Is not moving enough ruining your healthy diet?
What we'll cover.
Why movement matters
How movement affects your health
What you can do
Resources to help you move more
Why you should be thinking about movement.
During my nutritional therapy sessions with my clients I try to check in with them on 4 scales each time:
On a scale of 1-10 how has your eating been this week?
On a scale of 1-10 how has your sleep been this week?
On a scale of 1-10 how have your stress levels been this week?
On a scale of 1-10 how have your physical activity levels been this week?
Take a moment to answer those questions for yourself - 1 is the worst it's ever been and 10 is the best its ever been.
Why does this even matter when it comes to a healthy diet?
In functional medicine we think about health as the result of the interplay between many interconnected systems (have a look at this article, for an overview of these systems) - and we map this out on a functional medicine matrix.
To illustrate this, you can see an example of a functional medicine matrix (based on a fictional client) in the picture below:
You can see that the physical systems revolve around the more intangible mental, emotional and spiritual systems. This is a beautiful way of illustrating that our physical wellbeing is intricately linked with our emotional wellbeing. In fact, more and more research shows that negative emotions can impact your physical health [1].
You can also see that we include sleep, stress and movement (as well as relationships and nutrition) in the matrix. That's because these are the main modifiable lifestyle factors, which impact how you feel physically and mentally.
In this series of blog posts I want to explain these links, and help you to find practical ways to support your health, not only with the food you eat, but also with movement, stress management and sleep.
How movement affects health.
Constipation
When I think about the situations in which lack of movement might mean your perfect diet does not lead to perfect health, the first thing that springs to mind is constipation.
If you are eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables and whole-grains, you are drinking plenty of water and you're adding fermented foods to your diet for extra probiotics, but you're still experiencing constipation that might be because you're not moving enough.
Research shows that lower levels of physical activity are linked with a higher risk of constipation [2], that increased physical activity is an effective treatment for chronic constipation [3], and that risk and severity of constipation increases with increased levels of sedentariness [4].
The reason for this may be that movement means the muscles around the gut are activated, which supports the downward pulse of movement (known as peristalsis), that your gut uses to move faeces through the digestive system.
Chronic Pain
Another area in which movement can play a role is chronic pain. This is sort of an unfair one, because pain can often mean you want to move less. Nevertheless, it's important to hold in mind that regular, gentle movement can play a vital role in reducing your pain.
If your diet is already rich in anti-inflammatory foods (such as omega-3 and antioxidants), low in pro-inflammatory foods (such as vegetable oils, processed foods and factory farmed animal products), and you are making sure you are well hydrated and getting all the minerals and vitamins you need, but you are still experiencing pain, this might be related to a lack of movement.
Although the quality of the evidence is not good due to small sample sizes, research does indicate that regular movement can reduce pain severity, help maintain physical abilities and have a positive impact on psychological factors [5].
Regular movement may also play a role in preventing the development or exacerbation of chronic pain [6]. Some researchers have even recommended regular, gentle physical exercise as a treatment intervention for chronic pain [7].
Weight Loss
Eating less is rarely a sustainable solution for lasting weight loss. Any time you reduce your calorie intake your body slows down the speed at which it burns calories because it 'thinks' you are at risk of starvation. This means that as soon as you increase how much you are eating (which you will at some point if your diet is very restrictive) your body will pile on more weight super fast.
In order to lose weight you need to be sure that you could be happy with the way you are eating for the rest of your life. And I'm going to say that a very restrictive diet is unlikely something you want to be following forever.
This means that to burn excess weight you need to exercise (sorry to any of you that absolutely hate exercise - but please keep reading until the end to learn how moving more may actually be fun).
In fact, one review study found that diet + exercise led to 20% more weight loss than diet alone [8]. Similar results have been seen in other reviews [9].
Inflammation
In recent years there has been a huge amount of evidence piling up linking chronic inflammation to almost all chronic health conditions (like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, mental health conditions, high blood pressure and more).
Physical activity reduces physical markers of inflammation [10-12]. In fact, if you are following an anti-inflammatory diet but your levels of inflammation are still high (symptoms of this are fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, headaches, poor sleep), it may be linked with a lack of physical activity.
On the flip side, over exercise can also increase inflammation [13], which just goes to show to benefit from movement you don't need to do anything excessive.
What you can do.
Below you will find a list of changes my clients have found most helpful over the year. Most of these are things they came up with themselves - so you might say they have been tried and tested by experts :-)
One of the most common barriers to exercise more is the belief that in order to achieve something we need to do a lot. Instead of expecting yourself to spend an hour at the gym, run 5k or swim for an hour, think about what actually feels manageable with your current health, fitness and schedule.
Instead of being all or nothing try:
Spending 5 minutes stretching morning and evening
Going for a 15 minute run a few times a week
Doing a 10 minute at home yoga class
There is absolutely no point in trying to make a habit out of an exercise you hate. If you don’t like it don’t force it. Find what works for you.
