Tag: diet

Overcoming Challenges in Plant-Based Eating

 “Plants are infinite – this diet isn’t limiting and there’s so much more to explore! That’s what excites me about it most.” Denai Moore on the Simply Vegan Podcast

When I made the switch to plant-based eating, I jumped in with open eyes and hope for better health. I didn’t realize how many roadblocks I’d hit along the way. Essentially, I went from not eating any plants to eating nothing but plants. How could I go wrong you ask? While there was no doubt I was eating far healthier foods, there were many things I didn’t know anything about. This week, I’d like to share a few of the roadblocks I faced and what I learned along the way.

Benefits of Plant-Based Eating

A plant based diet can enhance cognitive function. Studies indicate that it also reduces the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.  Both my mother and grandmother had Alzheimer’s, so this information motivated me to switch to a plant based lifestyle. Additionally, plant based diets are often lower in calories and saturated fats, making them beneficial for weight management. Further, plant-based diets offer numerous health benefits, including  reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. It can improve your gut health and potentially increase longevity.  

Plant-Based Challenges

Transitioning to a plant-based diet came with three key challenges. First, I had to figure out what to eat. Second, I needed to understand the importance of plant diversity. Finally, I had to ensure I was getting enough protein.

After building my knowledge and awareness, it was clear I needed to make some changes to my approach. Below are the changes I made and the impact they had on my journey.

1. Meal Planning

Eating a variety of plants is key when following a vegan diet—for more reasons than you might think. It can help support a healthy gut and also ensure you’re getting a broad range of nutrients, making the most of what plant-based foods have to offer. Mixing different fruits, veggies, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and herbs gives your body the fiber and beneficial compounds it needs to thrive.

Protein also plays a big role in keeping our bodies running smoothly—it’s essential for things like maintaining muscle, supporting growth, and staying healthy overall. While plant-based proteins aren’t always “complete” like those from animal sources, it’s totally possible to get all the essential amino acids you need with a well-rounded vegan diet. The key is variety and balance.

All of my initial challenges could be addressed through meal planning. Initially, I purchased a prepared vegan meal plan to guide me. I used this meal plan for months and felt confident that I was eating more balanced meals. There are several vegan meal plans available. I chose one that provided me with a weekly plan of recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner. It also include a shopping list. I found it helpful in reducing my stress about meals and learning how to make delicious plant based meals. It opened me up to trying foods I may not have tried on my own.

Here is the plan I used – Forks Over Knives Meal Planner

Next Steps

If you are new to plant-based eating, I suggest you spend some time investing in yourself. This time is important to build your personal knowledge base. At first, I didn’t know how to create weekly meal plans that would address plant diversity and adequate protein intake. I was a creature of habit and found comfort in eating, on rotation, my favorite meals. I would select my groceries based on what I liked to eat. As I learned more about the importance of plant diversity, I knew I needed to make changes.

There are so many resources you can use, but I like to keep it simple. Here are a few to get you started :

Forks Over Knives (great information for your journey, as well as meal plans)

Food Revolution (courses, recipes and powerful docuseries)

The China Study: Reducing Health Risks with a Plant-Based Diet

Eat to Live

Looking back, shifting to a plant-based lifestyle was one of the most empowering decisions I’ve made for my health. It wasn’t without its challenges, but each obstacle taught me something valuable. By investing time into learning, planning, and experimenting, I’ve built habits that feel both sustainable and nourishing. If you’re considering your own plant-based journey, I’d love to hear from you! What questions do you have? What challenges have you faced—or are you anticipating?

Drop a comment or share your experience. Let’s learn and grow together!

Break Through Weight Loss Plateaus: My Journey

“When you get to a plateau, think of it as a landing on the stairway to your goal. And maintenance is a lifelong plateau, so a bit of ‘rehearsal’ for maintenance isn’t the worst thing in the world”. -unknown

Recently, I have been deeply reflecting on my journey. I have been in a plateau for the past three months and it was starting to wear on my mindset. When I hit 160, I was a mere 10 pounds away from my original target weight of 150 lbs. I was so excited and remember sending a message to my coach saying, “Say goodbye to the 160s!”. Not so fast my body seemed to say, for here I am three months later still here and weighing in at 164 lbs. How many of you can relate to this? So close, yet those last 10 pounds still the ever elusive target.

In the past, this plateau would have caused me to get frustrated and perhaps even give up. This time, I’ve been digging in and holding on, embracing my time in this maintenance period. I believe my body was asking me for a break and time to readjust. Instead of giving up, I decided to really dive into what I am eating and how I am moving, trying to uncover why my body has stopped losing weight. This week, I’d like to share my process and reflection on being stuck.

What is a Weight Loss Plateau?

When we hit a plateau, it feels like everything stops. We question ourselves and often become overly critical. I know I always think I need to do more and be better to reach my goals. What we don’t take into account is that this journey takes time and does not happen quickly. It’s a SLOW process!

I know right now you are thinking about how long you’ve been trying, because that’s where my mind went. I’ve been on this journey for a long time too. This most recent journey started back on February 1, 2023, almost two years ago. What I think gave me some perspective on time, was when I thought about how long it took me to become this unhealthy. Truly the answer to that is a lifetime, but the most recent weight gain was a solid five year time span. Five years to gain over 80 pounds. When looking at that perspective, two years to lose 65 pounds seems fantastic. Plateaus are normal to hit and how we respond to them will determine our outcome. For me, I am holding on and trying to find ways to get things moving along again.

I wrote about weight loss plateaus when I first hit this one, back in July. I think the post is worth reading to understand the evolution of thinking about my weight loss plateau.

Pushing Past Weight-Loss Plateaus: Tips for Success

You can also learn more about this topic here:

Metabolism and Reverse Dieting

What I’ve Learned About My Weight Loss Plateau

In my original post, I talked about metabolic adaptation, or our body adjusting to its new normal. When we reduce our caloric intake, over time our metabolism adapts to the new intake level. In order to achieve balance, our metabolism slows. Over time, this means that our caloric deficit no longer gives the result of losing weight. This can lead us to reduce our calories further and increase exercise, which can give us the exact opposite result than what we are seeking. That’s what happened to me and the result I’ve had these past three months.

When I spoke with my coach and dietitian, they kept going back to my food logs. I log my food on Cronometer daily, to ensure I am meeting my macros that were set for me. Being plant based, I’ve paid special attention to my protein intake and my target was 90 grams a day. I struggled to reach that goal some days and would add additional protein shakes, or meals to my day. This left me not hungry and feeling full. The ironic thing was that my daily caloric intake was only at 1100 most days, far too low, yet I wasn’t hungry. It was concerning and I kept telling them both that I could not possibly eat any more food. I was literally so uncomfortably full.

My newest blood work showed that my LDL had increased again and they all believe, including my doctor, that this is tied to my low caloric daily intake, coupled with my high daily energy expenditure.

