Hi everyone, As writers, it seems inevitable that we spend a fair amount of time sitting, possibly hunched over as we click away at the buttons on our keyboards. For some, it may be a challenge finding time to get up and "exercise" or impractical given certain conditions. But as (I think) we all know, the other half of good bodily health is in eating right. So I decided to start this thread to see all the different ways we try to keep ourselves well. What I'm interested in is how all of you stay healthy. How do you get active? What do you do to stay in motion? Similarly, what do you eat to give your body the nutrition and energy it needs to stay in balance and allow for activity. What about your mind? How do you keep your mind healthy, calm, and functioning to it's highest capability? What do you do to reduce stress and keep an emotional balance? Please share what you know. I'd like to build a collection of tips and get a discussion going about things we can try to stay healthy. Wherever you are in life, I'm almost certain you've got some 'valuable insight to contribute. (even if we don't get tips, It would be nice to talk about health a bit just to stay conscious, right?) So, one more time, what is the value of health and wellness to you? Further, what does "healthy"mean to you at this point in your life? How do you maintain some semblance of a healthy lifestyle?
Great topic Andrae! Health means a lot to me, since I got sick with a chronic illness five years ago. I'm getting better all the time, but there were years when I couldn't breathe or go outside at all, so for me health means free of symptoms of the illness and having no functional limitations. I used to play loads of sport, but these days, I do qi gong, the precursor to tai chi, most days. It's meditative and improves strength as well as dealing with any stress. Also, kundalini yoga is brilliant, quite strenuous but also meditative. I feel brand new after I finish either of those. I have a cat and a dog, and working from home, two jobs plus writing, I get up all the time, walk around, do chores, play with a dog outside, go for a walk etc. Only rarely do I get a chance to sit for several hours straight, and I actually prefer to move around. I listen to Mixcloud while I write, so when a particularly good dance song comes on, I'll get up and dance as well. Eating-wise, I eat mostly organic, and whenever I can, I grow my own stuff (gardening is also a good way to de-stress). Red meat maybe once a week, chicken 2-3 times, fish once or twice a week and at least one or two vegetarian or vegan days. I eat oats for breakfast (either cook as porridge or mix with banana and blueberries, with almond butter on top), cooked lunch and lighter dinner, don't snack often but when I do, it's a piece of fruit or a coffee and a biscuit or a slice of cake. I bake my own, and I often make cakes with no icing, like marble cake or carrot cake. I am a fiend for sweet, I don't have to eat much but I have to have some every day, so I try to have something I made, either a healthy oat or granola bar or an icingless cake, to help curb the cravings. I also drink loads of water, sugarless tea and sometimes coffee (this I like sweet). Never drink fruit juices or sodas, or eat junk food and crisps (or extremely rarely, on a road trip or something like that).
Good thread, Andrae I like to collect health tips too, and it'd be nice to see how others manage between long writing binges without completely destroying their backs... T and I have built a writing castle which consists of our super comfy sofa, a big computer screen, and our own ergonomic keyboards, but I still get a bit stiff every now and then from staying still so long. I tend to use every excuse I can to stand up every now and then. My knees in particular hate being still for too long. When I'm teaching, I stand a lot which is good. Being upright and moving around is comfortable to me, while for some people it gets heavy on e.g. their lower backs. My other job is a regular office job, but we have saddle chairs and adjustable desks, so I can stand while I work. I can also bike to the workplace, which is good for my joints. This winter I also noticed that biking in the early morning darkness when it's -20 C outside sure wakes you up well and proper. For some reason my body is a calorie furnace, it just burns everything really fast, and in addition to that, I have trouble eating high-calorie foods to keep the engine running -- apart from chocolate! I know, bad for teeth yadda yadda, but I do try to make sure I don't always choose the sugary option (Stevia chocolate is good) or I stick to dark chocolate as much as I can. Apart from that horrible, horrible