Winter Wellness Strategies

OK, I think that winter is a difficult time, not just for me but I suspect for most people because your options are reduced, aren't they? You can't go out as much as you wanted to, the weather isn't very good, you can't hold your picnics, you can't hold your outdoor activities. Also in winter you've got things like Christmas and Diwali and all the festivities that suddenly come on to us so then you will over indulge. How do I manage my way around all that? So I will try and do more exercises indoors. I spent a little bit of money, made a little bit of effort and I've built a small gym in my own house in the garage. We converted it into a mini gym. So I try use that in the winter months. It's not as good as jogging outdoors or going to the park but it's the next best thing. I've got a flat screen TV so I'll keep that near the treadmill, near the cross trainer, near the bike and then I will watch. I love watching the news or following you know current affairs on an international basis so I'll watch that television and keep myself inspired to carry on on the treadmill, carry on on the cross trainer, carry on on the bike. So I tend to exercise indoors as much as I can. I love playing badminton, I love playing tennis, so then I try and do that indoors during the winter months. As far as food intake is concerned, look, I think it's fair to say that I do overindulge during the winter months, especially because of the festivity seasons. But But whenever I do, I buddy up with a friend and she and I kind of try and keep each other in check. I have to confess now, I'm a bit of a chocoholic, so then in the winter months I will overindulge in chocolates. But me and my buddy, we've decided that every time either of us has a chocolate, the empty wrapper that's left over, we'll take a photograph of it and send it to each other. We play a game of tennis. It all started when she had two bits of chocolate and I didn't, so that meant it was 15 love and then 30 love to me, but then I overindulged and I had three, so then the score went the other way and she's winning at the moment. But having this small healthy competition, and it's got to be done on honesty, we try and keep each other in check even in winter months and don't have too much chocolate. So it's a combination of exercising indoors and also working with my body to keep my lifestyle changes that I promised myself in check during the winter months. Perfect, thank you. Number two, what are the sorts of challenges that are extra significant during winter and how do you face those challenges personally? Do you have any particular goals you want to achieve during this winter? particular goals do I want to achieve during the winter and what are the challenges? Okay, well I do want to maintain my weight. I don't want to put on any weight. I do want to maintain my diet. I don't want to start eating too much carbohydrates and high sugar content food. So what I do is using a combination of indoors exercising and also working with my body so that we will check with each other, how are we doing on a weekly basis, how are we doing with our exercise regime, how are we doing on our diet. We'll keep each other on track. From time to time I do have a setback, I will go to a party and overindulge, but when I do that my body will help me to get me back on track and back to the discipline. Okay, brilliant. Are there issues during winter with your your health that you need support with and who do you turn to to help you for support through these issues? Are there any special health requirements in the winter months and where do I get my support? It's the colds and coughs and flus and things like that that sometimes get me down to be honest with you. I'm one of those individuals that don't want to rely too much on medication so I'll take the odd you know Beecham's powders or something like that. But more often than not, I prefer the prevention side of things. If I will sense a sniffle or something coming on, I'll take medication quickly, I'll make sure that I keep warm, I'll make sure that I maintain my healthy diet and I'll make sure that I get extra sleep in the winter months. So that's how I try and look after my health. Brilliant. If you could give advice to someone struggling with their health during the winter, what would it be? What advice would I give anybody that's struggling with their health in the winter months? Look, accept that the season has changed. Expect yourself to have extra challenges. Think about in advance. Think about how you'll keep up your exercise regime indoors. Think about how you will maintain your diet and don't feel that you're alone. Please make friends, build a body or two, work with them and keep in touch with them regularly. The Diabetes Community Club programme encourages all that and with the peer group support that's built into it people try to prepare and keep themselves in check with their lifestyle changes even throughout the winter. That's what I recommend you should do as well. Brilliant. Last question in this section and what do you want of your healthcare experts to support you or prepare you for this winter? During the winter months I guess the healthcare experts, what can they do for me? Well They can remind me about the flu jabs. They can remind me about keeping to a good diet. Remind me not to overindulge. But I do take responsibility for my own health, to be honest. I don't need the health care professionals to monitor me. Just some advice and guidance would be good, just to make sure that I realize that we're now in the winter months. But after that, I will use my own self-discipline help from my friends, my buddies, to maintain my disciplined lifestyle.