Instead of forcing yourself into the gym try:
Zumba
Yoga
Qi Gong
Dance classes
Swimming
Rollerblading
Cross fit
Walking/ hiking
Skateboarding
Or combine a boring activity with a fun activity. For example:
Listen to your favourite podcast or an audiobook while running/walking
Find a gym that has TVs attached to it’s machines and use this time for guilt-free viewing of your most guilty pleasure series
Find a friend/partner to do it with – for example join a dance class with your best friend
You don’t need to leave the comfort of your living room to exercise. Thanks to YouTube, apps and the internet you can join almost any type of exercise class (and even connect with an exercise community) without leaving your house.
Find a space in your house that works for you, get yourself a mat and get started.
The main reason people give for not moving enough is their work. Unless you are a nurse or a waitress, jobs which require you to be on your feet for hours, it’s likely you spend a lot of your time at work sitting.
Long periods of sitting are a huge risk factor for increased inflammation and poor blood sugar regulation.
Try some of these tips to move more at work:
Get up to fetch a glass of water or cup of tea every hour or so
Try to get a standing desk
From time to time stretch your arms and neck whilst sitting at your desk
Go for a five minute walk after lunch
Try walk and talk meetings
Do 5 squats every time you go to the bathroom
Resources
Below you will also find links to some of my favourite YouTube exercise classes:
Tana Yoga
Tana offers down to earth yoga classes ranging from beginner to advanced level. I find they are just the right mix between challenging and achievable to keep me engaged throughout.
She has some lovely videos to wake up with or go to bed with, as well as a particularly nice yoga class for days when you are anxious or stressed.
Here are some links to my favourite classes:
Gentle 10 minute bedtime yoga
10 minute class for stress and anxiety
15 minute morning wake up class
Tom Merrick - Bodyweight Warrior
Tom posts a variety of videos but my favourite are his follow along workout or stretch sessions. He uses body weight and alignment to help improve strength, flexibility and fitness.
Here are some of my favourite videos:
15 minute beginner flexibility routine
5 minute morning wake up routine
15 minute full body mobility routine
Yoga With Adriene
10 minute self-care yoga
7 minute yoga boost
12 minute session for upper back pain
Notice how none of these are longer than 15 minutes ;-) Exercising more does not have to be anything excessive!
Now I would love to hear from you - what are your favourite ways to move more? Comment below or connect with me on Instagram or Facebook.
References:
[1] Wiech, K. and Tracey, I., 2009. The influence of negative emotions on pain: behavioral effects and neural mechanisms. Neuroimage, 47(3), pp.987-994.
[2] Dukas, L., Willett, W.C. and Giovannucci, E.L., 2003. Association between physical activity, fiber intake, and other lifestyle variables and constipation in a study of women. The American journal of gastroenterology, 98(8), pp.1790-1796.
[3] De Schryver, A.M., Keulemans, Y.C., Peters, H.P., Akkermans, L.M., Smout, A.J., De Vries, W.R. and Van Berge-Henegouwen, G.P., 2005. Effects of regular physical activity on defecation pattern in middle-aged patients complaining of chronic constipation. Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology, 40(4), pp.422-429.
[4] Huang, R., Ho, S.Y., Lo, W.S. and Lam, T.H., 2014. Physical activity and constipation in Hong Kong adolescents. Plos one, 9(2).
[5] Geneen, L.J., Moore, R.A., Clarke, C., Martin, D., Colvin, L.A. and Smith, B.H., 2017. Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: an overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4).
[6] Sluka, K.A., O'Donnell, J.M., Danielson, J. and Rasmussen, L.A., 2013. Regular physical activity prevents development of chronic pain and activation of central neurons. Journal of applied physiology, 114(6), pp.725-733.
[7] Ambrose, K.R. and Golightly, Y.M., 2015. Physical exercise as non-pharmacological treatment of chronic pain: why and when. Best practice & research Clinical rheumatology, 29(1), pp.120-130.
[8] Curioni, C.C. and Lourenco, P.M., 2005. Long-term weight loss after diet and exercise: a systematic review. International journal of obesity, 29(10), pp.1168-1174.
[9] Wu, T., Gao, X., Chen, M. and Van Dam, R.M., 2009. Long‐term effectiveness of diet‐plus‐exercise interventions vs. diet‐only interventions for weight loss: a meta‐analysis. Obesity reviews, 10(3), pp.313-323.
[10] Ford, E.S., 2002. Does exercise reduce inflammation? Physical activity and C-reactive protein among US adults. Epidemiology, pp.561-568.
[11] Lavie, C.J., Church, T.S., Milani, R.V. and Earnest, C.P., 2011. Impact of physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and exercise training on markers of inflammation. Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and prevention, 31(3), pp.137-145.
[12] Ertek, S. and Cicero, A., 2012. Impact of physical activity on inflammation: effects on cardiovascular disease risk and other inflammatory conditions. Archives of medical science: AMS, 8(5), p.794.
[13] Kaspar, F., Jelinek, H.F., Perkins, S., Al-Aubaidy, H.A., Dejong, B. and Butkowski, E., 2016. Acute-phase inflammatory response to single-bout HIIT and endurance training: a comparative study. Mediators of inflammation, 2016.