The Simplest Health Advice I Can Give You
Just two things you can start doing today to improve your health.
By Dr Dhanaventhan Raman, GP and Natural Bodybuilding Athlete
Enough with the depressing statistics, complicated diets, expensive supplements, fashionable detoxes and miracle programmes. As a doctor and an athlete, sometimes I wish I could give every patient a one-page prescription for staying healthy. Not because health is simple, but because the basics often are.
There are many things we can discuss about health, but if you asked me where I would start, I would give you just two pieces of advice.
First, if you can walk, walk. I don’t care whether you’re 20, 40, 60 or 80. If you can walk, move.
Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week. That gives you 150 minutes of activity a week, which is the amount recommended for adults by the World Health Organization.
Walking is perfectly acceptable. You don’t need a treadmill, an expensive gym membership or a fitness watch.
This is your baseline, not your maximum.
If you swim, cycle, run, hike, play badminton, play football or do resistance training, excellent. Keep going. Start where you are, do what you can, and gradually do more.
Second, stop treating highly processed food as everyday food.
I’m not saying you can never eat kuih again. I’m saying kuih shouldn’t become breakfast and then appear again with your evening tea.
The same applies to sugary drinks, sweets, pastries, highly processed snacks, refined bread products and excessive added oils. These foods can have a place in life, but they shouldn’t become the foundation of your everyday diet.
Build your meals around ordinary food: rice, meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, legumes and other whole or minimally processed foods. Control your portions and be particularly careful with liquid calories because drinks can deliver a surprising amount of energy without making you feel equally full.
You don’t need to become obsessive but instead be deliberate.
Sometimes I think about what our moyang used to eat. We have made healthy living incredibly complicated, when many of the basics were already there in front of us. We don’t need to return to the past completely, but perhaps we should remember some of the principles that worked.
And of course, there are some things I would say very plainly: stop smoking, don’t vape, and reduce alcohol consumption as close to zero as you reasonably can. These aren’t fashionable recommendations. They’re simply sensible ones.
Good health begins at birth. It is a lease, and payment is due every day for the rest of our lives.
One plate of nasi lemak won’t determine your health. One piece of cake won’t make you unhealthy. One missed workout won’t destroy your fitness.
The problem is what becomes a habit over the years.
So, move regularly. Eat mostly real food. Control the highly processed stuff. But don’t make healthy living miserable either. Exercise with your family, play a sport, or simply walk in the park with a friend. Health doesn’t have to mean punishment.
Good health does not have to be complicated. Move your body, eat properly and look after yourself consistently.
We only get to borrow our health, and how we care for it matters.
About the writer
Dr. Dhanaventhan Raman is a GP at Klinik Palani, Tasek, Ipoh, with a special interest in preventive medicine, weight management and lifestyle health.
He is also an NPC Worldwide Masters Division Gold Medallist and natural bodybuilding athlete representing GOAT FITNESS, Ipoh.
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