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Monday 9am - 5:30pm Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm Thursday 9am - 5:30pm Friday 9am - 5:30pm

Real Healthy Me

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Real Healthy Me

Real Healthy Me is a lifestyle medicine clinic in Christchurch, New Zealand, now also available virt No elevators

31/12/2024

Happy New Year everyone!!

2024 went real quick. To our clients, we appreciate your hard work throughout the year and we hope you are enjoying your holiday. We'll start back on 13th January. Can't wait to see you all again and hear about your holidays.

Real Healthy Me team

24/12/2024

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

While staying on track is important for our health, let's not forget that we don't get to have special occasions like this very often and it is totally ok to relax a bit.

We hope you have a lovely Christmas with your love ones.

Best wish from Real Healthy Me team ☺️

23/11/2024

When we stress, our body releases a hormone called cortisol to help us cope with the stress. Having cortisol is not a bad thing as our body needs a good level of cortisol to maintain healthy mental health. However, having high level of cortisol all the time is not good for our body, especially when it comes to managing our blood glucose level and reversing type 2 diabetes.

It is well known that a high level of cortisol signals the body to hold onto bodyfat, instead of using them as energy, but that's not the only problem. The real problem is cortisol have negative impacts on other hormones.

When we release cortisol, the level of insulin hormone in our body drops, which makes it harder for the body to transfer glucose from the blood into the cells and our blood glucose level elevates for longer period. On top of that, cortisol also suppresses the level of our melatonin, which is a hormone that helps with sleep. Not getting enough sleep also interrupts the activity of our insulin and our ability to keep blood glucose in a good range.

For a lot of people, it is more difficult to make healthy food choices when we are stressed. Food has been associated with comfort and mood. Unfortunately, when we are stressed, it’s the unhealthier options that we tend to rely on whether it's hot chips, pizza, chocolate, alcohol etc.

As you can see, stress has a much bigger impact on type 2 diabetes than what most people realize. It is best that on top of following a healthy diet, doing exercise regularly and getting enough sleep, having good stress management strategies will also optimize your body’s ability to function.

18/10/2024

Shift work and blood glucose
Do you have a different routine compared to other people? It can be more difficult to have a good control of your bed and wake up times if you need to work at night and sleep during the day, especially when the rest of your family members have normal routines. This will have a big impact on your body clock and how your hormones work.

If you struggle to get enough sleep, it is very important that you make sleep your priority. This would include good sleep hygiene and good preparation for the day after to allow you to stay in bed as long as possible.

Nutrition
It is difficult for the body to get a deep sleep if it still needs to process the foods you eat before bed. If possible, try to avoid eating at least 2 hours before bed time. If you really need to eat, make sure the food is not high in carbohydrates and keep the portion size small. On top of that, irregular eating patterns can throw our appetite hormones out of balance quite easily.

Exercise
You might find being tired makes it harder to exercise but I strongly suggest you make exercise a priority. This is because on top of improving type 2 diabetes, doing exercise also helps maintain bone mass, keeps our blood cholesterol in a good range, improves energy level and exercise is also good for our mental health. You only need 30-60 minutes of exercise a day.

28/09/2024

How sleep and hormones regulate our blood glucose
Sleep can impact our hormones, especially the ones that help regulate our blood glucose. Optimizing these hormones can help us have better control of our blood glucose.

Insulin
When high glucose levels are detected in the bloodstream, insulin is secreted to transfer the glucose from the bloodstream into our cells, resulting in lower blood glucose level. Sleep deprivation has been found to disrupt the role of insulin.

Melatonin
Our sleep is affected by a hormone called melatonin. This is the master clock of our circadian rhythm. Levels of melatonin are highest when it gets dark in the evening and lowest in the morning, enabling us to fall asleep and wake up with the setting and rising of the sun. This hormone can be thrown out of balance when we stay up late or expose ourselves to artificial lighting from screens. Best way to optimize your melatonin level is to have good sleep hygiene. Make sure you go to bed as early as possible and avoid watching TV or be on your phone for at least 2 hours before sleep.

Cortisol
Cortisol is the hormone that helps to get us up and out of bed in the morning. This hormone also helps us cope with stress and keep our mind healthy when stress level is high. Having high stress, not getting enough sleep or sleeping very late can increase cortisol level. Unfortunately, high cortisol levels can suppress secretion of melatonin, making it more difficult for us to fall asleep.

Appetite Hormones
Having high stress levels and not getting enough sleep can affect our appetite. The interesting thing is that our appetite is controlled by appetite hormones. These hormones can signal the body to feel hungry or to feel full. Sleep deprivation disrupts our appetite regulation, causing us to feel the need to eat more, whether the body needs the food or not. At the same time, we need to eat more food to feel satisfied. As a result, having imbalanced appetite hormones can lead to issues like overeating. Fasting is found to help reset and balance out the appetite hormones.

24/08/2024

If you already made changes to your diet but still struggle to control your blood glucose levels, give endurance exercises or some sort of cardio a go. Endurance exercises, such as walking, jogging, biking, HIIT and most sports, have been found to increase glucose uptake, improve body compositions and reverse insulin resistance.

Have a plan on which form of endurance exercises you want to implement to your exercise routine and have fun moving!!

20/07/2024

Strength exercises can help us put on more muscles and reduce body fat in the long term. This is great for improving insulin sensitivity. Keep in mind that strength exercises can be fatiguing if done in excessive amounts or if the intensity is too high. This can lead to less enjoyment and increase risk of injuries.

Finding the balance between intensity and amount is the key. For example, if your program is too intense, you won’t be able to do many sessions. If your sessions are not intense enough, you may be able to do the exercises most days of the week but still don’t see results. For those who have not done any strength exercises before, we suggest 2 sessions each week is a good amount to start with. Once you can sustain 2 intense sessions, then you can add the third one. For strength exercises, 2-4 sessions/week is a good amount.

