Yesterday I was in London to listening to Dr Rangan Chatterjee and some of his colleagues talk about a different way of managing one’s health – through lifestyle change.

Because of the huge strain placed on GP’s and the fact that they only get 10 minutes to see their patients, they are often quick to prescribe pills rather than to identify what may actually be at the root of an ailment. Dr Chatterjee’s approach is to spend longer taking a full history and then suggesting small lifestyle changes that can slowly start to bring about health improvements – physical, emotional and also mental health.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening (I had some great company!) – Dr Chatterjee is an excellent public speaker. He has a very clear and eloquent way of describing this approach, using lots of case examples of how patients health has been completely turned around – often when all else has failed.

We all came away with a signed copy of the book – it’s a beautiful book with lots of lovely images.

We all understand that making drastic lifestyle changes doesn’t necessarily stick with most people. Therefore this no non-sense guide whittles everything down to the essentials and recommends small, managable changes.

In the list below (taken from the book) aims to achieve 2 points in each of the 4 sections – rather than the full lot.  This way its more manageable and you are more likely to achieve some of the goals – they will (hopefully!) become embedded in every day life.

● RELAX

Me-time every day

Weekly screen-free sabbath

Keep a gratitude journal

A daily practice of stillness

Eat one meal per day around a table – without an e-device

● EAT

De-normalise sugar (and retrain your taste buds)

Eat five different coloured vegetables every day

Eat all of your food within a 12-hour window

Drink eight glasses of water per day

Unprocess your diet by avoiding any food product that contains more than five ingredients

● MOVE

Walk at least 10,000 steps per day

Do a form of strength training twice a week

Do a form of high-intensity interval training twice a week

Make a habit of exercise snacking

Do daily glute exercises to help warm them up

● SLEEP

Create an environment of absolute darkness

Spend at least 20 minutes outside every morning

Create a bedtime routine

Manage your commotion

Enjoy your caffeine before noon

I’m pleased to say that I possibly do at least one or even two of these things under each heading already – but already I am planning to try others – especially the screen free sabbath and the cutting out caffeine after midday – those will be a huge challenge to me!