vice, I eat healthy, a lot of greens and protein-rich foods, and pretty much whatever I feel like. I'm not into processed food, I like to make my own meals. In fact, I try not to think about food too much. I used to have a bad relationship with it, so nowadays I prefer to see it as fuel. This is an area I need help with 'cause I've gone through one burn-out already which led to depression and it effing sucked. I'm more or less out of the woods, though this spring has been difficult because of the new job and my Master's Thesis, but I'm scrambling on mentally. Luckily my hubbie helps me out a lot, I don't know where I'd be without him. I find that exercise helps; running, boxing (getting punched kind of put things in perspective, lol), working out at the gym, and spending time with horses (just grooming them or doing stable work can be meditative). I do want to take a good care of my body and mind not just for myself, but for my husband too so that he'd have a healthy wife around as long as possible, but sometimes I end up neglecting myself; old habits die hard. I had a twisted relationship with food in high school (I refuse to call it an eating disorder cos I feel like it excuses my selfish behavior back then somehow. I'm sorry if this reads offensive to others who have or have had anorexia/bulimia/orthorexia, but I reserve the right to analyze my own condition as I wish), and I've noticed that whenever I go a long time without eating, I get the ghost of that high I used to get when I was a teenager. There're times when I don't give a crap about my own well-being and e.g. go on a soda-masochistic work binge, but that's when T usually steps in and reminds me that I really don't have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. If I were to give any tips of my own, well... Even though writing is a huge passion to pretty much everyone here, don't forget to go out into the world. Gather experiences. Also, take a good care of your brain, that's one of your main tools. I've heard it likes fish oil and walnuts. Exercise is important, any exercise, really, doesn't have to be something that leaves your muscles sore for a week. Healthy mind resides in a healthy body, I think. I also think people shouldn't be too hard on themselves. Allow yourself a few vices.
Good topic and one I'm pretty familiar with out of necessity. For over half a decade I've struggled with chronic back pain. Previously it was just two degenerated discs and a couple of spinal disc hernias or whatever they are called, but right now I'm waiting for an MRI to find out whether my physiatrist's suspicions are confirmed: she said plenty of my symptoms indicate ankylosing spondylitis, which would totally suck, but it keeps me motivated when it comes to training since whether I have it or not, fact is, my back's fucked up and I gotta train every day to keep it from getting worse. I do fysiotherapy every day to treat my back, but a lot of those exercises also work on the core muscles that help with pretty much everything. Like @KaTrian already said, we're also members at a boxing club, which is awesome even if we get our asses kicked there, and we hit the gym / lift iron a few times a week. One of the most inspiring and motivating things is to see your own development. For instance, with boxing, I can now outbox guys who used to be better than me, which is very satisfying, the feeling of slipping that solid punch through their defenses, the fist smacking right in the face... what? Hitting people is fun! Getting hit can be fun too, though. Whenever I spar with Kat and she manages to land a hard hook that makes my knees go wobbly, my first reaction is a big grin; I'm so proud of how good she's become in such a short time. And then I go rinse the blood off my mouthguard. If only you listened... And you coined a new term there: you often drink soda while you're on a masochistic work binge: soda-masochism! But yeah, it's tricky when your body is so efficient at burning calories and your taste doesn't include other high-calorie foods except chocolate and bacon. Maybe we should figure out some high-calorie drinks (other than tooth-rotting sugary sodas), like recovery drinks or some such since liquids are easier to get down when you're already full than solid foods... Anyway, my body's the exact opposite: I can go days with just a few gulps of milk and calorie-free liquids. I won't even feel faint unless I go boxing like that. If the world suddenly run out of food or we were hit by the next ice age, I'd be all set since my body is constantly prepared for the next famine, storing every calorie I sniff, and since I'm cutting weight to get down to a lower weight class in boxing, my diet consists