The Basics of a Healthy Lifestyle for Managing Pain
What motivates a person to live a healthier lifestyle? For most people, it is the desire to live longer. Some people are motivated to follow healthy habits so they can do the things they love. For others, it is a necessity to manage daily pain. That’s where Jordan Sudberg, a physiatrist in Flushing, NY, comes into play. Dr. Sudberg is a graduate of St. George’s University School of Medicine. He is a pain management expert who helps his patients achieve their goals of a higher quality of life. He does that by helping them manage their pain with lifestyle changes. According to Dr. Sudberg, understanding the basics is crucial to moving in the right direction.
Dr. Sudberg starts by reminding patients to take a moment to look at food labels. Ingredients are the building blocks of every diet. Checking the labels can help to identify whether a food is healthy and contains wholesome ingredients. Some items may look healthy, however, many items on the grocery store shelves are loaded with hidden sugars and preservatives. Vanilla yogurt in a smoothie, for example, might sound like a healthy option, but how much sugar has been added with the vanilla flavoring? Plain yogurt may be the healthier choice as it has no added sugars.
Another basic element to healthy living is ensuring a healthy balance of vegetables in every meal. When preparing any meal, vegetables should make up half of the plate. Remember that smoothie? Add a cup of leafy greens such as spinach to help boost vegetable intake with minimal effect on flavor. Spinach is also packed with vitamins and nutrients that do the body good.
Gentle exercises and constant movement are a great starting point for beginning a healthy lifestyle. It doesn’t all need to happen at once. Making tiny changes to a daily routine is the perfect foundation to build off of for a healthy lifestyle. 30 minutes a week of meal planning could easily help with portions. Taking the time to think ahead and plan a week of meals helps to avoid making impulsive food choices. When healthy meals are made ahead of time, that meal then becomes a convenient choice. Portion sizes are also easier to control when meal-prepping is done on a regular basis.
Beyond making smart choices in the kitchen, it is also important to stay active. Even gentle movement is good for the body, especially one that is recovering or in pain. The body is not designed to remain sedentary. With that said, it is still important to respect the limits of the body, especially when dealing with chronic pain. If something does not feel right, it probably isn’t, and trying to push past that pain may cause more harm than good.
Finally, Jordan Sudberg advocates an important component of a healthy lifestyle: mentality. Everyone stumbles and struggles. Try not to think negative thoughts at each setback. A negative mind can mean the difference between successful healthy living or a downward spiral the other way.
A healthy lifestyle can be beneficial for everyone in every application. All it comes down to is an understanding of the basics. With a positive mindset, healthy living and manageable pain can easily become possible.