When doing strength exercises, our body will try to adapt to the workload overtime. Once the body adapts and things feel quite comfortable, we will no longer see results. This means we need to keep progressing the exercises in order to see more results. We can make exercises more difficult by doing more repetitions, more sets, using heavier weights, using slower tempo to allow the muscles to work longer, limiting rest between sets and adding new exercises to the session.

Keep in mind that the repetitions that we do for each exercise affects what we can achieve. For example, doing 1-5 repetitions with very heavy weight is good for increasing max strength and improving bone density, 6-12 repetitions with moderate weight is best for building muscles and doing exercise with light weight and very high repetitions is great for endurance. For building muscles, we want to stick with 3-5 sets of 6-12 repetitions most of the time and change things up for fun from time to time. This will ensure that things don’t get too repetitive.

On top of doing strength exercises to build more muscles, we also want to make sure we move or include a form of cardio exercise in our routine as this will help with better blood glucose control, lower cholesterol and better endurance.

21/06/2024

When it comes to improving insulin sensitivity and reversing type 2 diabetes, a combination of aerobic and strength exercises is ideal.
Strength exercises helps with building more muscles, optimizing our hormones and maintaining good metabolism. On the other hand, aerobic exercises (a.k.a cardio) can help improve glucose uptake and burn a lot of calories, which is great for reducing body fat.
Are you doing both types of exercise already?

18/05/2024

Exercise have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, improve glucose uptake and optimize body compositions. All of these are very important when it comes to reversing type 2 diabetes. In the next few posts, we'll look at how to exercise to reverse type 2 diabetes

20/04/2024

Keeping sugar intake low can be challenging as reducing sugar intake also impacts our food choices and the way our food tastes. Having healthier alternatives to refined sugar can help keeping our foods tasty while keeping the sugar intake low.

Fruits and natural sweeteners, in an appropriate amount, are great options as these foods contain less amount of sugar. Fats are also a good alternatives to sugar as you can replace the energy that you normally get from refined sugar with energy from fat.

If you notice that you are no getting enough protein, replacing sugar with protein is also a great option as not only protein keep you fuller for longer, protein also helps with recovery and muscle growth. Having bigger portion steak is not a bad thing right?

16/03/2024

When you are in the process of forming good habits you may need to draw upon your willpower to maintain your resolve. Beware of biting off more than you can chew through, as there is a thing called "ego depletion". Researchers are currently investigating this phenomena and its implications. Let's do a quick dive into ego depletion and how you can help yourself form good habits.
Ego depletion is a psychological concept suggesting willpower is a finite resource. The idea originates from the concept of ego, which refers to the conscious mind's ability to regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions. Tasks that require self-control, decision-making, and effortful thinking draw upon a limited reserve of mental energy. Engaging in these tasks continuously leads to ego depletion manifested as a decline in the ability to exert self-control.
Research on ego depletion uses a "dual-task paradigm". Individuals are required to resist eating either a sweet treat or something less appetising. Afterwards a complex puzzle is given to the individuals. The individuals that had to resist the sweet treat were less effective in puzzle solving. This research provides insight into understanding behaviors related to impulsivity, decision-making, and the ability to resist immediate gratification.
In summary: when you exert your willpower consistently or face multiple demands on self-control, you may experience ego depletion. This depletion manifests as a decline in the ability to exert self-control effectively. In other words, if you've been using a lot of willpower throughout the day, you might find it more challenging to resist temptations or make disciplined choices later on. So be kind to yourself and don't load up your environment with temptations that are leading you astray in your goals.
Author: Bryn Currie
Image: Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.com

17/02/2024

There are a lot of health benefits that diabetic patients can get from having a good nutrient timing, especially when we combine it with making a good food choice and eating the right amount of food.

Appropriate timing of carbohydrate intake allows the body to transfer the glucose from the bloodstream into the cells, resulting in lower blood glucose.

Eating protein combined with appropriate amount of fast digesting carbs after workout can help improve recovery.

Having enough gap between meals allows the body to use stored energy (glycogen and fat) as fuel. This helps improve body compositions.

Controlling when you start eating your first and last meal (time restricted fasting) can help optimizing your hormones.

As you can see, nutrient timing can be very beneficial. What's your approach on nutrient timing?

Address

Christchurch

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Website

http://www.realhealthyme.com/

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Our Story

The Ferrari.

This feat of mechanical engineering is stunning, remarkable and fast. Anyone would stop and pay attention to the Ferrari whether it is stationary or on the move. However, with the wrong fuel and lack of maintenance, this majestic machine will soon sound horrid on the road and then breaks down frequently. With persistent neglect over time, it will soon look sorry and we all know it will not last much longer on the road despite repairs.

Amidst the chaos of today’s world, it is normal to force our body to perform like the Ferrari. We must be clever, look good, meet deadlines and be available to those we love. However, we have become unskilled in nourishing, nurturing, and resting it. This neglect manifests as feeling chronically fatigued, falling sick on the first day of our holiday, a persistent infection despite antibiotics, or annoying bodily functions often unvalidated by clinical findings and panels of laboratory tests. Over time, earlier onset of familial health conditions often occurs like gout, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, dementia, inflammatory conditions and even cancer.

Poor health is a concern demonstrable on the annual New Zealand Health Surveys. Our health budget has increased at least 3 times for the treatment of chronic health conditions in the past decade. In 2021, it is forecasted that 1.77 billion NZ dollars will be needed to treat diabetes alone. We are also developing chronic health conditions at a younger age and living longer in poor health. Like the neglected Ferrari, it is a painful thing to watch especially as a doctor.