't make my heart race like those I prayed would ask me to dance fifty years ago. However, they are very encouraging to new members and those with some expertise always ask novices to dance and guide them through some of the more difficult sequences, especially as, in the beginning, remembering what you have done on a 'walk through' is a problem, especially if I am not in the best mood at the time. A caller reminds you of all the moves you must make and the more regular moves such as 'set to your partner' are now automatic which relieves the brain of a large area of memory load. Everyone dances every dance and no-one sits out unless they are feeling dizzy which does happen when you first start Country Dancing. However, I no longer get dizzy, probably because after Zumba and Country Dancing brought my weight down, my blood pressure, previously sky high, has dropped to the most normal reading I have had for years. For those of you who find meeting people difficult when you are in low mood state, this activity forces you to communicate non verbally in a safe friendly environment. Another advantage is that people with long term mental health problems find it difficult to 'belong' to a group as there are long periods when they do not want to socialise. The more you go to a dancing group like this, the better you will feel and the exercise is releasing endorphins which can't be bad can it? Do give this a try if you are struggling with the social effects of depression. Your local library will be able to tell you where groups meet.
this morning there was a programme of interest to those of you who follow Mental Health issues and news. I tweeted that the programme - The Lobotomists on Radio 4 - was interesting. You can Listen again on iplayer on BBCRadio4. I will try to add a direct link later.
http://soundmindsoundmedia.wordpress.com
I have been following the posts from the above website and they make good reading. James is a journalist with an interest in Mental Health so he has started this website to set up some discussion about the issues.
Another link is with www.blackdogtribe.com which has been started as a joint venture between Ruby Wax and the mental health organisation SANE
try this link Black Dog Tribe
Black Dog Tribe
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Another activity I and my friend have taken up since last September is Country Dancing. This is in the evening and we have both now persuaded our partners to join us. Whereas Zumba is so energetic you have no breath left to even say 'hello' to another participant for the whole hour, Country Dancing is a very sociable activity and we love its old-time customs such as men asking women to dance. It takes me back to my Youth Club days although the male dancers don't make my heart race like those I prayed would ask me to dance fifty years ago. However, they are very encouraging to new members and those with some expertise always ask novices to dance and guide them through some of the more difficult sequences, especially as, in the beginning, remembering what you have done on a 'walk through' is a problem, especially if I am not in the best mood at the time. A caller reminds you of all the moves you must make and the more regular moves such as 'set to your partner' are now automatic which relieves the brain of a large area of memory load. Everyone dances every dance and no-one sits out unless they are feeling dizzy which does happen when you first start Country Dancing. However, I no longer get dizzy, probably because after Zumba and Country Dancing brought my weight down, my blood pressure, previously sky high, has dropped to the most normal reading I have had for years. For those of you who find meeting people difficult when you are in low mood state, this activity forces you to communicate non verbally in a safe friendly environment. Another advantage is that people with long term mental health problems find it difficult to 'belong' to a group as there are long periods when they do not want to socialise. The more you go to a dancing group like this, the better you will feel and the exercise is releasing endorphins which can't be bad can it? Do give this a try if you are struggling with the social effects of depression. Your local library will be able to tell you where groups meet.
this morning there was a programme of interest to those of you who follow Mental Health issues and news. I tweeted that the programme - The Lobotomists on Radio 4 - was interesting. You can Listen again on iplayer on BBCRadio4. I will try to add a direct link later.
http://soundmindsoundmedia.wordpress.com
I have been following the posts from the above website and they make good reading. James is a journalist with an interest in Mental Health so he has started this website to set up some discussion about the issues.
Another link is with www.blackdogtribe.com which has been started as a joint venture between Ruby Wax and the mental health organisation SANE
try this link Black Dog Tribe
Black Dog Tribe
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