I felt like this testing was the slap I needed. My body scans showed that the minimal caloric intake I needed (BMR) was 1526. This rate is just for my body to do the basic functions needed to live, and does not take into account the high levels of movement I do each day. My new daily target is 1600 on less active days, and as much as 2000 on active days.

Further examination of my daily logs revealed that I was eating about 55 grams of fiber each day. The average RDA for women my age is 21. Though this intake is not unhealthy, this high amount of fiber was causing me, at times, to feel uncomfortably full. In my attempt to increase my protein, I was adding silken tofu, flax seed, hemp seed and chia seed at the same time to each shake, which was way too much.

What I Did in Response

I went back to a lower caloric intake and then slowly began to increase each week. I originally went from 1100 to 2000 in a day and was truly uncomfortable. It was too much too fast (story of my life!). This slower and gradual increase has been life changing and allowed my body to better adapt. I am now eating 1600 calories with ease and actually look forward to my meals. Once I am consistently eating in a healthier range, we will begin to look at cutting back to ensure a deficit, but for now the focus is to improve my metabolism.

I also increased the number of weight lifting sessions I do each week. I originally was lifting heavy two days a week with a trainer. First, I added a third day and this week I added in the fourth day. That will be my target going forward, to lift heavier weights four times a week. Despite the plateau of my weight, I have continued to lose inches as evidenced by my weekly measurements and clothing size.

I cut back on the number of days I was playing competitive pickleball games. This was a hard decision, but after reflecting on the data in FitBit regarding readiness scores, I decided I was stressing my body. Readiness scores are provided to help us avoid injury and ensure we take needed rest days. I am an over achiever by nature and tended to ignore that data. In consultation with my coach, I finally understood that I was stressing my body. My Fitbit step counts were averaging 25-30K steps per day, seven days a week. That included long walks and pickleball. I am now playing an average of 3-4 times per week and my average step counts are between 10-15K a day. I do not take long walks on days I play pickleball, just a nice short walk in the morning to start my day. I’ve also added a full rest day, during which I do a short walk and consciously rest.

Finally, I purchased a body scan scale that gives me valuable data regarding the composition of my body. As a data geek, I love to watch the shifts as they happen each week when I step on the scan. I am now better able to study my body composition, including body fat and body muscle percentages. I also find the BMR targets helpful, as they are targeted specifically to my body. When I started my metabolic age showed at 71! I was horrified. Today it showed as 49!

I will continue to monitor my journey, through weekly body scans, measurements and periodic blood work. I am extremely excited about the additional weight training session each week. I am seeing some nice definition starting and feel stronger each week. I am relieved that the increase of LDL was not something to panic over. I was truly feeling badly about that and it really helped to have a registered dietitian explain why it was happening and what to do in response.

Summary of Changes I Made

In summary, here are the changes I made:

  1. Slowly increased caloric intake to healthier levels
  2. Increased protein intake and split it evenly across 3 meals a day (50 grams at each meal)
  3. Increase weight lifting sessions to 4x a week
  4. Decreased cardio events each week to avoid over stressing my body
  5. Use of body scan to monitor body composition data

Next Steps

I hope this post gave you some food for thought about your journey. If you connected in any way to this post, please do reach out and share in the comment section below. I’d love to hear your experiences, as they always help me feel like I’m not alone on this journey. Feel free to answer any of these questions to help get a discussion going:

Why do you think your body is not letting you lose weight?

Are you currently doing weight lifting sessions each week? How many per week?

What have you noticed about adding in weight lifting?

What is your current daily protein intake?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your comments. If you feel more comfortable sharing via email, you can do so at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, or on Instagram.

Navigating Overthinking in Your Health Journey

“I thought about starting an ‘overthinkers anonymous group,’ but I couldn’t make up my mind.” – Anonymous

Hi, I’m Laura and I am an overthinker. I’ve been this way my whole life and it has both served me and held me back. When it comes to my health journey, recently it has lately been causing confusion and unnecessary complication. I’ll bet I am not alone on this path and that many of you will connect to this post.

Back in January of this year, I made the decision for my health to switch to a whole food plant based lifestyle. Like most overthinkers, I have strong analytical skills and used them to learn about this lifestyle. I enrolled in courses, became a certified health coach and learned new ways to cook. For me, learning is always stimulating and satisfying. Whenever I take something on, I fully immerse myself in the process. In fact, overthinkers are thorough and consider multiple aspects of a situation, which can lead to better decision-making and problem solving. This trait has served me well in my life and especially my career.

Overthinking can cause problems, as over time conflicting information, especially in the health and wellness industry, can cause confusion. There are multiple research studies to be found on any topic and all provide “scientific” evidence to support their claims. In my case, my need to ensure my health and wellness, led me to so much information and caused what’s known as analysis paralysis. This simply means that my overthinking led to indecision, which caused me to make unnecessary changes and ultimately led to confusion. My confusion caused me to over complicate my eating and then led to me doubting my ability to sustain this lifestyle.

Instead of changing course, I decided to seek someone out who could help fill in gaps in my understanding of my specific nutritional needs. I decided to work with a Registered Dietitian (RD) to better understand how to put information I learned into practice. You would think this would be an easy task, but it was most definitely not. It was very hard to find someone I felt comfortable working with who had a strong understanding of plant based lifestyles. Most RD programs do not have a specific focus on plant based foods, rather they cover it as one component in a holistic program. Sometimes this means spending as little as one week on the topic. When it comes to plant based and vegan lifestyles, it was important to me that I find a RD who specialized in plant based/vegan lifestyles, or was personally living it.

I finally found a dietitian that I feel comfortable with and am so excited to begin learning from her. I did, however, hit a few roadblocks along the way before I found her, so I want to share my experience to perhaps help you avoid making the same mistake.

Finding the Right Registered Dietitian For You:

  1. Search Your Healthcare Provider List for Participating Dietitians
    • This didn’t work well for me, as my search for Registered Dietitians mostly led to weight loss centers focused on surgery. It was hard to find one that didn’t specialize in that, and there were no plant-based RDs in my area.
  2. Search Online for Dietitians Near You
    • There were none to be found in my area.
  3. Search Online for Registered Dietitians
    • This search provided me with some leads. My next step was to set up interview meetings to see if we would be a good fit. This specific process led me to make a poor decision, but we learn from our mistakes.

Ensuring the Right Fit For Your Needs:

  1. Research Providers
    • It’s important to read through the provider’s website and ensure they speak to what you are seeking. I’d also do some google searching on the providers, as well as a social media search. See what others have said about working with them.
  2. Set up a Meeting on Zoom
    • I no longer work with anyone before I spend time speaking in a Zoom. If they are not providing a consultation meeting, then they are not for me. I would have know immediately that the first RD I met with was not a good fit for me and could have avoided wasting time and money.
  3. Be Careful of Programs
    • There are many programs out there that come up when searching for Registered Dietitians. They use the right words, but tread carefully. I had a consultation with one of these companies back at the end of August. I explained what I was seeking clearly and the woman I met with was just incredible. I signed up to work with this company, thinking I’d be working with her, for five months. I feel like it was a bait and switch routine, as the person I met with was NOT the person I work with. And, when I expressed my concern I was told I needed to trust them. When I emailed a second time, I received no response. This was an expensive lesson to learn, but learn I did. I just had a similar situation and knew enough to say no to this even more expensive program. Be careful as there are a lot of these types of programs. If it sounds like it’s too good to be true, it most likely is.
  4. Avoid Long Term Initial Contracts
    • I will no longer sign a long term contract to work with someone. There is no reason I would need to do this and I should have known better. I am paying monthly for a program that is not truly meeting my needs. If they are trying to lock you in, walk away. Reputable providers do not need to make you do this.

