Recipe of the Week

Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.

I have always thought that this is the very best time of year to really think about what you would like to change about your life in the new year ahead. A fresh start... a new beginning... All phrases we are familiar with, and no doubt your motivation is on a high. If that is where you are at the moment then hang on to it and make this the year that you see that motivation through to the end!

There is an old saying that says ‘If you set your mind to doing something then you will just get on with doing it!’ To set our mind is a strange expression, but it is simply the conversation we have with ourselves when we want to start and finish something. Of course, things happen that can get in the way of this mindset, but if we truly believe we can do it and talk ourselves through it in a positive way, then it is totally possible for us to get the result we hope for.

So, let's say you really want to lose weight and get fitter this year. A typical January mindset!  Of course, some practical planning is needed to put everything in place, such as getting rid of unhelpful foods that may tempt us, and maybe having our fitness kit ready and waiting, so we can easily get ourselves moving.  But what we all do not pay enough attention to is how we 'talk' ourselves through it all.

Another phrase, 'You are what you think', is so true. We constantly do what is called self-critical judgement and we easily talk ourselves out of pursuing our goal. For example, you have fallen by the wayside a little with your motivation and will-power. You have spent the last day eating more than you had planned and you didn’t do the early morning walk you said you were going to do, so you start calling yourself a failure! And the downward spiral begins, until you eventually throw in the towel! Well, you need to learn and practice what is called the art of mindfulness. Now before you start to think I have become a bit 'airy-fairy', just bear with me.

Mindfulness is all about the enormous power of the mind-body connection, and what is being discovered is that practicing mindfulness actually makes us healthier. The mind and body are now being seen as equal partners in the medical world and many studies have shown that maintaining a positive mental attitude, despite any setbacks we may encounter, is what will see us through. It has been proven to help with anxiety and depression too. A good expression is to 'be kind to our own mind' so that when we meet any hiccups in our plans we say  'I can handle this'... 'I'm ok'....'one setback does not make me a failure'.  Before we know it, we are back on track.

As with any mind-changing activity it requires practise and the first step is to recognise when we are talking to ourselves in an unhelpful or negative way. We then need to take a step back from our own thoughts and recognise what we are saying to ourselves.  Then 'change our mind' and change our thought pattern.

Some of us may need more practise than others of course. If you have thought negatively for most of your adult life (and you now know you have) then that will require more practise for you to start being kinder to yourself. No matter what age we are though, we can all start being more mindful and help ourselves to gain, or simply maintain, better health.

In one study a group of chambermaids were asked if they ever exercised and they ashamedly admitted to not doing any.  What they didn't seem to realise is that the work they did every day constituted significant exercise. So, two study groups were established – one group who now knew that their work was an exercise session in itself, and a group who had not been told.  The usual health measurements were taken for both groups. Interestingly, all those who now knew they were exercising lost weight and improved their blood pressure! They had changed their mindset and began to think positively. That was all they needed to know for them to think differently about the true value of their job and put more effort into their work, which then led to them being fitter! 

Another enlightening study called the 'Counter-clockwise Study' took a group of older adults to a retreat for one week. They were all in their 80s or 90s so many were somewhat frail and suffering some from the usual age-related physical problems. The aim of the study was to get them to reflect on what they were doing 20 years or so earlier. So they all reflected on a time when they were much more physically able, and then an amazing thing happened - their health improved!  Amazingly, their vision, hearing, memory and overall strength got better just from talking about it! The study therefore proved that we can slow down ageing just by changing our mindset. 

This is a famous study that has been replicated in many countries, involving many different people from different cultures and the results came out the same in every case.  Remarkable!

So, with all this positive information now in our head, I wish you well for the year ahead and hope that you achieve all that you set out to do. By taking note of both Rosemary’s and my words this week, we hope that you will get to where you want to be. It may be that you already practice mindfulness and are benefitting from ageing slowly, but no doubt you will know of others who are not yet of the same mindset. Let's help them change their mind!

Did you know... 

On the 12th January 1976 the most popular novelist in the world, Dame Agatha Christie, died.

During her lifetime, Dame Agatha published 83 books, including novels, romances written under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott, short stories, poetry and the scripts for her plays. She sold an estimated 300 million books during her lifetime but was known to be a shrewd businesswoman, anxious to avoid leaving too much of her personal fortune to the taxman.

In later life she said: "I only write one book a year now, which is sufficient to give me a good income. If I wrote more, I'd enlarge the finances of the Inland Revenue who would spent it mostly on idiotic things."

The hugely successful play The Mousetrap - first written as a radio sketch called Three Blind Mice for the 80th birthday of Queen Mary - is said to have made her more than £3m. She gave the proceeds to her only grandson, and it continues to be the longest-running stage show in the West End, with well over 30,000 performances so far.

Dame Agatha Christie's will was published on 30 April 1976 and revealed she had left only £106,683, having managed to dispose of most of her wealth before she died.