IRAH: Individual Retirement Account for Health – A Personal Transformation Journey

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Ghandi

During my studies at the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, one specific idea caused me to pause and reflect on my path. The concept that making healthy choices today is similar to making deposits of money into a bank account seemed so simple, yet powerful.

The idea that the more healthy choices you make today, the more the balance will grow for wellness in the future can be life changing. Think about this, most of us have set up a plan for our retirements, Roth IRA, 401K, or traditional IRA. Most of us though, like me, have never heard of an IRAH – Individual Retirement Account for Health. The IRAH follows the same plan as the IRA, make deposits now to draw upon to live well in the future. Money for retirement is lovely, but having the health and wellness to actually enjoy it is perhaps more important to me. What good is money, if you don’t have the health and wellness to enjoy it?

My Journey to Healthy

I never fully realized the full extent of the choices I’ve made and the impact they would have on my health in the future. I never liked healthy food, especially vegetables. I think it was a texture issue for me and perhaps the fact that I grew up in the 60s and 70s, the era of canned and processed food. Canned vegetables were convenient for my mother and she used them every night. The thought of those putrid vegetables make me gag even now. Being forced to eat them each night, caused me to rebel when I was in charge of menu planning for myself. Vegetables were basically nonexistent in my meal plans and fruit, green leafy vegetables and legumes were eaten very infrequently. I focused primarily on getting protein from animals and coupled them with some carbohydrates. I thought protein was the key to my health coupled with lots of exercise.

Exercise

For years, I exercised endlessly and ate my SAD (standard American diet) food, watching helplessly as I went up and down in both my health and weight. I trained and ran half and full marathons and still didn’t feel any healthier. I kept changing my exercise routines to get the scale to move and adding more and more exercise to my day. At one point I was going to a 5:00 AM power yoga class in the morning, driving to the gym to swim laps, shower and then walk to work. I walked on my lunch hour around the neighborhood and often stopped on the way home to walk or run 3 miles. On days I didn’t go to yoga, I replaced that morning workout with long runs and did yoga after work. I felt like a hamster on a wheel, running and running, but getting nowhere. This impacted my mental health terribly and led to more unhealthy eating. I never prioritized my nutrition fully, as I sincerely thought exercise was my ticket to healthy living. Looking back now, I think I was basing my evaluation of wellness solely on my weight. If I was a healthy weight and had lean muscles, I would be healthy, right?

Nutrition

Last year, when I started over again, I knew I had to do things differently. It had been 8 years since I started this blog to document my journey to wellness. I was no closer to wellness and had hit my unhealthiest point. I knew I had to take a deep dive into my nutrition and lifestyle. It was said during coursework, that the deposits we make in our IRAH accounts can help determine how we live in the future.

This knowledge motivated me to also think about how I was living in the now. I felt terrible and wasn’t able to do the things I had in the past. Instead of focusing on exercise, as I had in the past, I focused on my nutritional intake. I began to keep a food journal and documented what I was eating and how my body felt as a result. I began eating more fruits and vegetables and stopped snacking on processed foods. This shift got me started and I’ve continued to make changes to what I am eating, leading me to where I am today, one year later. I have lost over 60 pounds, but more importantly I feel healthy in my mind and body.

Core Principles of My Journey

I am asked all the time what has helped me lose the weight and I understand why. I was the person, in the past, who would ask that question, looking for the secret trick to do myself. Most people expect me to name the diet, or medical intervention, I’ve used to get here. This time, thankfully, that is not my response. What has gotten me to this point is hard work for sure, coupled with the understanding that focusing on one thing alone will not work for the long term. The main take away from my journey, is that wellness is indeed a lifestyle choice and one that encompasses attention to your nutrition, physical and mental wellness.

Studies of people living in the Blue Zones, areas in which people were studied for their longevity and low rates of disease well into their 90s, identified common characteristics in their lifestyles. When I watched and read about the Blue Zone studies, I learned a lot about why I was unsuccessful in the past and validated the work I was doing in the now. You can learn more about these studies by viewing the Blue Zone documentary on Netflix. You can also read the fascinating book, The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner

Personally, here is the answer now to the question I am most asked, What did you do? These are the things I have focused on and together they have led me to feeling better than I have in years.

• Nutrition – I eat a whole food plant based diet and eliminated all animal products, including dairy. I do not consciously eat processed foods, including oil and sugar. I’ve written a lot about my nutritional changes in many blogs, which I hope you’ll take time to read, Fork Power , Fiber Fueled, Sugar Sugar, Eat to Live and Cooking to Nourish Your Mind, Body & Soul.
• Exercise – I move daily and include the following in my exercise rotation – yoga, walking, pickleball and light weight training. It is critically important to maintain flexibility and muscle strength as we age. You can read more about my routine here, Move to Live.
• Mental Wellness – I meditate daily, while I am outside walking. I spend time everyday, irregardless of weather, outside in nature. I consciously spend time cultivating relationships with friends and loved ones, which was hard to do when consumed with work and over exercising in the past. I read and spend time learning through coursework and have joined a beautiful yoga community. You can read more in previous posts here, Stress Just Breathe, Kritajna Hum: I am gratitude and Svadhyaya – Study of Self.
• Sleep – As shared in prior posts, I prioritize my rest and especially sleep. It is a critical component of overall wellness. I have a set sleep routine, which I try to stick with, unless we are out for the evening, or traveling. You can read more here Sleep Your Secret Weapon.
• Consistency – We all get off track, but I’ve learned that consistency is critical to my success. One meal and one day do not define my journey, they are merely that, one day and one meal. Being intentional and consistent in my lifestyle choices, have ensured I continue to move forward. The compound effect is a vital aspect of any wellness journey and one I wrote about here The Compound Effect

In my quest to regain my health and avoid diseases my mother and grandmother suffered, namely Alzheimer’s Disease, I’ve taken a years long, deep and personal dive into my life. I share it with you weekly, to show that it is not a perfect journey and anyone, including me, can be successful. It is indeed a winding road, with many forks and bumps along the way. It is my hope that by making these continuous deposits into my IRAH, I will live a healthier and more balanced life for many years to come. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

If you have any questions about this blog, or information I’ve shared, feel free to reach out to me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram, Facebook or in the comment section below.

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