‘An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure’ Benjamin Franklin

We all wish to live freely, with a healthy body and mind to pursue our dreams. Our bodies are unique and irreplaceable; so, to live a long and happy life we must nurture our most precious asset.

Illness can occur for many reasons, often out of our control - due to our genes, or bad luck. But we also know, risk can build because we live a certain way, either by choice, or misguided advice. Conversely, there are ways to live well, which can lower risk of damage to your physical and mental health.

In ‘The Orial Way’ we outline what is important, to help lead a productive, meaningful, healthy and long life.

The Orial Way: Our 8 Pillar Approach to Support Living Well:

Nutrition: What We Eat is What We Become
Activity: Use Our Body as Nature Intended
Sleep: Why We Rest
Medicines & Supplements: Using Science to Best Support Our Health

Managing your Headspace: Organising Our Cognitive Load
Curiousity & Newness: The Adventure of Life
Relaxation, Meditation & Stillness: Filtering Out the Noise
Joy: What We Live for

Below, we briefly touch on some principles contained in the series:

‘‘Let food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be food.’’ Hippocrates

Everyone knows fruit and vegetables are great, but these, combined with a diet rich in legumes, whole grains, and nuts; with reduced intake of red and processed meats may be a place to start. Research suggests this approach is linked to an increase in healthy life expectancy if starting aged 20 or even at 60.

Additionally, intermittent calorie restriction, and varieties of intermittent fasting may help prevent some age-related diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart, and degenerative diseases. Using evolutionary mechanisms with personal dietary interventions can optimise health and reduce risks

Personalised Diets

Increasing evidence suggests nutrition should be tailored to your age, sex, genetic background, lifestyle and your underlying health. When you are older, needs differ to your younger life. Over 65, your muscles can shrink more quickly, so your diet and exercise needs adjusting to avoid frailty.

At the Orial Clinic, we recommend individualised diets at all ages. Eventually, personalised analysis, aided by artificial intelligence, may allow sophisticated personalization of nutrition, but these are not widely available yet.

Evolution programmed us to be Active!

We’ve been running from predators or after prey for the whole of human times. Our bodies are evolved to be active. Once we give that up, many things start to fail.

For good physical and mental health, adults should aim for physical activity daily. Any activity is better than none, and more, better still. As a guide, aim for 150 minutes moderate activity; or 75 minutes vigorous activity, or some combination weekly. This should be tailored to your underlying fitness and age. Small changes can make a big differences over time.

“All I want to know is where I'm going to die so I'll never go there’ Charlie Munger

There are some choices, over a long term, will guarantee a life of misery . If you know where something leads, and it's somewhere you’d rather avoid, omit or control your exposure, so it doesn’t get out of control.

Cigarettes, drugs, too much alcohol, debt, toxic people, unnecessary stress. We all know what causes our friends’ problems. Why bring this into your world. Life is complicated enough: simplify it and appreciate it for the blessing it is.

References

Longo V. Anderson R. Nutrition, longevity and disease: From molecular mechanisms to interventions. Cell. 2002: 185: 1455-1470
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics-for-the-uk
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/preventing-type-2-diabetes/prediabetes
https://www.heart.org/en/get-involved/advocate/federal-priorities/cdc-prevention-programs

The Orial Way