Top 10 Simple Health Tips

Top 10 Health Tips

Health is one of the most precious things in life, but we often neglect it. Dr Martin from Orchard Health Clinic shares with us 10 Simple Health Tips that everyone should know, and must incorporate into our daily lives.

Move

You can spend a small fortune on the right chair. One of the best ways to save your back and body from the stresses of long hours sitting at work is just move. Every 45 minutes or so stretch, get a drink of water. This improves blood supply, improves concentration and refreshes your body.

Stop

One of the posture tips I give my clients is to remember why standing on two legs is an advantage over animals that stand on four. We can see further and so find food or avoid predators. Nowadays we hardly look further than 6 inches in front of our faces. This strains our eyes and hurts our spine.

Stand up, look out a window or better yet, stand somewhere with a great view and just look as far as the eye can see. Relax your shoulders, body and just stand in the more comfortable position to look far and wide and your body will do the rest.

Drink more water.

Not so called ‘healthy waters’ with added vitamins, normally they are just full of sugar or worse. You want vitamins get them from your diet, not stealth junk drinks that have been fortified to appear healthier.

Stop AGE!

We need sugar for energy, that’s true. What we don’t need is the excess hidden sugar. We will get enough sugar in our normal diet. Too much sugar can damage your skin, cause age spots, diabetes and make you fat. Advanced Glycation End products (AGE), toxins produced by amino acids reacting with sugars, especially High Fructose Corn Syrups bind to collagen and become sticky messes which create wrinkles and skin problems.

Hold the latte.

While having calcium is good, those lattes, even the skinny ones add up. In 2000, Tom Hanks had to go from an overweight man to a thin one with all the help of Hollywood’s top trainers and dieticians. What was his big secret? A splash of milk is fine, but ditch the lattes.

Watch out for LIGHT versions.

Don’t be fooled by so called healthy versions. 99% Fat free might mean 99% full of sugar. Low in calories might mean packed for of salt or chemicals. I remember looking at a bottle of water claiming to be 100% fat free and wondering why they would even put that there. Often companies just want to appear healthy, but for their benefit not yours.

While people argue about the effects of sugar free chemicals on the body, try giving your cat the ‘diet version’ of a drink and see how far that gets you. If it’s not good enough for your pets, it is NOT good enough for you.

Being green is good, being mean is not.

While its great to save the Earth, reusing plastic bottles for storage or water is not smart. BPA’s are often found in plastic containers, especially water bottles and are chemicals that act like estrogen a female sex hormone. This can have damaging effects on males and fertility and cause imbalances to women’s own natural hormone cycles. Degrading plastics are a prime culprit and they build up over time. Stop being lazy clean those cups.

Health food bars.

I remember being amazed watching people taking their protein bars, sports drinks and energy boost packs, then complaining about not being able to lose weight. Unless you really are competing for the Olympics, it’s your profession or you are already in excellent condition do you really need that double chocolate chip cookie dough ultimate energy boost bar?

Eat Fat!

Yes, you heard right. Eat fat. No, not trans fats, not oily junk food but essential fatty acids (EFA’s). I once asked a patient who was complaining of poor health and skin issues to eat more vegetables and reduce junk food. She came back a week later saying she ate more vegetables but still feel bad. I asked her what vegetables and she said McDonalds Fries twice a day. My jaw literally dropped open.

So, let me be specific here. Eat more good fats called EFA’s.

EFA’s are called essential as your body cannot make its own source. EFA’s are mostly all those strange coded words we see nowadays. Omega 3’s, ALA’s help to protect the heart, lower cholesterol, improve your skin, improve your immunity. We get good sources of these in fish such as Salmon, nuts like walnuts, Soya and Flaxseeds.

So sprinkle some flaxseeds on your food as honestly, they don’t really taste of anything. They will boost your health, improve your skin and improve concentration levels.

MSG in a bottle. Once you pop you can’t stop is what a well known brand of chip makers claim. There is very good scientific evidence while most brands of chip are hard to resist and that is because of MSG. Monosodium Glutamate not only makes food extra yummy to us, it also suppresses are desire to stop eating. Great news for the people making the product, not so great for you or your waist. Also MSG is hidden, various names it goes under are: Hydolyzed Protein, Hydrolyzed Animal protein, Hydrolyzed Vegtable Protein, Hydrolyzed oat flour, Plant Protein Extract, Calcium caseinate, Yeast extract, textured protein, autolyzed yeast, and often called a flavour enhancer.


About the writer Martin John is a UK registered osteopath who has been living in Singapore for the past 13 years. With over a decade of professional experience, he is well-versed in the Singaporean lifestyle. He specialises in sports injuries, pain management and exercise prescription. He frequently treats common conditions like back pain and neck pain as well as deal with more complicated cases like arthritis, slipped disc, disc bulge, scoliosis and hip impingements. His aim is to provide drug-free treatments in a safe effective manner and is also a strong advocate of lifelong learning. For more information, go to http://www.orchardhealthclinic.com/.