Sometimes I feel like hot chips. Sometimes I crave Vegemite toast with butter. Sometimes I want to indulge in chocolate. But I know that if I eat these things all the time, my body will let me know about it. Over time, I know that eating these things too often will lead to me putting on weight, feeling sluggish and getting constipated. The pleasure of eating these things lasts for a few minutes, but the consequences last much longer. That knowledge helps me keep on track.
Most of the time, I eat foods that make me feel good. If I have treats, I make sure to really enjoy them. Statistics show that we are much less likely to make a change if we feel badly about the behaviour.
Why waste time on guilt? Life is too short.
CUT DOWN ON SNACKING
I tell my kids that the world won’t stop if we don’t have crisps or chocolate biscuits or cakes in the pantry. Around 96 per cent of Australians say they regularly consume snack foods, with chocolate up there as one of our first choices.
Tips
•Keep fruit, nuts and seeds handy at work or when you are out so you’re not tempted to make a chocolate or sweet run at 3 pm each day.
•Avoid buying highly processed snacks – if they’re not in your home, you’re less likely to eat them.
•Store whole food snacks so they’re clearly visible in your fridge and pantry, and carry some of these with you when out for longer periods so that you are not tempted by less healthy snacks.
•Learn to listen to your hunger cues – are you really feeling hungry, or simply tired, thirsty or emotionally flat and using food to fill the gap?
•Avoid getting overly hungry, which can result in you reaching for snacks when what you need is a proper meal.
MOSTLY DRINK WATER. DRINK TEA, COFFEE AND WINE IN MODERATION.
Soft drinks alone are adding to our collective waistlines, with US estimates showing that consuming one can of soft drink per day can lead to a 6.75-kilogram weight gain in one year. Nearly half of Australian children aged two to sixteen consume sugar sweetened beverages (including energy drinks) every day.
WHAT THE IKARIANS DO – AND WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU
Drink water
The Ikarian drink of choice is water. While sugary drinks have made inroads in recent decades, they are still a ‘treat’ drink rather than an everyday phenomenon. Avoid keeping soft drinks at home – if they aren’t there to tempt you, you will be less likely to consume them.
Drink coffee
It is thought that the boiled Greek coffee that the Ikarians (and many Greeks) drink may be associated with good heart health. There is compelling research to suggest that coffee drinkers in general may increase their lifespan, and have lower risk of developing cancer of the liver, type 2 diabetes, and heart attacks.
Whatever coffee you drink, ensure that it is not loaded with sugar and sugar syrups (as in some takeaways or ‘gourmet’ versions). Drinking a lot of milk-based coffees over the course of the day can also add up to excess energy and thus weight gain.
Drink herbal teas
The Ikarians make a regular practice of drinking herbal teas made from local wild herbs, including chamomile, mint and other local herbs. Herbs such as these lower blood pressure, and decrease their risk of heart disease and dementia. Herbs have traditionally been used in dealing with everyday ailments such as stomach pains, headaches and insomnia. Consider adding unsweetened herbal teas to your list of drinks consumed each day.
Drink alcohol in moderation and in company
In Australia, one in five of us drink alcohol at dangerous levels. Dangerous drinking is simply the four or five drinks some of us may have at the pub on a Friday night, or at a family barbecue on a Sunday. This sort of drinking places us at lifetime risk (chance) of getting an alcohol-related disease or injury.
The Ikarians largely drink their own homemade wine, which is absent of nitrates and pesticides. They generally drink in social situations, and almost always with food.
While research varies, there is a potential link between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced dementia risk. Some studies have found that drinking wine in particular is good for heart health, commonly known as the ‘French Paradox’. In the light of competing evidence, and not really wanting to give up alcohol completely, I find myself returning to the age-old Greek adage pan metron ariston – everything in moderation.
Whatever your drink of choice, consider drinking water between drinks, make it a practice to drink mostly in company, and ensure you have a few alcohol-free days each week. If you are trying to manage your weight, remember that alcohol is dense in energy but lacking in nutrition – and I speak from experience when I say that you may be inclined to eat more while you are drinking.
Move, rest and relax
The Ikarians live in mountain and seaside villages that compel them to move all the time. Their day-to-day life requires vigorous walking, tending of terraced gardens and looking after livestock. They move without thinking about it.
Here in Australia and similar countries such as the US and the UK, we sit down too much and don’t move enough. Australians spend as much as 80 per cent of our working day sedentary. A joint study by the Australian National University and the University of Sydney found that those who sat for eight hours a day (which is most of us who work in offices) have a 15 per cent greater risk of early death than those who move more. Even those who exercised regularly risked shortening their lifespan if most of their daily hours were sedentary. A University of Queensland study calculated that for every hour of (seated) TV watching, a person over the age of twenty-five cuts about twenty-two minutes from their lifespan.