I finally feel like I am back on solid footing and have a strong plan moving forward. I felt better just from my initial meeting with the dietitian on Friday. She explained my blood work in a manner that I understood and she eased my mind about the concerns I had. She cleared up some misconceptions I had and is currently mining through the data I sent her. I am a data geek and was so glad she wanted the information I have. I am cutting back on the information I am taking in at this point. I plan to follow her guidance and find more clarity around my plant based food choices.

Have you had a similar experiences with overthinking? or, looking for a wellness provider? Would you like to share your story? So many of us are on this path to reclaiming our health and I’d love to feature your story in a future blog. Please reach out to me and let me know about your journey. We all can gain motivation and help each other through this sharing. Reach out to me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram, or in the comment section below.

The Compound Effect

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
― Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

As the fall weather is upon us, I am cleaning closets and thinking of the approaching winter season. Fall is my favorite time of the year. I start to organize and purge what not longer fits, including more than just clothing. Life is always about evolving and growing as we go and fall is the perfect time to slow down and reflect. In that manner, I have decided this week’s post will be a repost of one of my most popular blogs from this year. In this post, I speak about the importance of consistency and holding firm to my journey as I move through the winter season. Let’s all use the fall to prepare for the winter ahead. Much like the squirrels gathering their food for the winter, I believe we need to gather our motivation for the days ahead. I hope you enjoy the reread of this much loved post.

I first read Darren Hardy’s book many years ago as a new school leader. The Compound Effect outlined, is the strategy of being consistent with smart, tiny choices over time that will produce significant results. As I read the book I was focused on leadership, yet in the back of my mind I kept connecting back to my health journey. The concept is that smaller steps over a long period of time will have a greater, more beneficial and successful effect on your life than bigger steps in a shorter period of time (that most people will not stick to). Today as I view the predictable dwindling off of the New Year’s resolutionists at the gym I am reminded of this concept.

For many years, I was that person. The one who gets all pumped up for the reclaiming health journey. Those who have followed me over time know that every spring I have a rebirth and start over. Then, every winter I slowly fade away and fall backwards. This year has been different, albeit not easier. The temptation to fall back has reared its head repeatedly, especially on these 18 degree days. Using the concept of the compounding effect, I know that consistency is the key to achieving and maintaining momentum. I have held tight to that concept on my darkest of days this winter and continued with the small, simple habits and daily routines that will add up to a healthier life. My goal this year was to make it through the winter with habits in tact and see where I am come spring. As we are nearing February, I am very hopeful that this year will be different for me. 

Consistency is not easy if you make your habits too lofty, the key is to keep things simple and doable. When I selected daily habits, I’d say I even set the bar lower than I knew I could accomplish this winter. This helped me through the harder days and gave me added bonus boosts when I achieved more and kept me motivated. We all know success fosters motivation and failure often motivates quitting. For my movement goal, I merely set a minimum of a 30 minute walk in nature goal for every day of the week. This goal has been the easiest one to maintain, rain or shine. Setting a doable goal like this sets you up for success and avoids repeated failure that can serve to make you feel like a failure and give up. Obviously, it’s not my only fitness goal, but it’s the one I will never skip. Walking and being in nature cannot be undervalued on any health journey.

Another doable goal I set was to improve my nutrition through simple choices for my meals. I made a commitment to have a healthy breakfast every day. To make it easier, I decided to to a morning smoothie with protein and healthy nutrients, using simple recipes found in Joyfull, by Radi Devlukia. This sets me up for my morning workout and keeps me full until lunch. There are so many great smoothie recipes, but if that feels overwhelming just use a high quality protein powder shake, such as this one from Complement. I like the chocolate flavor when drinking plain and unflavored when using with the recipes from Joyfull. I have been super consistent with this goal as well. No cooking required for this breakfast and the variety of smoothies is endless. For lunch, I generally eat the main meal of the day to allow more time for digestion. I eat a whole food plant based diet consisting of protein, legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This also is very easy to do as salads are super easy to put together. 

On this cold winter day, I remind you that it’s not about perfection. It’s about the effort we put in and more importantly, the consistency we apply to our health journeys. Approach every day with a clean slate. If you ate too much yesterday (me eating pizza during the football playoffs), it’s all good, just return to your daily routine today. You slept in and didn’t do your gym workout this morning, get up do your 30 minute walk and return to the gym on your next scheduled day. Perhaps your body needed the rest. What we can’t do is give up and stop. Just keep to your routines as best you can and watch the compound effect unfold. 

If you have any questions or comments, please do reach out. I love getting emails at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog about your journey. Take a photo of nature from your 30 minute walk and tag me on Instagram at reclaiminghealthblog with #30minutesinnature . Let’s do this together, motivate each other and reach spring feeling healthier. It is only two months away!

Transform Your Diet: Embrace Whole Food Variety

“Eating healthy food fills your body with energy and nutrients. Imagine your cells smiling back at you and saying: ‘Thank you!’” – Karen Salmansohn

Imagine eating a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch. That is exactly what I did for years. Honestly, it didn’t bother me because I enjoy them and they’re easy. How many of us eat the same food on repeat? I know I did and never gave it a thought. Learning how important variety in food choices are to my wellness has opened my mind to trying new things.

I’ve learned it’s important to eat a variety of foods as part of my whole food plant based lifestyle. Recently, I heard that you should try to eat 30 different whole foods across your week. I am, however, a creature of routine and habit, especially when it comes to food selection. The thought of having that much variety in my week did give me something to reflect upon. Initially, when thinking about increasing variety in my diet, I focused on using it to push me out of my comfort zone. I tend to eat the same few foods repeatedly. Now I know, that eating a variety of foods is more important to my wellness than I once thought. With this knowledge, I am now planning my meals with far more variety than before. It’s a work in progress for sure, as old habits die hard.

My Food Struggles

I was raised in the 1960s and raised in a family where dinner consisted of meat, starch and one vegetable. At some point, the popularity of convenience foods caused some changes to our daily menu. Vegetables readily available in cans were now seen as the better option due to their shelf lives. My mother’s favorite vegetable was the french cut string beans and they must’ve often been on sale because we ate them often. Just thinking about them still makes me gag.

It was during these years that I developed my strong aversion to eating vegetables. I wouldn’t eat them, other than corn, for decades after I left home. I wouldn’t even try them. In truth, I only started eating broccoli and nothing more until this year when I transitioned over to a plant based lifestyle. Imagine, a vegetable hater is now living a plant based lifestyle. Most people who know me chuckle over that.

