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Healthy Living + Diet

Smooth Criminal

How healthy are you? I'm not very healthy when it comes to lifestyle and diet. I spend most of my time in bed or sat down, not by choice but my heart is bad probably from stress and I'm in this constant exhaustive state and being up and about is difficult because of those. I try to remain productive by creative writing and I've also managed to land this work from home job as a personal assistant. It's a couple of hours a day and is low stress for me. It's good to be working, it keeps my mind occupied and busy; less time for worrying! But my lifestyle is still poor, and so is my diet. I'm not overweight bizzarely but when it comes to food and drink I only really eat cheese sandwiches and I only really drink coca cola and that is affecting my teeth unfortunately. I want to eat and live better but I don't like the taste of anything else and doing too much makes me ill.

I've started gardening as well, so I like to think this is adding a little more healthy living as it gets me out in the fresh air, slightly active but not too active that it will cause my heart too much pressure.

I'm open to any other suggestions you might have. I'm at a loss on what to do r.e. my diet. My mum said when I was a child I wouldn't eat anything other than my sandwiches and it's still like this now. I'm 20 BTW.

  • Ha. Very and not very at the same time. I am fairly active to be fair and I'm working on being more active and I don't drink or smoke which makes me sound very healthy. But my diet is poor. I'm very restricted in what I like to eat making it impossible to have a healthy diet. I'm not as restricted as you but it is limited. My ADHD also makes cooking for myself and impulse control really difficult. My taste buds unfortunately like sweet, fatty and fried foods. All the things that are bad. My diet is far too processed and so has way too much saturated fat and salt in it. My cholesterol isn't high yet but it's at the upper end of ok which worries me in my 30s. I also really worry about getting something like diabetes because I really like sugar and I struggle to resist it, especially on a bad day. I'm not brilliant at vegetables, I like a couple and I do try to eat them but I get so tired from work I struggle to do it. I am better with fruit though. I'm not over weight or anything but it is gradually creeping up as I get older and I worry that it will top into overweight one day. Miraculously I am a very healthy person when it comes to general health so I don't seem to have caused any deficiencies with a life long poor diet. I rarely get ill. But I worry for later in life. So many health problems kick in after 40, I worry I'm just going to deteriorate.

  • Maybe you could try some foods that you previously didn't like and see if you do like them now, tastes change as we get older.

    Try growing some fruit and veg, it tastes better when fresh and you have the joy of growing and eating your own food which feels like an achievement in itself.

  • Hi and welcome the community! Wave

    Smooth Criminal said:
    I want to eat and live better but I don't like the taste of anything else and doing too much makes me ill.

    It's not unusual for us to have restricted eating habits, but as you're concerned that what you're eating isn't healthy enough, I suggest seeking support from your GP - perhaps including asking them to consider referring you to a dietician.

    There's also some advice here, which you might find helpful:

    NAS - Eating

    NHS - The Eatwell Guide

    I'm currently under an NHS dietician's care myself (for reasons that I won't bore you with). If it's any comfort / reassurance, my experience has so far been very positive. In particular, they are very supportive and understanding in respect of my autism-based issues with meal preparation and eating.

    Given my own inactive lifestyle, I've also previously been offered gym access via my GP (although I didn't take up the offer).

    In respect of some other issues that you mentioned, you might also find the advice here helpful:

    NAS - Autistic fatigue and burnout

    NAS - Anxiety

    Another option that you might like to consider is asking your GP for a referral to a social prescriber. Their (non-medical) role would be to work with you to develop a personalised care and support plan that meets your practical, social and emotional needs (which might include finding some additional low-effort activities in your local area, for example). The article below explains more (it relates to NHS England, but the model operates throughout the UK):

    NHS England - Social prescribing