To think a 'healthy lifestyle' is quite challenging in a hectic life with work and family commitments?

[mids2019]

So I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure and the GP has advocates 150 minutes exercise a week, balanced diet, low stress etc

Am I the only one thinking with family, work and household commitments this can be a bit of a challenge?

I can do 2.5 hours at the gym but it means in reality eating into family time. The dies maybe be possible but I think I would end up preparing my own meals and time is a factor.

I completely understand where the GP is coming from and the advice is welcome but seems a real challenge to follow.

Am I the only one to feel like this?

you can’t become a gym person - there’s no time (20 mins drive to gym, 30 min minimum exercise, 10 mins changing, 20 min drive home).

so you’re going to need to do something at home or adjust your day. Walking is the best option - though does take longer than the car. You tube 20 minute workouts can be great.

If you have the money, a social sport helps make friends too.

but yes - you are right - if you have a job and kids, it’s insanely hard to also be a bright and bushy tailed fit person.

I only managed once the kids left home and I had time to be selfish.

I think fitting in exercise time is hard particularly if you are needing to go from thing to thing quickly, there isnt time to spend walking 40 mins when the journey in a car takes 10 at most and you have a timescale to fit around

Not everyone has the sort of job where you can rely on an actual lunch break, Im front line public statutory work and sometimes you just dont get a break.

Diet is best for losing weight, but exercise is needed for heart health and overall fitness so its really ideal to mix the two.

How old are your kids, can they be left at home or do you have a partner to watch them?

Mine are v small so can't be left yet however as my DH is home, I get up and go to the gym before anyone wakes. I'm in gym for 5, home for 6.30 and I can shower before need to get them up.

I work full time and have a stressful job so realistically it's the only time I can do it. I do that 3 mornings a week, 2 mornings a week I get up at same time and go for a walk. And I only train once at weekend just fit around whatever is going on week on week

I am tired frequently!! But honestly, I feel 10 times healthier for making the sacrifice of an hours sleep and getting up and getting it done. A couple of nights a week I'll be asleep by 8.30, usually closer to 10.

Really? Which brands don't use added sugar, salt and preservatives?

Buying frozen soffrito made a difference for me, it’s the base for so many sauces and soups so it’s easier to make your own rather than opening a jar or a tin.

eat more veg and have a couple of spoons of ground flax seed (0proven to lower blood pressure).

I go to the gym 3 times a week in the morning, weights as I’m menopausal and weights supposed to help. But yoga or Pilates on a you tube video help too. Though I think with both of those it’s good to have a real person teach you the basics first.

I walk every lunchtime at work and walk in an out of work, I also climb 3 flights of stairs to use the top floor loo at work rather than the ground floor.

my blood pressure is still high and I need medication but it’s better than it was!

I find it easier to eat healthily now I have kids. I don't feed them fried food, salty food or mega amounts of processed. So find we're naturally eating healthy meals just because of want them to grow up eating.

But we do have a couple of nights where we need quick quick meals due to kids sports so we'll have jacket potatoes, tuna and salad or egg on toast etc. still healthy enough and quick though.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/essential-tomato-basil-pasta-sauce/658244-697886-697887?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA5eC9BhAuEiwA3CKwQhX52TAtaw06KeyJqmc5j8A0Pq8jf4h1VPaYt80QHgiH6q45OsUCbRoCG94QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

First one that came up in a search for pasta sauce, theres plenty of others that I cant be bothered to paste.

When I make my own, I put sugar in it, tons of olive oil, plenty of salt (fat and salt are preservatives)

Frozen soffrito is a game changer that I will use after reading about it on here, but I made my own similar thing at the moment because I bought some of that soup mix with finely diced carrot and swede, and because leeks are enormous and you often only use a bit of it, I chopped up them and some celery and mixed it all together in a freezer bag.

I hate that with celery if I only need one stalk, you have to buy a bunch and it goes off.

I found it nigh impossible, i was exhausted after work and still had school admin/prep, you cant leave little ones to go on a walk, it adds so much stress to get them/their bikes sorted to go with you, my daughter was disabled so couldnt accompany anyway. After lots of trial and error i bought a rowing machine and enjoyed it and there was no prep or child involvement so it was easy to do every day.

Totally agree. I work full time, have 2 young kids and weekends seem to be crammed with things. I still often get 10K steps in - walking to school rather than driving and generally just ditching the car if I can walk somewhere instead. I WFH which helps but try to squeeze a half hour run in as well a couple of times a week. Doesn't help that it's Winter but once it's lighter, easier to go out later for walk/run.

I walked for 45 mins in my lunch hour at work. Most of my colleagues sat at their desks watching you tube and also being interrupted by phones or just still doing work. I left that office every single day. They were not paying me for that hour either.

You haven’t put the ages of your children, you may be able to do activities with them. Blood pressure increases with age just naturally if it’s l ready high and your young you really need to tackle this.