My Food Transition:

In January, I took a six week course on living a Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. As I learned about its connection to brain health, I knew I would make this transition. I was unsure how and what I would eat, but thankfully there were many resources out there to help me. I found ample recipes to try, especially on Forks Over Knives. The trouble was I was avoiding most recipes that didn’t call for broccoli.

You see, when I first transitioned to a plant based lifestyle, I liked broccoli, spinach and corn. I also would eat salad. I assumed it didn’t matter that I ate the same thing every day, as long as I ate vegetables and fruit. I made broccoli every day and put spinach in my smoothie each morning and had a salad for dinner. As I continued learning, however, I realized how critical it was to eat a variety of foods, especially when eating plant based. This may seem like basic knowledge to you, but it was life changing for me.

Variety of Foods:

I’ve spent the last nine months learning about this lifestyle I’ve chosen. I’ve heard many criticisms of it, with the top being difficulty getting the proper nutrients. This criticism can be true, if you are not careful which is why I continue to learn, study and monitor my health markers. One aspect that is critical is to ensure you eat a variety of foods. This is critical in any lifestyle, but even more so in a plant based one. Different foods provide different nutrients, so eating a variety of foods can ensure that you get the proper nutrients.  Many plant-based protein sources lack one or more essential amino acids, so eating a variety of plant-based proteins throughout the day also helps ensure you get enough of all the essential amino acids. 

When planning for meals across the week, it is essential to focus on both variety and the nutrients your food will provide. This can sound like a daunting task, but there are many resources you can use to help guide you. One resource I found very enlightening was My Fitness Pal. I use the paid version of this app and kept a food log on it for months. Keeping a food log on this app helped me see the nutritional breakdown of my food. It was there that I began to notice what nutrients come from each food variety.

Using this food log, I noticed I had a lot of overlap for some nutrients and gaps in others. Nutrients I was supplementing for were revealed to be at extremely high levels just from the food I was eating. This meant I was both wasting money on them and potentially causing harm to my health. I highly recommend using something like this app to get you started. This awareness led me to seek out further guidance with a Registered Dietitian who specializes in Plant Based Nutrition. If that is not an option for you, I highly recommend you work with your health provider to monitor your nutrition levels through blood work.

Like everything else, I suggest you start with small changes to your eating habits to gradually increase the variety of foods you are eating. There are so many foods to choose from, but just try to add one new food in each week. Here is a great list of nutrients found in vegetables.

59 Different Types of Vegetables and Their Nutrition Profile

Tips to Increase Variety :

  • Eat the rainbow, and try to include at least three different colors of foods on your plate. 
  • Swap out your side dishes. Here’s a great list to choose from – 57 Vegan Side Dishes
  • Try recipes from different countries. I now eat Indian, Asian and Thai cuisine often, something I never would have tried in the past.
  • Choose one new vegetable a week to try. There are so many recipes online to try. I started with Forks Over Knives which has many recipes.
  • Try new ways to cook vegetables each week, such as air fry, roasting, grill, stir fry, etc.
  • Experiment with less-common grains. Here’s a great list to choose from – 17 Grains You Never Heard of

Next Steps:

As I transition to increasing the variety of food I eat, I am keeping things simple. Each week, I purchase at least one new vegetable to try. I am planning my menu for the week to include new recipes and one new food item. Once I increase my vegetable options it will be easier to plan meals. This week I made a chili recipe into which I was able to add a few vegetables. Traditionally, I find soups and chili recipes are the easiest way for me to sneak vegetables in. I also purchased a copper roasting pan to roast vegetables. I absolutely love this pan and use it often. The pan also has a basket which allows for good air flow and since I rarely use oil it prevent sticking. I highly recommend this pan – Copper Roasting Pan.

Here are a few articles you can read to get more information on this topic:

4 Exciting Reasons to Rotate Your Food

What is a Plant Based Diet and Why Should You Try It

The Importance of Variety in Your Diet

I hope you’ll take some time this week to reflect on your food selections. Are you eating the same things over and over, like I was? If you are, start to think about the importance of eating a variety of foods across your week. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on this topic. Are you a creature of habit like I was, or a food explorer? Please feel free to reach out to me via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below.

Consider answering one of these questions in the comment section below –

What did you notice about the variety in your food selections?

How will you increase the variety of foods, especially vegetables, that you eat? Please do share.

Staying True to Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle: A Reflection

“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.” -Michelle Obama

I had some questions regarding nutrition and my doctor suggested I meet with a Registered Dietician. I was psyched for this meeting and looking forward to learning and growing my knowledge. It took a while to get the appointment and I went into it feeling excited. Sadly, I left the appointment feeling confused and honestly, defeated. This response hit me like a ton of bricks and almost sent me into a mindset spiral. It came at me hard and I’ve spent the week really unpacking my response to this situation and thought I’d share the experience.

The issue I wanted guidance with was understanding ways to ensure that my meals are nutritionally balanced, within my whole food plant based lifestyle. I was not going into the appointment looking to change my lifestyle and I made that clear in all conversation with the provider. I take my health seriously and have been consistently monitoring my blood levels to ensure that nutritional targets are within range, as well as other indicators. I also have no current known health issues.

As I got into my car following this appointment, I felt I had been judged and definitely not heard. Perhaps it was a bad day for the provider, considering she was very late to our appointment. That said, I walked out with a strong feeling that I needed to reevaluate my lifestyle choices, which was not what I walked in looking or asking for. I was basically being told to add dairy, eggs and cheese into my lifestyle as the means to increase my protein and lower my LDL. I questioned what I was being told and knew it went against the current research on whole food plant based eating. I also knew this dietician did not think plant based, in absence of meat, dairy or cheese protein, was a viable lifestyle. Though she said, she was not trying to tell me what to do, she clearly was. I wondered how many others have let strong opinions derail their wellness path. As I unpacked this experience, I reflected on the following:

Be Impeccable to Your Word

In the book, The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz speaks to the importance of being impeccable to your word. According to Ruiz, your word is your power to create. Your word is all about the message you deliver, not just to everyone and everything around you, but the message you deliver to yourself.

This is important in this situation for two reasons:

  1. Your word has the power to lift others up or to harm them. In this case, this provider had a clear agenda that did not align with mine. That is totally fine, but I would have respected the message more had it been presented differently. Using your words to dismiss someone, without providing research, or clear reasoning is totally unacceptable in my opinion. Using your position of perceived power to make another feel less than is never acceptable. I know my body and it’s response to dairy, eggs and cheese and do not see them as viable means to healthy LDL levels, though they can increase protein.
  2. Self-talk – The second part was more of a personal reflection on the self-talk that I engaged in during and after the meeting. I was really doubting myself and my knowledge, and all the work I have done this past year. Despite feeling the best I have in many years, despite positive blood work and the current state of my overall health, I was ready to make a dramatic course change, based on the strong opinion of another. My inner critic jumped on this opportunity to engage my self doubt. These self doubts are what causes us to jump at the endless infomercials that sell the answers to all our health concerns.

