Never been a better time.

A friend sent me an email the other day. It said, “Shayla your work will be doubly important and challenging after this COVID thing is done with us.”

I appreciated the feedback. It reminded me in a very real way how our health can change for better or worse based on what we do today.

Right now I have many clients that are using this time to improve their health and lifestyle habits without the regular disruptions of daily life. They are cooking their meals at home, not spending too much time at work, getting outside every day.

Some of the coronavirus success stories include:

Two clients that have lost 10 pounds in the last 8 weeks because they are making their own plant-based meals

One of my clients has maintained a 100-pound weight loss, achieved in December for the first four months of 2020.

One client said that they were doing their exercise program every day as opposed to when they could fit it in and now has increased their activity from 20 to 45 minutes a day.

Another said that this is the first time in years that their blood pressure was in the normal range thanks to their new eating and exercise plan.

I have had clients set more personal bests and had more success in changing their habits in the last 8 weeks than ever before because they have a new found motivation.

If you don’t know how, or what, to change then the opposite can be equally true.

Some sobering statistics

At the beginning of April, StatisticsCan reported on the impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians. It shows that alcohol consumption is up 13.6%, eating junk food or sweets is up 26.8%, internet use is up 67.9%, and watching television is up 63.1%.

The Guardian newspaper finds that while pubs in England are suffering from the lockdown the sale of alcohol is increasing.

Pre-coronavirus, 100 million, almost half the adult population in the US, have pre-diabetes or diabetes. 122 million Americans have cardiovascular disease and more than 70% of adults are overweight or obese. More Americans are sick than healthy.

Canadians aren’t doing much better with 61% being overweight and obese. The majority of adults in developed countries are considered overfat, regardless of their weight. The Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2017 estimated that an estimated 84.5% of men, 68.5% of women, 48.1% of boys and 44.2% of girls were overfat.

A bad diet is the leading cause of death in the United States.

We know that people with underlying health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity do much worse if they are infected with the coronavirus.

There has never been a better time

COVID has turned the slow-moving threat of lifestyle disease into an immediate one. It is no longer something that may happen one day. The risk suddenly feels immediate.

The good news?

Every healthy, plant-based meal you eat makes a difference. Immediately. Every time you eat green leafy vegetables you lower your risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and weight gain.

It is not only leafy greens that change blood vessel health. Every 3-4 hours you can choose to improve your health or not. You can make a difference with food choices. Diet should be a vital sign.

Fitness should also be a vital sign. Every time we engage in an activity we improve our immune system. I was on a virtual medical conference call on Thursday with leading Multiple Sclerosis researchers. They said that even for those with neuromuscular dysfunction should aim for one hour of exercise every day. They said that they could not stress the benefits of exercise enough.

Why don’t we all do it?

I have three theories.

First, because until now, the threat was sometime in the future. People trade their future for money, time or short-term convenience daily. It is only when there is an immediate threat that we consider whether that trade-off is worth it.

Second, it is hard to imagine something you haven’t felt for a while. If you feel worn out, can’t sleep properly, take medications and suffer the side-effects, you can’t imagine feeling good. It doesn’t take much to feel differently, but it does mean making a change. If you can’t imagine it then it is even harder to start.

Third, until it happens to you, or someone you love, it is hard to imagine the fear, uncertainty, anxiety that comes with a change in your health.

I can’t tell you how many people – mostly older men – who have sat across from me and told me how scared, worried and depressed they are since their heart attack. Seemingly, in an instant, they went from being healthy to being close to death. The distant threat of heart disease is real and the loss of their perceived health is gone in an instant.

They are going through all the stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I usually get them at depression.

Grief and depression for the loss of their self-perception. Because their health was bad before their heart attack. It was not one moment that changed their health. It was one moment that changed their perception.

How well they cope with the loss is a good indicator of how well they will change their health.

Currently, there is a lot of collective grief. We have lost the old way of being, but with loss can come great change.

There has never been a better time.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla