March is Women’s Month, and my thoughts turn to an often neglected area of a woman’s life—her health.
I used to joke that once you hit 40, the warranty starts to wear out. Now that I’ve just hit 50, I like to kid my girl friends that this is the decade when preventive maintenance really begins.
By maintenance, I don’t mean maintenance medication, nor do I refer to maintenance for vanity’s sake, but more the serious maintenance we need to carve out each day to restore balance, keep us sane, and keep aging at bay.
I’ve worked for some of the top pharmaceutical companies over the last five years. Having been exposed to illness and disease both professionally and privately through some personal advocacies has always made me health-conscious.
However, I haven’t always been “good.” There were months and years, especially under great stress, when health would take a backseat. Of course I had to pay for those, eventually.
It’s when you start to feel the aches and pains or when you receive a not-so-good borderline reading on your lipid profile that you sit up and take notice.
It’s especially important for women to pay attention to their mental and physical health, primarily because they are carers, nurturers, givers, and, more often than not in many households nowadays, breadwinners as well.
“You must leave something for yourself, in order to give something away” or “You cannot give what you do not have.” These are bits of wisdom I’ve shared with women friends throughout the years. And no, it’s not selfish at all to take care of yourself.
Juggling
Whether you are a young mother with babies or toddlers, a 30- or 40-year-old stay-at-home, or working mom with children ranging in age from 10 to 20, or a woman in her 50s juggling caring for your family and your elderly parents, you must find ways to make your health a priority.
I love what ob-gyn and best-selling author Dr. Christiane Northrup wrote in an article on delaying aging. “The body regenerates an environment created by your thoughts, emotions and expectations. Make sure they are positive.”
In the same article, Dr. Northrup said, “There is a huge difference between chronological (the age on your driver’s license) and biologic age (the age of your tissues). Women age 18 with anorexia often have the bones of an 80-year-old, whereas healthy 80-year-olds who live joyfully have perfectly strong and healthy bones.”
The key, Northrup pointed out, is that you start prevention and maintenance early in your life. However, if you’re reading this and are in your 40s or beyond, fret not. It’s never too late to begin.
First, she suggested that we get our fasting blood sugar (FBS) checked. “And while you’re at it, add a hemoglobin A1C, which will tell you what your blood sugar has been doing for the last month or so. Glycemic stress—the oxidation of your tissues—begins early. And wild swings in blood sugar are the biggest culprit when it comes to subtle tissue damage that may not show up for years.”
When you know your numbers, you begin to become conscious of what you eat and how often you exercise. Because I live with a congenital heart disease, and my father died of a heart attack before he turned 50, I’ve always been very conscious of my numbers.
However, you don’t need to have a family history to be careful. Today’s lifestyle really predisposes the majority of us to lifestyle diseases; add to that daily stressors, the demands of family and work.
Northrup stressed that we avoid food that spike our blood sugar. This includes soda, white bread, sweets, all processed food, and most alcohol. Sugar is bad, and the less of it you have in your system, the better.
Move around
Sitting is the new smoking. Prolonged sitting (more than an hour) is profoundly unhealthy, Northrup says. “It’s a health risk—plain and simple.” Make sure you get up and move around at least four to five times per hour. I downloaded an app on my phone called Pacer, and every hour it goes off with an alarm that tells me, “You’ve been sitting for an hour. Go take a walk…” Like a puppy in training, when I hear the little bell go “ding!” on my phone, I get up and take a walk. It has changed the way I work and I’ve never felt better.
Ten thousand steps a day is the ideal to lead a healthy life and to keep a healthy weight. Work your way up to 10,000 steps in six weeks if you’re starting from scratch. Believe me, you will feel a whole lot better.
One other guideline she suggested is that we quell tissue oxidation with antioxidants. “What happens to guacamole if you leave it out for a couple hours? It turns brown, right? That is oxidation—the same thing that happens to your tissues and organs, unless you add antioxidants like a good multivitamin and plenty of fruits and veggies… The ideal, if you really want to keep healthy, is to fill 50 to 75 percent of your plate with healthy greens. Meat should be only the size of your palm, and pasta servings just as large as your fist. It’s all about portion control and eating healthy.”
After the age of 40, mammograms and an annual checkup with complete lipid profile is a must. An internal medicine specialist, an ob-gyn if you’re a woman, and/or a cardiologist will be good to have on your team. Whatever your age, so long as you are sexually active, an annual pap smear is mandatory. Nothing beats screening.
To ensure further protection, get yourself and your daughters vaccinated against cervical cancer, which in the Philippines is the no. 2 killer of women after breast cancer, taking 12 lives a day, and the numbers are rising.
If you have a history of diabetes or heart disease in your family, aim to live a healthy lifestyle and make sure to check in with your doctor at least once a year to get your numbers (cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood sugar, etc.) in order. It’s an investment, but there are many hospitals now that offer wellness packages, and laboratories offer the same service, too. It’s more expensive to go on maintenance than to prevent the disease itself.
A lot of what ails us physically is connected to how we are emotionally. There is no longer any doubt that the mind and body are very closely linked. But we’ll save that for another time. This March, take the time to take better care of yourself. Be a role model for your daughter.
An unusual but worthy bonding activity which costs about the same as spending an afternoon in the salon, at a good spa, or having lunch and shopping, is to go and have your lab work done together, or to go get your shots together.
My daughter and I recently started this practice, and we hope to do it every year from hereon. A girl’s concept of her body or her health is usually learned from her mother. Taking care of yourself is one of the best legacies you can leave your child, long after you are gone.
E-mail the author at storiesbykate@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @cathybabao.