Stay True to Yourself

It’s hard to live a plant-based lifestyle when so many have strong opinions against it. I don’t push my lifestyle on anyone. We made a personal choice, based on research and conversations with our health provider, that living this lifestyle was in our best interest. We are thriving. To change course, based on one interaction, would have been a huge mistake. I’m sharing my experience because this type of interaction happens often when people share their health journeys. For some reason, many feel it is ok to use their words to tell others how to do things in a better way, usually the way that works for them.

I think the best way, is the way that works for your body, in your current situation. As long as you are monitoring your health markers, through labs and in consultation with your trusted health provider, you do you. What works for my body, may not work for someone else. It is not the job of a health coach, or registered dietician, to prescribe one specific lifestyle to you. It is their job to help you reach your health goals, within your lifestyle. After they meet you where you are, they can educate and provide information to help you make decisions. If you have a specific health condition that warrants one specific lifestyle, that is a different situation than what I am discussing here.

I hope you take the time to learn more about your health choices, including really knowing the source and type of research you are relying on. There are so many conflicting ideas out there on wellness, it’s hard to know what to believe. I do recommend learning more about the China Study and Blue Zones. If you are considering a whole food plant-based lifestyle, I recommend you find a Plant Based Registered Dietician who truly understands this specific approach.

If this post resonates with you, or you’d like to share an experience you’ve had, feel free to reach out to me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, via Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below.

Embracing Personal Accountability for a Healthier, Fulfilled Life

“Personal accountability requires mindfulness, acceptance, honesty and courage.” – Shelby Martin

Personal success can be achieved through taking accountability for our actions. This shift takes time and is one I’ve embraced on this health journey. It’s also one I hadn’t embraced in the past.  It’s hard to come to terms with the reality that you and you alone are responsible for the decisions you make each day, but personal accountability is the key to living a healthy, fulfilled, and meaningful life. Even though it can be challenging, accepting personal accountability will enable you to learn from mistakes and make adjustments to your journey.

Our consistency and day to day life decisions play a huge role in the progress we make and results we achieve. Believe me, I know it feels better to blame work stress, genetics, health or other outside reasons for my failure to make progress. Blaming others or making excuses can lead to giving up when things get hard. There are certainly cases where outside factors are a key reason one is not achieving results, despite putting in the work. I would never want to minimize that, but, today I’d like to talk about accepting personal accountability for your health journey.

My Journey

I’ve been on this health journey for what feels like a lifetime. I’ve honestly tried everything there was to try. I worked with countless nutritionists who wanted to sell me endless products. Everyone seemed to have their own angle on what I needed to do. I would try what they said, not see results fast enough and give up, then blame them. I believed every advertisement I saw that spoke to those who haven’t had results, but would if they only tried their new approach. I worked out endlessly, ate clean and couldn’t seem to ever stay on track. It wasn’t until I shifted my mindset from doing what someone else said I needed to do, to taking control over my own journey, that I began to have success.

Think about this, every single decision you make in a day is in your own hands. I decide every day whether I will sleep in, get up, work out, eat out or cook. I needed to accept responsibility for the decisions I made. Recognizing and honoring this was a necessary first step toward making lasting changes in my health. It was also a powerful tool toward changing unwanted behaviors and ways of thinking about myself.

Many of us spend our days drowning in negative self talk, blame and procrastination. On this journey toward reclaiming our health, we first need to address the elephant in the room – blame and excuses. Yes, it is far easier to say I’m still overweight because I’m a middle aged woman, or my parents were overweight, or, or, or. Accepting these excuses and reasons for our struggle can lead us to accepting where we are, giving up on trying to change our way of life. I know this first hand, as I had given up on even trying. I began to accept that this was just how I was going to be.

Personal Accountability

Personal accountability is the practice of accepting responsibility for your actions, words, and behaviors, and the consequences that result. It involves taking ownership of situations, and doing your best to improve, whether the outcome is good or bad. People who are personally accountable don’t blame others or make excuses, and they try to make amends when things go wrong.

Personal accountability does not mean we place blame, or shame on ourselves. Rather, it is meant to be a means to accept that despite where you are right now on your health journey, including the reasons for being there, you have the power and responsibility to improve your health and make lasting changes.

Roadblocks

Two of the most common reasons for not achieving our goals can be tied to lack of consistency and not having a strong enough purpose – your why.

Consistency:

I’ve written about the importance of consistency on your health journey. This blog is worth your read – The Compound Effect. Consistency is your super power. Quite simply, the small decisions and moves you make over time will determine your rates of success. It’s a lifestyle, not a diet or program.

This hit home for me once when a doctor asked me about my activity levels. I replied that, I run 3 miles most mornings, swim other mornings and ride my bicycle. She said that’s a great way to start your day, but what do you do for the rest of the day? I had to pause and think. I often sat and read, worked on the computer, binged Netflix, etc. Most of my activity for the day was completed by 10:00 AM each day, leaving me feeling like I had put the work in. Sadly, I was thinking of exercise as something I needed to get done.

Exercise is part of an active lifestyle, not something you do to check off a box on your daily list. The more you move, the healthier you will be. I now move throughout my day, not just in the morning. For example, I take a brisk walk when I wake each morning for about 30 minutes, about 1 mile. I then often relax and have breakfast. A few hours later, I head down to the pickleball courts and play games or practice for about 2 hours. I then cook our main meal of the day and we eat lunch. I relax, do some reading, or computer work and then take my afternoon walk, about 1.5 miles. When I return, I either go down to the pool, or go into town to the beach area. We have a light dinner and I walk with the dog for a bit to end the day. Then it’s either relaxing evening home, or we go out. As you can see, I am moving all throughout the day. You can change the walking to bike riding in the nicer weather, or yoga for pickleball. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are consistently moving your body.

Purpose:

MY WHY -Having  strong reasons for getting healthy can help improve your focus and drive. Losing weight for a special event, while motivating in the short term, won’t sustain you over the long haul. Generally after the event is over, so is your motivation and drive to continue. Further, we often feel we have achieved our goal and begin slowly to loosen up on our decisions.

Center your purpose around longer term goals to keep you grounded when the going gets tough. In my case, my why is to maintain optimum health as I move into the next phase of my life. When I declare my why I say, “I WILL hold on to my memory and live a long, active life.”    This is my motivation and my drive.  It pushes me out of bed when I don’t want to get up and exercise.  It pushes me to think about what I am putting in my mouth.  It helps me hold on to the gains I’ve made these past years and continuously pushes me forward. It helps me not stray far off the path, even though there are bumps along the way.

Next Steps

Success on this journey will require action. This action includes accepting personal responsibility and not allowing yourself to make excuses when you fail to follow through

Here are a few of the ways I have been holding myself accountable.