pretty much of protein-enriched milk, multivitamins, omega-3 caps, oatmeal (with butter), and veggies. It's not what I'd like to eat (except for Kat's oatmeal; I could eat that stuff every day and not get bored of it) 'cause I've always been a meat eater, but if this is what it takes to carve off those last kilos of lard, this is what I'll do. I've already cut around 10kg, so I'm halfway there. Oh yeah, swimming is another of my favorites if not my all-time favorite sport. Just like Kat was built to run (she can pretty much keep up with the women competing in the 100m Finnish nationals without even training for sprints), I was built to swim and whenever I hit the pool, I can't help but to smile. I just get this soaring feeling when I do lap after lap after lap. It also helps a lot with the back pain 'cause it stretches the spine (my style is pretty upper-body oriented). It's my version of zen when I feel like I'm flying instead of swimming and nothing exists except the pool. And then some huge granny blocks my way even though it clearly says on the sign above the lane that this lane is for fast swimmers and she's about as fast as a jellyfish. And old men are just as bad. Can't you people read or are you seriously so deluded, you think rhythmic floating from one end of the pool to the other is swimming fast? And now my zen is destroyed... Anyhoo, all this exercise and watching our diets definitely helps with writing. It keeps our brains active, our bodies as fit as they can be, and it gives us stuff to write about: we have a boxing scene in our current WIP and we've gotten some pretty good feedback about it. Besides, punching and getting punched is pretty universal, happens in almost every fight, so it also helps in writing "normal" fight scenes, not just the Noble Sport. And I totally 2nd Kat's suggestion: if you go out there and do stuff, you do get plenty of writing ideas you wouldn't have otherwise gotten or at the very least you get plenty of 1st hand experience (which is always better than 2nd hand when it comes to describing it) of things you might wanna write about. And now I lost my train of thought so over and out for now...
@KaTrian : You sound like my mum, that woman eats pancetta with onion and bread at midnight, after a full restaurant meal, and she is barely 10 kg heavier then when she did ballet No such luck for little ol' me, who can suffice on a muesli bar the entire day. I too used to have an eating disorder, I'm calling it that because that makes most sense to me. I don't blame anyone, although I did have a pretty crappy childhood and with a ballerina mum, had to conform to her idea of thinness which, for me, was only achievable through starving myself. I know exactly what you mean about the hunger high, it makes me feel good, clean, proud, just like a better version of myself. Messed up, ha? Anyways, I was going to tell you, to gain weight, eat avocado, salmon, nut butter with your oats, eggs, lots of protein (tofu fried in some olive oil and then made into a sandwich with lots of roasted veg is divine), you can even sneak protein powder, dates, a banana, coconut milk into your smoothies (another thing, you can make a lovely oatmeal from coconut milk). Another healthy way to get calories in is to mix half a cup of coconut oil with cocoa, stir to combine, then mix with rice crisps (organic). When it sets in the freezer, cut in little squares. Heat up some peanut butter and just decorate the tops of the squares with it, freeze, wrap individually and keep in the freezer. You can also add coconut oil or milk to shakes and smoothies, and always put some olive oil on your salad. Or cut up an apple and spread some peanut butter on each slice, for a really tasty snack
No oils, no eggs, no meat, no dairy. Six feet behind me as I write this are a treadmill and a weight machine, and I get outside for at least an hour a day to walk or just putter around the yard (weather permitting, which it hasn't much here in mid-Michigan this winter).
Ian McEwan (author of Atonement) was asked about having the mental endurance to write a novel as he got older. He said that being physically healthy really helped his mental health. He mentioned that he goes for walks often, which really seems to help him. For me, stress is the biggest problem. With all the stuff I have to do for school, it's easy to become stressed. But on the bright side, all that schoolwork keeps my mind functioning at a high level (or so I'd like to think). I do try to stay active by playing basketball or ultimate frisbee when I get the chance. As for food, I know I can do a lot better when it comes to eating healthier. I need to eat less frozen food and consume less sugar.
