There has been a lot of conversation in the last few weeks about getting our lives back to normal. With COVID-19, our “new normal” now includes learning to live around a disease that is most likely here to stay. You can and should continue to exercise caution and make smart decisions, like social distancing, wearing a mask and frequent hand-washing. However, extended periods of extreme isolation are unhealthy as well. At some point you have to live your life. So until a vaccine is developed, what additional changes can you make to reduce your risk?
People at the highest risk of complications and even death are those who are over 65 years old and have obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure and who have heart, lung, kidney or liver disease, or those who are immunocompromised. If you have any of these conditions, the best strategy is to be careful with social activities and make sure to use a mask if you have to go out. We all await the arrival of a vaccine in the next 6-12 months, and that will give high risk individuals more protection against the virus.
In the meantime, it’s important to realize that some of those high-risk conditions you do have control over and you can improve your body’s ability to fight off the disease. This includes adult onset diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. These three are often interrelated, and the underlying problem is often obesity. Getting obesity under control generally leads to improvements with the other two.
Getting Obesity Under Control
Obesity seems to have the highest risk of complications and death with COVID-19, and if this is your health challenge - it should be a wake-up call to get it under control now. Not only will you feel better, you’ll put your body in a better position to make improvements with diabetes and high blood pressure. Here’s how:
Being overweight is typically a combination of a) eating too many of the wrong kind of calories and b) not burning enough calories. Adjusting both of these will usually allow someone to start losing weight. The key is to start slow and create a new daily and sustainable lifestyle. No crash diets or extreme workouts - most people burn out on these soon enough.
1. Eating Less Calories
In terms of diet, the biggest problem in the American diet is the presence of high fructose corn syrup in just about all packaged foods. It is the sweetest substance we know and most get psychologically addicted to it as a result. Unfortunately the body takes most of it and converts it to fat because the body can’t easily burn it for fuel. So dropping this out of the diet is key.
I advise patients to choose a low carb diet and stick with it. Transition into it over a few weeks. Watch what you are eating since it is easy for the calories to stack up. It helps to have a transition buddy working with you, and social media is a great place to get support.
2. Burn More Calories
To get the weight off or keep it off, you have to find a way to burn calories. Notice I did not say exercise - which for some people is a four letter word. Burning calories is the key and there are an infinite number of ways to do it. If you’re stuck inside, find an online exercise or yoga program. You can do some online shopping and get that corner of your home set up as a mini gym. Going for a walk is the easiest and simplest for many. Make sure you pace yourself to be slightly out of breath while walking. We have suggestions for keeping it interesting, as It helps to vary the location, the routine, the music you listen to, the people to walk with or talk to on the phone.
Getting creative with ideas from social media is very helpful. Get connected with others who are seeking the same health improvements - you can pull each other along when one of you gets into a motivation slump. Just remember, it’s important to burn calories daily because what you eat has to get burned off each day - otherwise it gets stored as fat.
When it comes to working on your diet, make lifestyle changes gradually. Remove the tempting foods from your home. Choose one habit at a time to change and focus on it. To successfully lose weight and keep it off long term, you have to change your lifestyle habits.
I recommend at least one of these changes I have heard from successful patients:
- Cutting down alcohol (it has extra calories and stimulates the appetite)
- Having alcohol only with food, not on an empty stomach
- Stopping sugary sodas or tea
- Cutting out high fructose corn syrup foods (in most packaged foods)
- Having desert one day a week
- Having half a portion of desert
- Having half a portion of the main course
- Drinking carbonated non-sugary water before meals
- Changing snack foods to veggies and not chips
- Limiting your snacks by putting them in a small bowl
- Eating half a portion at the restaurant and taking the rest home
The mind leads the body, and making your health a priority will give you the mental power to make changes. It helps to have a specific reason and make it clear to yourself why you want to make the change. Make the reason specific such as being able to do more activities with your children or grandchildren, being more effective at work, doing it for your family, being able to tackle home projects, or just because you love yourself and understand that you are worth the effort.
Understand that your health is important and not something to ignore or postpone taking care of. Make your mind up to get started...then do it. We believe in you