Planning

They say a goal without a plan is just a dream. Planning is the biggest key to success on any health journey. When I fail to plan, I always end up making decisions that aren’t in my best interest, especially around food choice. Planning for me includes shopping for healthy food, planning for meals and scheduling workouts. Using a calendar and developing a schedule is the easiest way I get my daily workouts in. Blocking out times to move my body has been essential. I wake up, brush my teeth, throw on shoes and go for a brisk walk every day. I do this before I do anything else. It’s now a habit. After lunch, I go for another walk every day. I sometimes bring my phone and catch up with a friend. Build your routines into your daily calendar and you will see improvement in your consistency.

Menu planning and food shopping go hand in hand. If I don’t plan out my meals I end up cooking whatever is easy, not necessarily healthy. Whenever I am off target I know that it means I haven’t been diligent about shopping and planning. I am not a meal prep person, I just don’t like to have the food all prepared for the week. I like to cook easy, simple meals to avoid the one long day of prep. For example, yesterday we ate Miso-glazed Eggplant with Farro . On the table in 45 minutes, delicious and easy. Whichever approach works for you, this area of planning is essential for success.

Share the Journey

Writing this blog over the years has allowed me to share my journey. It’s picked me back up when I’ve fall down and holds me accountable. I find writing very therapeutic, as I work through issues I am facing myself. Making my journey public has held me personally accountable. I can’t write about things others should do if I don’t do them myself. This blog keeps me grounded in my why. One of the best ways to stay strong and focused is to share your journey with a friend or loved one. Find yourself a partner and support each other along the way.

Positive Self Talk

Blame, negativity and excuses are hard to stave off. I’m working hard on using positive self talk to replace them whenever they rear their ugly heads. Find yourself a means to use positivity and gratitude to keep your spirits up. This will be a difficult journey and there will be times when your emotions take over. Having an outlet, or means to keep it positive will go a long way towards keeping you moving forward. I’ve written blogs on this topic, which can be found here Kritajna Hum: I am gratitude, Things I’m Letting Go Of

Tracking Progress

At the gym I always hear this, “What get’s measured gets improved.” Tracking progress will greatly improve your motivation and drive. Don’t just weigh yourself and lament over lack of weight loss. Measure all progress – This week I worked out six out of seven days, Today I ate three healthy meals, I slept through the night, etc. There are so many areas of our life that we can look to for progress. The scale is only one way to track our progress. In past blogs I’ve talked about taking your measurements as an alternative to the scale. Taking photographs is another positive way to see progress. Recognizing our daily and weekly successes helps change our thinking around success.

Move to Live

The more we move, the better we will feel. Movement across the day is an important pillar of my journey. I plan it into each day and have cultivated strong habits around movement. Dr. William Sears clearly states, “sit less, move more, live longer”, which definitely is the plan here. I’ve written a blog post on this topic and you can visit it here – Move to Live. I hope you will take the time to read this and lace up your shoes for a walk.

Reach Out

I hope you are connecting to your current health journey. Moving forward is always our goal. In reflecting on where you are right now, perhaps ask yourself, “What are some ways you currently hold yourself accountable?”,  “How do you maintain your positivity?”, “Do I move throughout the day?”, and “Who can I share this journey with?”.

I’m always interested in hearing your thoughts.  Please take a moment to share your ideas with me at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or in the comments below.  Also, consider sharing this blog with a friend who is on this path with you.

Reclaiming Health: The Power of Taking the First Step

“The first step to getting somewhere is deciding that you are not going to stay where you are.” -J.P. Morgan

Several times a month, I get asked the same question, “How did you get started?”. It is a question I’ve asked as well, many times to many people on my health journey. Getting started always feels like the hardest part, especially when you feel so far removed from your healthiest self. I was literally at rock bottom at the start of this journey. I truly had given up and felt there was no way for me to get back to being healthy. I came to the point where I accepted myself as I was, which is fine, but also had no plan to do any work to regain my health. I felt I was past the point of no return.

I wish I could have given my friend the answer she wanted, but I know it’s not that simple. There is not one way to take this journey, and my way may not be the way that works for her. The simplest answer I can give to the question of where to start is just to start. Think of yourself as you want to be, healthy and happy. Ask yourself, what would it take for me to get to that place. Pick one thing you can do right now, this minute, that will move you toward that version of you. For me, I put on my running shoes and started walking. I was way past the point of being able to run, too heavy and out of shape. But, I knew I could walk, so I put on the shoes and walked around the block. That was all I could master at that point and that was more than enough.

A month later, I walked around the block of my school every morning when I got to work to add a second walk to my day. Then, I dusted off my old Fitbit and set a goal to reach 5,000 steps a day. I didn’t always make it, but I felt better about myself for even trying. After I retired, we moved to a community in Delaware and they had a health club. At that point, I added some weight lifting using the machines they had. I did that three times a week.

A year and a half later, I feel so much healthier and am so glad I took those first steps. Imagine how I would feel if I hadn’t. If you are also wondering what to do to get started, my best advice to you is to just start. Here are a few ideas to help you.

Getting Started

  1. Set Realistic Goals – For me, I was so unhealthy, I knew I could not return to running, as much as I wanted to. It would not be realistic for me to try to use running as my exercise of choice. In order to start, I needed to use a different form of movement. Walking was the best choice for my current fitness level. Select a movement that you feel you can do at your current fitness level. Do not over do it, or you will quit. Just move your body every day and increase gradually.
  2. Be Consistent – Consistency is your ticket to success. If you aren’t consistent, chances are you will not be successful. This is a commitment to a lifestyle, not a quick fix. I made the commitment to do at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Since I was walking, that meant I would walk every day, rain or shine and I did. I wrote about the importance of consistency here The Compounding Effect. I know that consistency was a huge part of my success.
  3. Give Yourself Grace – You cannot change everything at once. That is an important concept to wrap your head around. I did not become unhealthy overnight. It was a combination of many things, but it happened over time. You cannot become healthy overnight, but you can over time. Give yourself the grace to work at this. You will have days where you make unhealthy choices. Just today, I ate some Nutella on a spoon. It happens. Give yourself grace and don’t let one decision deride your goal of improving your health. Just keep moving forward, one day at a time.
  4. Think About Your Habits – I really needed to evaluate my daily habits. This involved looking at my movement patterns, which at that time were nonexistent. It also meant looking at my eating patterns, which involved takeout and restaurants. Examine your habits and ask yourself if they are helping or hindering your health journey. Again, don’t try to change everything overnight, but begin to make plans to make small changes. For me, I started with my breakfast patterns. I changed those first, as they were the worst and easiest place to start. Then, I worked on my lunch. Finally, I made a drastic change and embraced a new lifestyle of eating whole food plant-based. I have not looked back in the past eight months.
  5. Sleep – If you don’t sleep well, you will have a hard time regaining your health. Sleep is critical to your health as it is when your body cleans and restores. I tried so many different approaches and one day my doctor finally said, if you don’t address your sleep you will not see real change. The road to sleep has been challenging, but I am making progress. I have a set sleep schedule and really try to stick to it, within reason. I wrote extensively about sleep in these past posts, Sleep Your Secret Weapon, Sweet Dreams

It is my sincere hope that you find your way to take those first steps, because they may be the hardest. I am so glad I did because if I didn’t I honestly don’t know where I’d be right now. It’s not an easy journey, but the rewards have been so exciting. I’m feeling healthier and I have energy to do more than I have in years. I’m looking forward to continuing on my path and am proud of the progress I have made. If you want to reclaim your health, I hope you’ll take those first steps. I’d love to hear about your journey and am here to cheer you on. Feel free to reach out to me via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or in the comment section below. Let’s do this!