I play football four nights a week and that helps a lot with fitness. I play Gaelic football three nights a week and on Mondays I play soccer with some friends. It's really enjoyable. The all-round physical and mental health benefits of exercise is massive, imo. It makes it a no-brainer for me. A friend of mine is studying to become a doctor, and I asked him how much illness could be avoided if people kept fit and ate reasonably well. He said, "it's unbelievable" Writing of course is very insular so I would always encourage people to get out and about if they can In the long-term you won't regret it
i'm a moral vegetarian, so my health has improved greatly in the decades since i gave up eating/using any murdered fellow animals... i was a 98 pound weakling post-childhood, stayed not much over 100 thereafter and even got back down to 107 # [at 5'4"] after my 7th and final child was born... exercise was always 'against my religion' [i'm actually an atheist] but since advancing age added layers of fat i hate having to drag around, a year ago i caved and bought myself a 'reclining exercycle' which is helping me get rid of the uncomforable excessive avoirdupois... i'm only up to 20 minutes per day, but since i could manage no more than 3 when i started, i consider that a major victory... i don't think it helps my writing in any way other than perhaps helping to keep me alive longer to do more of it... after the morning 5-7 hours of straight sitting at the computer, i get up and down a lot, during the rest of the day, sitting in my platform rocker to do 'lap-work'... my little trailer house is so tiny i'm only a few feet away from my desk, no matter what i'm doing, so whenever an email comes in from mentee or client, i go back to my comfy-enough exec chair and work on whatever for as long as it takes... as i eat breakfast while ansering the overnight influx of email, i'm probably at the computer for about 10 hours a day, total... and sitting elsewhere the rest of the time... i do some 'shaking-out' of arms, hands, shoulders, upper body while sitting and jig about now and then away from the computer, to loosen up the rest... the only walking i do is a once a week trek through a small safeway [get there and back by cab]... thankfully, after 4 decades of trauma-rife marriage and child-bearing/rearing, i've been living a totally stress-free life for the past nearly 20 years, so have little to complain about body-wise, other than the odious adipose aggregate i'm now only 10 'last' pounds away from seeing gone... not bad for 75, right?
I was always active in my childhood, specifically gymnastics, but had corrective surgery for progressive scoliosis when I was 11 that killed that dream. I focused more on swimming and dance after that, first as therapy, then for fun again, was a cheerleader and dancer in high school as well, and danced ballet into my first year of college. Between then and when I had kids I didn't do much of anything active, could eat anything I wanted (and did) and stay lean, but wasn't super healthy. Since having kids (and they are still young, almost 5 & 2 1/2) I'm up and down constantly tending to them, playing outside, etc. When I was 7 months pregnant with my first I tripped over a parking bumper, pinched a nerve, and have dealt with sciatica off and on since then. I finally joined a gym a year ago and started jogging with my eldest which has helped the flare ups tremendously. She and I have done three 5k's together since September. She is my little athlete, loves everything active (especially soccer), so I now try and make a more conscious effort to be a good example. My metabolism started to slow when I finished nursing my youngest so I started watching my food intake then. I'm not much of a fruit person but I love veggies so I've gotten into green smoothies. Fish is a huge part of my diet since we live on the coast. My weakness is black beans & rice...my mom grew up in Brasil and that's a staple I grew up with! Now it's more of a bimonthly treat rather than twice a week like it used to be. I've never been much into sweets...I prefer salty snacks...so try to limit those. I drink more soda than I should but that a guaranteed quick way to drop 5 lbs when I stop. When I'm getting uncomfortable with myself I swap it for my favorite sen-cha green tea and I drop a size in a week. That just shows you how bad it is, not even counting what it's doing to my insides! That's my biggest vice though and we all have one. I'm more about moderation than elimination anyway. I think I'm pretty laid back and mostly stress free considering certain personal obstacles I've faced at times and basic daily life struggles. Writing is my mental therapy, it helps clear my mind and I'm trying to get to that place with exercise. Once my kids are in school I'll have more time to dedicate to me. Right now my life revolves entirely around their schedules, so I have to squeeze my 'me' time into naps, when they're gone at activities, and mostly after they go down for bed at night...and that's after taking care of the house, yard, pool, bills, 2 dogs and 2 cats, mending favorite toys, cooking, fundraising for local things I'm involved with...nothing out of the ordinary though and the same as every other parent out there. My husband is super helpful and involved when he's home but he works swings, alternating from days to nights and never has the same schedule for working and being off, so the bulk of pressure and responsibility falls on me, which is fine since it's a job that I'm both grateful for and hold proudly as a SAHM. It's easy to forget about yourself once you have kids and have priorities beyond yourself - and that's my hurdle - fitting me as an individual person into the life of wife and mom. It's difficult but do-able when you really try. At least I know my life is easier than Gwynth Paltrow's!