EMBRACE EVERYDAY MOVEMENT
Much as I have a vexed relationship with housework (why can’t everything just stay clean?), I understand now that the work we do around our homes and gardens keeps us moving. Having a neat home makes me feel good, just as maintaining a prolific garden satisfies my partner. I now make my housework more active – making several trips to the clothesline rather than trying to lug a few loads of washing out in one go.
The main change I’ve made to increase how much I move around is to take the train to work – come rain, hail or shine. I’ve added three kilometres of steps to my day, without even really noticing it. This means I don’t have to worry about parking around the busy campus where I work, and I have some ‘thinking’ time as I walk to and from work rather than trying to negotiate traffic. On the days I work, I generally amass 10,000 steps by mid-afternoon. When I have time, on my way home I get off the train a few stops early and hit my goal of 10,000 steps even more quickly. Overall, I am more energetic, feel nicely tired at the end of the night, I sleep better and wake up with more energy.
Channel the Ikarians and do as much incidental exercise as you can each day – below are some tips to get you started.
Tips
In the home
•Consider everyday tasks such as housework, gardening and home maintenance as a chance to move.
•Avoid purchasing automated devices that replace good old elbow grease – think leaf blowers, automatic juicing machines, and remote controls for just about everything.
•If you have shops nearby, walk rather than drive.
Outside the home
•Walk up escalators.
•Take the stairs rather than lifts.
•Stand rather than sit on public transport.
•Park your car a little further when shopping, going to work, picking up kids, etc.
•Avoid taking your car where possible for local trips.
In the workplace
•Put things you need to use regularly – the bin, your kettle, the printer – at a distance.
•Go and talk to colleagues instead of ringing or emailing them.
•Set a desktop timer to go off every 30 minutes to encourage you to stretch.
•Go for a five-minute powerwalk around the block every hour or two to increase the flow of oxygen to your brain, get some sun on your skin and move your limbs.
/>
•Walk with colleagues at lunchtime, replace a meeting with a walk or hold standing meetings.
THERE’S STILL A PLACE FOR RIGOROUS EXERCISE
While I would like to ditch rigorous exercise, my sedentary job means I don’t get enough. My daughter and I go to group fitness classes to increase our fitness, manage our weight and help with overall feelings of wellness.
Tips
•Choose exercise that you enjoy, such as dancing, running, swimming, or a team sport
•Make it easy on yourself. If the exercise you enjoy is free as well as easy to schedule, you are more likely to do it. Dance to tacky ’80s pop clips, run, jog, do online exercise videos or whatever else takes your fancy. All you need to do is find 2 to 3 hours in your week to replace sedentary activities with more active ones. Given we are spending 12.5 hours per week on Facebook alone, it shouldn’t be too hard to find the time to be more active.
•Make a commitment to a team sport or a regular class to help you stay on track.
•Make small, incremental changes and build on these over time.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
As my body has changed over time, I am unable to do some of the things I did as a young person. So often I see people at my gym pushing through injury to keep going with their fitness routines, but at the cost of pain and further injury. Others launch into very rigorous exercise after months or years of doing none. It is important to listen to your body and consider what it can and won’t do.
•Listen to your body for tiredness cues – and honour these by sleeping more or resting.
•If you feel too tired to do rigorous exercise, replace this with a walk or another form of more gentle exercise.
•Pain is the body’s way of indicating that something is not right – listen and honour that by considering what is causing the pain and ways that you might address it.
CONNECT WITH THOSE AROUND YOU THROUGH MOVEMENT
Tips
•Create regular movement rituals with someone else.
•Replace a coffee date with a walking date.
•Walk the dog if you have one – and take a neighbour, friend or family member with you.
GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Studies show that a minimum of seven hours of sleep a night is essential for optimal health for those aged eighteen to sixty. Sleep deprivation leads to tiredness, memory problems and lack of concentration, and is associated with depression and anxiety.
It is thought that the Ikarians’ after-lunch siesta helps them to relax – it may be the reason for their low levels of depression. Getting the right amount of sleep will help you be more productive and relaxed and have more sustained energy. In her book The Sleep Revolution, Ariana Huffington likens sleep to ‘bringing in the overnight cleaning crew to clear the toxic waste proteins that accumulate between brain cells during the day’.
Tips
•If you feel you have a lot to do, make a list and put it aside to do tomorrow. Nothing earthshaking will happen if you don’t mop the floor or check those Facebook posts.
•Work backwards from the time you need to get up to ensure that you get the required amount of sleep. Half an hour before your designated bedtime, turn off all screens, darken your room, have a warm drink, and do something relaxing such as reading or a short meditation.
•Moving enough throughout your day, eating well and avoiding caffeinated drinks in the latter half of the day can help to set the scene for a better night’s sleep.
•Avoid eating and drinking alcohol late at night.