Pushing Past Weight-Loss Plateaus: Tips for Success

“When you get to a plateau, think of it as a landing on the stairway to your goal. And maintenance is a lifelong plateau, so a bit of ‘rehearsal’ for maintenance isn’t the worst thing in the world”. -unknown

Since I retired and changed my lifestyle, I’ve lost weight, albeit slowly. They say slow and steady wins the race and in this case I must agree. I have been tracking my progress for over a year and love what the data reveals. I’ve noticed that I lose an average of 2 pounds each month. I’ve also noticed that there were a few months where I seemed to hit a plateau and lost just 1 pound. I’m currently in a plateau and it comes as I am a mere 10 pounds away from my goal weight. If I look back at the other plateaus, they do appear to be at critical milestones in my journey. Though it can be frustrating, for me it is a learning curve and I love to learn. I want to understand why I am hitting these plateaus and what I can do to push through them.

What is a weight-loss plateau?

A weight-loss plateau is when you stop losing weight, despite eating and exercising in the same manner. You’ve been cruising along, losing steadily each week, when suddenly it just stops. I’ve long thought a weight loss plateau is just my body trying to adapt. I believed this to be a good thing, as I want my body to settle into the new normal. I was correct about the body trying to adapt. Who knew those old Science class lessons would come in handy. I know that these plateaus happen to everyone, so thought I’d share my learning.

What causes a weight-loss plateau?

Generally, when we begin a weight loss journey, we are highly motivated to eat clean and exercise diligently. The weight generally comes off easily, due to water weight release and newly created calorie deficits. I’ve learned that this is due to the body getting needed energy by releasing stores of glycogen, a type of carbohydrate found in the muscles and liver. This causes the release of water weight.

Our bodies are indeed adapting to the weight loss and seeking balance, known as homeostasis, or a stable physiological state. This simply means that as you lose weight, your metabolism declines, causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight. This is what slows the weight loss. If you decrease your calorie intake further, your metabolism will slow further as your body continues trying to find homeostasis.

What I thought in the past, was that I needed to eat less and exercise more to push through the plateau. I would then become frustrated as that never worked. I mean, how many times have you said this – “I don’t get it. I’m eating nothing and working out like crazy and the weight just won’t come off. I give up. I’m going to just eat and do what I want.” I know I have. This time around, I am pushing through the plateaus each time they come.

How to Push Through Plateaus

These are a few things that have helped me continue on this journey, despite the plateaus that arise.

  • Change Focus

I remind myself that I am not on this journey to just lose weight, I am on it to be healthy, fit and happy. I continue to weigh myself, but remember it’s just a data point along the way. I also remind myself that these plateaus are completely part of the journey, as my body is seeking to find a set point. I give myself and my body grace and time to adjust and continue to push forward. It’s also important to note that maintaining my body weight is a win. Anytime you are maintaining and not gaining, you are winning. Hold on to the maintenance period as you set yourself up for the next cycle of losing.

  • Change Exercise Routines

You might hit a plateau if your body has become too used to your routines. Further, sometimes the routines get stale as your body adapts to them. What can you do to change things up a bit? When I hit a plateau, I like to engage in different routines, or exercises to change things up. For example, instead of a hatha style class I will take more vinyasa flow classes. Or, instead of vinyasa level 1, I will take more level 2 classes. I don’t increase the amount of classes I take, I just change the variety.

Other ways I change the exercise routine are to swap out one activity for another. For example, I take two 30 minute walks each day. When I hit a plateau, I like to swap one walk for either a lap swim, or bike ride. I truly believe variety in our routine can spark movement through the plateaus. And, even if they truly do not, they definitely change my mindset and thought patterns.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if you are not engaging in weightlifting, you need to add it in. When I started playing pickleball, I cut back on my weight training. Before I knew it, I wasn’t going to the gym to lift. I was working out every day and hard, but not doing any designated weight training days. Muscle helps you to keep up the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism). Further, having good muscle tone beautifully shapes your body. Building muscle can definitely help you break through a weight loss plateau. In fact, strength training can help speed up your metabolism and burn more calories, which can help you lose weight. Finally, muscle is denser than fat, so you might not see a change in weight even if you’re losing fat and gaining muscle. 

  • Change Eating Patterns

The same goes for my eating patterns. I am a creature of habit and routine and can fall into patterns of eating at times. In times of plateaus, I change my eating patterns. For example, I like to have nutrient packed smoothies for breakfast, as I’m not a big morning eater. I pack these with vegetables, protein, and healthy fat. When I hit a plateau, I like to change my breakfast and eat different foods. Today, for example, I had a hearty bowl of amaranth with chopped pecans and bananas.

  • Use Your Data to Guide You

What gets measured gets improved is a saying I used to hear endlessly at the gym. There is so much truth to that statement. I am a data geek. As an educator, data drove my decisions and led to success. This journey is no different. I keep a journal and track patterns in my weight, sleep and overall well being. This data is a goldmine for me to mine through when I hit a plateau. For example, I was eating a lot of Thai and Asian inspired meals when I hit my last plateau. When I looked deeply at the journal, I noticed I was eating a lot of noodle dishes. That coupled with the salt content of the tamari and soy sauce used led me to make some dietary adjustments, not cutting calories. Once I cut back on the frequency of those ingredients and meals, the scale started moving again.

When I hit a plateau in the winter, I noticed my sleep patterns were off. Then I went to my food journal and noticed that I had 1-2 alcoholic beverages during the week. Once I stopped drinking, my sleep improved and the scale started moving. If you don’t have this type of data source, it will be hard to know which direction to go in when you are stuck.

  • Don’t Cut Calories or Give Up

Resist the temptation to cut even more calories when you hit a plateau, as this can wreak havoc on your metabolism. Rather, stay in maintenance and hold the line as you implement some of the changes I’ve discussed. Even if you lose fat and gain muscle without losing weight, your body composition will change. Keep telling yourself this will pass and continue pushing forward.

Finally, I’d like to share that the most important thing I’ve changed is my mindset. Whenever I hit a plateau in the past, I got frustrated and gave up. It was just plain easier. But, I made a pact with myself this time, that I would not do that. When I hit a plateau, or rough patch, I hold on to my healthy habits. I know that this will pass. This was actually the first year in my life, that I didn’t put on weight over the winter months. I made it through that time with no gain and started the spring, and summer months way ahead of where I would have been had I quit. Plateaus will happen along the way, but it’s best to ride the wave and try some of the suggestions I have made.