I'm two weeks out from a mytral valve replacement surgery and for the first time in more than five years my cardiac function is back within the normal range. I now outweigh my 90 lb. Greyhound by a bag flour and have rediscovered my endurance. Rue, my husky has been a willing participant in my rambles, making sure I don't push too far. The need to battle back to where I was once was is fierce now that I feel better. Life has colour again and time no longer looms heavy and bleak on the horizon. I'm back on my yoga ball and into life and my writing once again... Shadows remain, my stints and risk of future infarctions, but for the first time my heart is structurally sound, giving me a much better chance for a normal life in the coming years. So yes, I can for once honestly say I'm well. It isn't a big thing, but to be able to be considered healthy again is enough to give me peace of mind. Exercise is good for the body, as well as the soul, and what is good for the soul is good for the mind, which as you all know is the source of all we do. - Darkkin, the Tedious
I think I still want to kind of pretend I didn't have a real problem, so I call it with every other name out there Funny you should mention moms... She isn't a ballerina, but she's always been bird-boned and used to tell me how she only weighed 40kg/88lbs when she was young (she's a little bit shorter than me. I'm 5'7''). I've seen pics, and yeah, she was skinny. I got down to "only" 42kg/92,6lbs, but it was stupid. I wouldn't have had to, and I never will again, not voluntarely. It's a mental thing for sure, which is why I like to redirect my mind to nicer things so I don't start obsessing over harmful stuff. It's funny about writing; how it kind of keeps me out of my own head 'cause I always go into someone else's head, so it's therepeutic that way. Thank you! I will definitely try these out. I do like to make raw food snacks out of coconut oil, cocoa, and dates, but it's a bit time consuming and I'm often too lazy or busy, while these seem to be a bit faster to make. I do eat peanut butter but only in very small amounts. I like the idea about apples and pb
I own 2 dogs who let me know I haven't walked them by whining when they hear me by the front door. And after reading yet one more scandal about pharmaceuticals added to cattle feed because they grow bigger, and herbicide that deforms frogs but for 10 years the manufacturer has sent their minions to trash the cred of the researcher, I've gone as organic-foods as I can. (It's hard to buy organic food at the Thai food take out.) When you go organic, it cost more but you are forced to eat healthy.
"I'm a moral vegetarian" ...lol I couldn't utter a phrase like that without feeling vaguely ridiculous, but that's just me
I am currently on a diet plan called "the Warrior diet" (It's a bit ridiculous, I know) that I must recommend to every gym rat out there. And it's particularly good for people who doesn't have much time to cook during the day. During the 24 hours, you would under eat for 20 hours, and over eat the remaining four, as this model mimics what would be the nutrition of the days of old, when hunter-gatherer societies and ancient warriors would not have a lot of food available during the day, eating mostly fresh fruit and vegetables they could find, or other food items they could carry, such as dessicated meat or fish, and them eat a large meal (sometimes referred to as "feast" in this diet) in the evening. During the day I have many small meals, probably one about every two of three hours, consisting a handful of nuts (my choice being hazelnuts or almonds), and a choice of fresh fruit, mostly apples, citrus fruits or berries, and a banana on the days I'm particularly active. Every morning I take various vitamin and herbs supplements, also iron for Anemia. I vary the evening meal each day, too keep things interesting and because I love cooking, but it always include a huge quantity of fresh and cooked veggies, and then some kind of lean protein source. I always try to eat some citrus with my vegetables, as Iron absorption from diet is enhanced in the presence of vitamin C. I tend to have dinner quite early, about 7 pm, to avoid going to bed on a full stomach. Some people add ad second protein based meal, mostly eggs, after 9 pm, but I don't as I don't feel the need for it. It's important to drink a lot of water during the day, and I also drink a lot of tea and coffee, but avoid milk and sugar (black coffee is the best coffee anyway, right?). After a few first days of getting used to the routine, days two and three being really hard, you won't even notice that you are on a diet. And what's good is that you can eat pretty much anything you want during the evening meal, so if once a week you wont to indulge in pizza or pasta, or whatever sinful food you like, you don't have to feel to guilty about it. Many recommend taking protein supplements during day meals, but that's something each person has to evaluate by himself.
