歩く。腸を整える。そして酒はダメ。
Walking is my favorite activity. Even in a life under quarantine, I try walking 10,000 steps everyday. I walk with my kids during the day, and I walk with my husband nightly. I don’t mind walking alone, but walking with someone is more fun because I can enjoya conversation. In fact, my husband and I often discuss important topics, such as our kids’ education, politics, or our finance while we walk. Even though we sometimes discuss some serious matters, we can do it peacefully when we do it during a walk.If we talk about the same topic sitting down at a table, we may end up arguing probably. “Walk and Talk” is almost therapeutic activity for me.Nakata-san emphasizes the importance of taking care of our intestinal conditions and walking in order to stay healthy. Although walking is something I do everyday religiously,I’m not so sure if I’m doing a good job taking care of my intestinal conditions or not because I don’t have regular bowel movement. I know that simple Japanese food, such as, miso soup, natto, grilled fish, cooked vegetable helps me to stay healthy, but I have to admit my diet has been morewesternized.Let me list what I ate today. I had a cup of coffee with half&half and a piece of maple flavored toast. For lunch, I had leftover Oden, which was probably quite healthy, but after that, I had another cup of coffee and piece of leftover holiday cake. I also had a leftover pizza from last night. Dinner was spaghetti although I made the pasta sauce with tons of vegetables. I added French bread and salad on the side. I eat a lot of vegetables, but I still tend to get constipated easily. I think I should drink more water, eat more fresh fruits, and chew food slowly.Nakata-san says the worstthing you can eat/drink to harm our bodies is alcohol because drinking disrupts good sleep, which is crucial for maintaining good health. During the quarantine, I started drinking more. I would buy a bottle of cheap wine every week, and enjoyed drinking while cooking dinner with some nuts and cheese. In retrospect, I was getting addicted to alcohol even though I was not drinking that much. The biggest problem of such ahabit was that I didn’t feel good about it. Maybe it was because I was drinking very cheap wine, or I was worried that I could be an alcoholic like my dad.I got COVID last year, and at that time, I stopped drinking for obvious reasons. Nobody enjoysdrinking when they aresick. After recovering from the illness, I thought that I would try quit everyday-drinking habit. So far, I’m doing well. I bought a bottle of expensive wine for our Holiday dinner, and I enjoyed it very much; however, I no longer drink on an everyday basis. I feel so much better mentally and physically as a result of it.Even without the drinking habit, I still feel tired for unknown reasons.I’m in my 40’s, so I guessI’ve already been experiencing menopausal disorders. Everybody will experience aging process, and I’m not particularly obsessed with anti-aging treatments; however, good self-care is very important not matter how old you are. There is a variety of self-care practices, but as Nakata-san says, nothing needs to be complicated. Eating healthy food, going for a walk, and avoid drinking to gain a better sleep are not only simple, but they are also very inexpensive daily habits for healthy living.