Really connect
Our Western lifestyle makes it harder to form and maintain meaningful connections. Some studies have shown that rather than making us feel connected, online social media can contribute to loneliness and reduce overall life-satisfaction. The proportion of Australians experiencing loneliness in any given year is around one in ten people. Research that reviewed 148 studies on the matter concluded that loneliness is as harmful to our health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.
MAKE TIME TO CONNECT WITH THOSE WHO ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU
The 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing found that one in five Australians aged sixteen to eighty-five experienced mental disorders in the previous year. This is equivalent to almost 3.2 million Australians. Social support, and particularly the emotional support from a close relationship, is one important protective factor for mental health problems.
Traditional ‘village’ structures tend to be few and far between in cities and towns, where we often live far from the people we grew up with, people who might have traditionally supported us as we grew our own families. So many of us are now working to support the sort of lifestyle we expect to have – mortgaging ourselves to the hilt to acquire homes, expensive phones and electronic entertainments – leaving less time to simply be with the people who are important to us.
Whomever you want to connect with, think about ways you can set things in place to do that. Prioritise meaningful connections, as these will keep you healthier and happier for longer.
Tips
Some simple rituals that can help you connect:
•Whether you live alone or with others, try to eat at the dinner table with family or friends as much as possible. If this is difficult because everyone has different commitments, agree on a night when it happens – and where everyone agrees that it’s not negotiable.
•Wash and dry the dishes with the people you live with (even if you have a dishwasher!).
•Make a habit of taking an evening walk with someone when the weather is fine.
•If you have a partner, aim to have an impromptu and regular ‘date’ at home – where you cook a simple meal, set up candles and ask each other how you are. Listen to each other properly. Take time for each other over breakfast of a weekend (before your kids wake up if you have teenagers) or late at night over supper (if you have young and early risers).
•Set up a monthly dinner, a weekly walk, a daily phone call with someone you want to spend more time with – whatever works for you. Agree to commit to it and put it in your diary. If it doesn’t work or stresses you out, review it.
•Help older people in your life connect with younger people, perhaps setting up Skype for a grandparent to read a nightly story to a grandchild who lives far away, or an aunt to teach a teenager a new skill.
BE GENEROUS EVERY DAY
The everyday generosity that I experienced while on the island of Ikaria was uplifting. From being offered food, to lifts, to company, it all helped me to feel welcome and connected to people whom I had not previously met.
Generous people report being happier, healthier and more satisfied with life than those who don’t give. Personally, being generous makes me feel that I am making a contribution and a difference to the world, however small.
Generosity does not mean you need to give large amounts of money to charity each year. It can be simple acts of generosity each day: a smile to a stranger, delivering a meal to someone who is unwell, volunteering your time to share a skill or passion.
Tips
•Consider what is going well in your life and what you are grateful for. Once you acknowledge what is going well, you are more likely to share your life with others.
•Consider what your skills and strengths are, and how you can share these meaningfully on a day-to-day basis – it might be cooking a meal for someone who is ill, helping someone with a job application or making a regular phone call to someone who would appreciate it.
•If you have time to volunteer your time, choose a cause that you feel strongly about and to which you feel you could make a meaningful contribution.
•Raise money for a cause connected with your passion – be it a charity or an inspirational person. Consider how you can help – organising a fundraiser with friends, doing a fun run, or making a donation.
How long will you live?
The good folk at Blue Zones have developed two simple online tests to measure overall life e
xpectancy and happiness.
Many such tests are available on the internet, but the Blue Zones ones are comprehensive and rigorous, but also easy and quick to complete. They are based on statistical probability – that is, they assess the things you do in your life and measure their likely effect on how long you might live.
Once you’ve done the tests, and put in place some of the tips in this book, do the tests again after a few months to see if you have improved your score.
TRUE VITALITY TEST
This test calculates your life expectancy, how long you’ll stay healthy and gives you personalised recommendation for getting the most good years out of life.
apps.bluezones.com/en/vitality/
TRUE HAPPINESS TEST
This test, based on the leading scientific research into wellbeing, will help you improve your environment to maximise your happiness.
apps.bluezones.com/en/happiness
Recipes
Stamatis family fava
Fava is a traditional staple food in Ikaria – it is cheap, filling and nourishing. Serve it as you would a cold soup. It is delicious accompanied by bread, olives and cheese.
INGREDIENTS
•225g yellow split peas
•1 medium brown onion, chopped
•1 small clove garlic, crushed
•juice of ½ a lemon
•1 teaspoon olive oil
•salt and black pepper, to taste
•paprika to garnish
METHOD
Pick over the split peas to remove any discoloured ones, and rinse. Place them in a large saucepan with the onions and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until the split peas are thick and mushy. If there is still some water remaining, drain it off before transferring the peas to a bowl.
My Ikaria Page 22