You see, this is the problem. First I don't like the taste of jar sauce, to me it tastes artificial. Second, I don't control the ingredients. I use olive oil, fresh food and don't add sugar and am very sparing with salt. Third, a tomato sauce is very easy to make and tastes much better.

Agree with others about walking. There are some good YouTube workouts that I do and my children wander around me and chat to me while I do them. They also come on walks with me so it doesn’t eat into family time. You will be modelling good habits.

Loads of people have already given you good ideas. It doesn’t have to be hours slogging in a gym. Just get moving

Kids out for walks
brisk walks to the shop/work… get out the car and walk more
Loads of tube workouts, even walking /dance ones
Vigorous house cleaning or gardening

Home gym equipment like a bike or rowing machine so you can nip on before ‘family time’
Gym classes are 30-60 mins can be used as socialising time in an evening with a friend.

Loads of arguing over food and/or exercise but for me the two go hand in hand.

If food/diet is an issue try then small changes like adding rather than taking everything away. Volume eating with vegetables and fruits. Always have a veg or fruit ( or 2/3) with meals. sod you have more of the nutrient dense stuff the beige carbs will be less
Lots of water.

It is difficult at first, but you have to commit and make changes a new daily habit.

Meal plan every week, then you will only buy in the food you need. You could save time by batch cooking too. It's always handy to have a healthy option in the freezer.

Start off with a small 20 min workout (maybe Joe Wicks or another hiit type workout) then build up to longer sessions. You will feel so much better for it & the kids can join in too.

Doing a park run once a week isn't going to do much for your fitness.

Much better to try and do 20 mins a day even if it's just going up and down your stairs or a t workout

Having to make lifestyle changes absolutely feels challenging if family/work life is hectic. But ultimately, if your lifestyle is affecting your health you owe it to both yourself and your family to make the changes.

You shouldn’t need to make separate food (unless there’s lots of dietary restrictions you haven’t mentioned), look at healthy eating for all the family. I find meal planning really helps, and a bit of batch cooking makes a difference. The hairy bikers cook books (the ones that are focussed on healthy eating) are good.

As others have said, you don’t need to spend hours at the gym (but if you can fit it in, strength based exercise is a good habit to get into). Fitting in a daily short walk is good, but can you also incorporate any exercise into your family time? Weekend walks, bike rides, swimming?

Stsrting off with small changes and prioritising those will help and make ot seem less challenging. Good luck!

Being told to exercise for 150 minutes a week and change all sorts of aspects of your lifestyle is huge completely overwhelming and really unhelpful
Start small.
Think about just one habit you want to incorporate perhaps add one different veg a day or drink a glass of water when you get up. If it's exercise maybe while the kettle is boiling do a few bodyweight exercises...squats, lunches sit ups etc and then build up from there
If it's walking just do a 5 minute walk round the block after dinner
Loosing weight, improving health and making changes that last are not something that can happen over night it takes small manageable steps that work for you and building on that.
I have listened to countless episodes of Dr chatterjees podcast he interviews many different experts and this is what I have taken from them! Definitely give him a listen in fact this week's episode is about his 4 pillars of health which is so simple yet so effective!

Reframe it as investing in family time rather than eating into it. And if you can be active together then even better as then it's both!
Exercise should be considered as essential just like eating, showering, sleeping etc l

I dont like jar sauces either, I dont buy them, but the question wasnt about whether jar sauces taste good to the individual, I was answering about about added sugar, salt and preservatives.

For those that like them and need them, theres nothing wrong with them

I use a lot of salt in cooking, plus fats personally.

Also - with food - focus on adding things into your diet and try the 30 different plants a week diet. This includes beans/pulses etc so it's not just fruit and veg. Maybe make it a challenge with the kids and see who can get to 30 the fastest.

You should find that naturally you end up eating less carbs/meat. For example when I make a bolognese or a chilli, I find at least 5 different veg to chop up and add to it, as well as a couple of handfuls of red lentils. This bulks it out and it goes further. Maybe have a look at which foods are particularly beneficial to blood pressure and try and add them in.

For breakfast I make overnight oats and use the frozen berries in it (layered with watered down Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of honey) this gives me 5 different fruits just in one meal.

We have an obesity crisis and it's well known that jar sauces contain substandard ingredients and lots of unnecessary salt and sugar. Add them to other highly processed food and you've got a crap diet. If you're using them now and again and your diet is otherwise healthy, I don't see the problem.

Jar sauces really are not the contributory factors to the obesity crisis!!!

Constant snacking, food thats not food, giving kids food all the live long day, huge amounts of carbs, portion sizes, seeing food as 'fun', scant vegetable intake, expensive protien, lack of exercise.

Thats what fuels our obesity crisis.

I didn't say that jar sauces alone are responsible for the obesity crisis. Processed food is alongside too much added sugar.