why 'ridiculous'?... i'm not a vegetarian because of health reasons, nor due to any religious mandate, but only because i consider it immoral to kill a fellow member of the animal kingldom... thus, 'moral vegetarian'... what would you call it, from that self-awarded lofty perch whence you launch your barbed missile?
I don't wish to turn this into a tit for tat thing, but there are a couple of things suspect about that statement. I find it ironic you say I’m on a "self-awarded lofty perch." For one, the statement “I’m a moral vegetarian” has got more than a whiff of the self-aggrandizement about it, does it not? Whether you meant to or not, it seemingly elevates you to a kind of squeaky-clean saintliness, whereby, the quiet implication is that all meat eaters are, on the other hand, somehow immoral. And your decision to utter this phrase almost serves to create a clear distinction between you on the one hand (good), and all others (bad). I'm more of the belief that humans aren't terribly moral creatures, and I would always view people who proclaim their moral acts with the utmost suspicion...If you'd have said, "I'm a vegetarian", I wouldn't have thought twice about it
Physical Health is very important to me, it keeps your mind somewhat clean and focused. I started training heavily last year going to the gym five day's a week, I got some nice results, not only physical but also mental. I noticed how things weren't as 'foggy' as before and I just generally felt better and happier. This year however I've done a reform on my workout as the previous got dull. I quit the gym and do my exercise in the outdoors three day's a week. I use my environment and get fresh air in the lungs. I train in all weather conditions, which can be very cold or hard sometimes but the feeling afterwards is great! This is how a week for me can look: Monday or Tuesday; push-ups, sit-ups and I might throw in some more exercises depending on my level of exhaustion. (I almost always train until I can't anymore, mostly taking myself to my limit) Wednesday or on the weekends I go for a 20km walk or a shorter run, sometimes with a 10+ kg backpack. (Did one recently with a 30kg backpack, it was hell) Thursday or Friday; Mostly arms and other areas I haven't used in the week. I do this because I love the outdoors, it's an ever changing environment and you always see something new, I would consider my training now much harder than the 5 day's in a gym one. Mostly because I'm at the mercy of the weather, but also because I find myself pushing harder when there's less people around to hear my moaning and cursing. This exercise is not only necessary for my health, it's also necessary for my hobby; which is to hike. I plan on taking a long hike alone in a large national park and need to prepare myself very well. EDIT: Almost forgot! I eat very nutritious food, lots of protein. Oatmeal on every training day. I eat only one sort of brown bread. And I eat every time I start to feel hungry.
and you really need to read it: whether you like it or not, humans are animals... they're not vegetables or minerals... thus, 'fellow member of the animal kingdom'... which, btw, is a common expression in re our status... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=webhp&q=%22fellow+member+of+the+animal+kingdom%22&oq=%22fellow+member+of+the+animal+kingdom%22&gs_l=serp.3...121946.134366.0.139550.9.8.1.0.0.0.287.1388.1j5j2.8.0....0...1c.1.39.serp..6.3.352.9MLYP_geaTc
yes, cows and humans are both members of the animal kingdom, but let's face it, "fellow member" implies that we're all going to sit down tomorrow morning and share coffee. We get it that we're all animals. Fellow implies that we share more than that.