If you have ideas about how you have pushed through plateaus, I’d be most interested in hearing. Please share with me via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog, on Instagram or Facebook, or here in the comment section below.

Longevity and Brain Health: Lessons from My 93-Year-Old Father

“Caring for your body, mind, and spirit is your greatest and grandest responsibility. It’s about listening to the needs of your soul and then honoring them” – Kristi Ling

My father is 93 years young, living independently and able to walk for exercise. He lives a fairly active lifestyle, going every day to the local senior club. They go on trips each week which gives him a chance to get out and socialize. He has some age-related ailments, but for the most part, he is in great shape.

left to right, My Dad (blue shirt, 93), Me, My Uncle (90)

My father has always been a purpose driven man, getting his Bachelor and Masters Degree in his early 50s, while raising three children. He was a Police Officer in NYC and didn’t need to do that, but his drive pushed him to do so. My father always believed in education and building knowledge. When my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dad’s sole purpose was to care for her. He did everything for her and treated her as if nothing had changed. When she was in a care center full time, his purpose was to be there every single day without fail and he was. See a post on his dedication here, The Notebook.

At my first session of a new six week learning program, the doctors were talking about longevity and brain health. It was stated that, research found people who had longevity, and were still cognitively sharp, engaged in common behaviors. Specifically, they engaged in physical exercise, ate more plant-centered diets and engaged their brains in complex tasks, leading a purpose driven life. When I heard that, I immediately thought of my father, who at 93 is cognitively sound.

My whole life I have taken after my father. I pray I have his longevity and cognitive health, for the women in my family have not been as lucky. My purpose, or why, is to avoid, or delay this fate. This purpose motivates me to learn, grow and move my body every day. I’ve learned that the risk of getting Alzheimer’s is not mainly driven by genetics. Approximately 3% of the total number of Alzheimer’s patients have specific genetic disease risks that cannot be avoided. Over 95% do not have that risk factor, meaning lifestyle and diet matter most in avoiding, or delaying onset of cognitive decline. (Sherazi, Dr.)

Diet and lifestyle matter, for what we do today and most importantly for our future. Here is what was shared regarding lifestyle choices for brain health and longevity.

Movement

We all should aim to move our bodies every single day for a minimum of 30 minutes. Brisk walking is highly recommended, as is tennis and racquet sports such as pickleball. The type of exercise we engage in matters. For brain health, it is recommended that we do the following:

  • Frequency – We need a regimented system of exercising, meaning organized and scheduled. Should be a minimum of 4-5 days per week for at least 30 minutes a day. Personally, I believe that brisk walks should be done daily for at least 30 minutes. The best time, in my opinion, is first thing in the morning to let the sunlight reset your circadian rhythm.
  • Strength – We lose muscle mass as we age. We need to engage in muscle-building routines, such as circuit machines, use of body weight or dumbells. We should work all the muscles in our body, but for brain health specific attention should be given to our legs. These large muscles keep us physically moving and are connected to vascular health.
  • Aerobic – We need to get our hearts pumping regularly as this increases blood flow through our bodies. Swimming, jogging or any other activity that increases your heart rate should be engaged in at least 3 times per week.
  • Consistency – This is a lifestyle, not a reach your target weight and stop. We are signing up to do this for life, as our life depends on it. I move every single day, as does my 93-year-old dad. When we stop moving, we start declining. Make a doable schedule and stick to it. I use my calendar and book it on there and I’m retired. If you are working, you will need to book this time for yourself and make it happen. For too many years, I skipped workouts. Those days are over.
  • **As with all recommendations it is imperative you speak to your health care provider about your specific abilities and limitations. Start slow and build up to these recommendations. I started with a slow walk around the block.

I’ve written many blogs on this topic if you’d like to read more, Move to Live, Healthy Lifestyle: Food, Exercise, and Joy in My Daily Routine

Lifestyle

  • Food – the research is clear that eating more plant based foods is good for our health. When my grandmother was alive, she advocated eating our fruits and vegetables, so this is not new. Processed foods need to be greatly reduced, better yet eliminated. Eat whole foods whenever possible. I eat whole food plant based and have been for six (6) months. I also do not eat any dairy products. I feel better than ever and will continue on this path. If giving up meat is not for you, you can greatly reduce your reliance on it as your main source of protein and increase your meatless days. Eat food that loves your brain, leafy greens and berries to name two. For more information on brain healthy food, see this https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/foods-linked-to-better-brainpower. Past blogs on my food choices – Change Our Thinking About Food, Eat to Live
  • Socialization – Far too many elderly people become isolated, due to various reasons. Ensure you have systems to keep you engaged with others built into your retirement plans. That is the main reason my husband and I moved when we retired. We loved our home, but knew the challenges to stay fully engaged and active would cause too much time alone at home. We had friends, but they were working still and to do anything, we would have had to constantly leave our area. We now have a full array of things to do right here in our community. Join a club, or senior center if you do not. Like my dad, who never wanted to join one, it gives him something to do each day and he’s around people. Isolation is not good for our brains.
  • Sleep -Quality sleep is one of the most critical aspects of our health. It is when our body rests, recharges and when our brain organizes and cleans out waste. Many people struggle to get fully restorative sleep, myself included. I am doing much better these days. I went into greater detail about getting quality sleep in the blog post – Sweet Dreams. I highly recommend you read it and work on your sleep, your life and brain health depend on it.
  • Stress – Stress almost killed me and it destroyed my health, no doubt about it. It takes a huge toll on us emotionally, physically and healthwise. We need to reduce our stress. Exercise, yoga, meditation and mindfulness all help. I wrote about these in great detail in these posts – Finding Myself, Just Breathe

Purpose

Some studies suggest that having a sense of purpose in life can be associated with increased longevity and a healthier life. A 2019 Harvard Health study found that people with a higher sense of purpose were less likely to die during a four-year study period, and less likely to die from heart, circulatory, or blood conditions. A 2022 study of older adults in the United States found that people with the strongest sense of purpose had a 15.2% lower risk of death, and that this association was stronger in women than men. 

I recommend your purpose be grounded in your why. Why do you want to be healthy? Why does this matter? Why do you get up each day? This will serve to motivate you to keep going when the going is tough. Believe me, my why keeps me focused and working toward my goal. It matters to me. Find what you are trying to achieve and ask why. Frame your decisions around that why.

I love learning and was an educator my whole career. I have been keeping my brain active in retirement, taking courses, along with completing my yoga certification. I am cooking in different ways now and needed to learn how to do that as well. All of the courses I’ve taken were connected to my why – to live a long, healthy, active life and keep my memories. I do not want to be a burden to my family, nor do I want them to watch me slip away, as my mother and grandmother did. I hope you will find your why and join me on this journey to reclaim your health.

I’d love to hear from you about your journey. Feel free to reach out to me via email at laurakump@reclaiminghealth.blog. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook as well, or just leave a comment below.