the heart as it is | courage • grief • beauty

In the beginning of May,  I shared some recommendations from a Taipei in hospital and then said I would try to keep some level of accountability here on my blog. This is the second of my self-check-ins to see if I am keeping up with my goals, as well as some other things I’m learning about health & my body !

One final thing I’ve been trying to look into and incorporate is wisdom from Traditional Chinese Medicine. I’ve known that out of the 9 body types, I have a Qi deficiency. If you want to learn more about it, you can read this. The lifestyle suggestions for those with Qi deficiencies include:

1. Getting better rest (more sleep, naps) … surprise surprise
2. Doing relaxing activities
3. Eat fermented foods (e.g., kimchi)
4. Eat healthful, energizing fats (e.g., olive oil, avocado, salmon)
5. Eat a wide variety of lightly cooked fruits, vegetables, and nuts
6. Eating more of the following: lentils, quinoa, oats, malted grain beverages, root vegetables, pumpkin, miso soup, orange peels
7. NOT eating these kinds of food: refined sugar, refined grains, fried or salty foods, iced or refrigerated foods or drinks, dairy products, citrus fruits, pork, yeasty foods, banana

7,000 to 8,000 steps a day. I still have not been really reaching 7 to 8,000 steps a day. On average I might have around 4,000, at most 6,000. My job is quite sedentary (standard office job), so I only really have lunch time to get in my steps. I could at least like a half-hour walk in the evenings or something. However, I have joined a rock climbing gym, and that is making me very motivated to stay active because it is very fun and challenging!

Aerobic exercise three times a week for 30 minutes each time until you break a sweat – Yep I’ve definitely been doing this thanks to the rock climbing gym I’ve joined ! I will say though, I sort of overworked myself this past week. I pulled a stomach muscle, which I didn’t even know was possible, plus my arms feel very sore. I think a good rule of thumb is maybe not to go to the rock climbing gym 3 days in a row – 2 days at most, and then I should take a break.

A diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil and less meat can help prevent heart disease and cancer. – I’ve been adding more fruit, mainly pears and nectarines. For vegetables, to try my best to keep things simple, I’ve mainly been eating kimchi plus some other vegetable. That way I can get at least 2 kinds of vegetables in during the week. Fish is expensive, but I would like to find a way to at least have some fish once a week. I’ve unfortunately actually been eating more meat, but I’m at least sticking to pasture-raised meat.

Eat protein and fat foods for breakfast, which can keep us full of energy for the day; Cut back on these foods at dinner to avoid weight gain. My consistency with this hasn’t been great. The best I’ve been doing for now is not eating too much in the evening in general. I’m usually running out of the house for breakfast. Something I’ve been trying to remind myself to do lately is to turn off my phone before I get ready for bed (e.g., brushing my teeth, showering) – that way I can go to sleep earlier, wake up earlier, and have a more fulfilling breakfast. I’ll check in next month to see how I’m doing.

If you currently only eat 1 or 2 vegetables a day, please add 1 more to lunch and dinner. Still only been eating 2 vegetables at most. Going to try to keep it consistent at 2 for now and see how I can add a 3rd one for next month.

Eat as much brown rice as possible to get more nutrients like fiber, minerals, and more. I haven’t bought brown rice yet, but I’ve still been eating purple rice mixed with white rice.

Switch to skim milk or low-fat milk, and reduce carbonated soda or other sweet drinks. Still drinking low-fat milk at home with my coffee. However, since it’s been getting really hot, I have been getting some sweet drinks again like milk tea, but I try to order the lowest sugar level.

When buying food, pay attention to nutritional content labels and choose foods with the least amount of sodium or salt. I still haven’t been watching salt content – mainly sugar content. To remind myself, 1,500 – 2,300 mg is the daily maximum.

Have dinner before 8 o’clock, and do not go to bed later than 11 o’clock at the latest.  I’ve still been doing really good with having dinner before 8:00. After 8:00, all I will do is make myself an iced chamomile tea with some Elix supplements (that are based off of Chinese medicine!) that I subscribed to lately. I’ve still been going to bed close to 11:00 again. I experimented a bit, and 8:00 pm is a good start time to get ready for bed, which is sometimes hard to remember after I kind of do whatever I want as an evening routine during the weekend. I think the challenge will be to maintain this sleep routine on weekends generally.