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Journalism of Courage
“We should have a shutdown policy for social media and food aggregator apps after a certain time, say by nine or 10 pm at night and restart them at an appointed hour the next morning after breakfast. Keep only emails and internet on to attend to important business. This digital detoxification and its rationed use would do a great service to public health,” says functional medicine expert and best-selling author Luke Coutinho, who works with everybody from celebrities and corporates to college students and cancer survivors. Sipping green tea and avoiding the temptation to snack on savouries laid out in front of him, he knows the virtues of discipline. That’s how his clients have lost weight, reversed their blood pressure and cholesterol, managed their sugar, forgotten insomnia and even reclaimed life from an advanced stage of cancer. Just by going back to the basics.
“Lifestyle management is an oft-touted word but nobody really understands how to make it actionable. There is a glut of information on health and disease management today and people exactly know what needs to be done but don’t do it. Let me simplify it for you. The human body has an intelligence to keep us alive. We’ve just got to enable that intelligence so that the human body can heal itself. The secret to that is simplicity. Just align your body on the following pivots — Sleep, movement, food, environment and emotional wellness. And you will be sorted,” he tells us. And just when we reach out for that cookie, he asks us, “Think hard, do you really need that cookie, are you hungry within just two hours of lunch or just doing it mindlessly. If hungry, that means you have not eaten lunch properly. Mindful eating and understanding what your body needs is the biggest diet secret. Fad diets only stop you from indulgences, they never tell you to feed the body what it needs. For example, if there is a really long gap and you are stretched out, try energy-giving and healthy alternatives like nuts.”
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS ACTUALLY STRESSING YOU OUT
After conversations with his clients, he has found that most of them have lost the art of being happy with what they have and feel inadequate by comparison with others or what they see. “Most of the stress in modern life is happening because of FOMO or the Fear of Missing Out. People are constantly fitting into trends rather than choosing what works for them. That’s why we cannot give up the device. We have great doctors and great nutritionists but the latent stress in humans is what needs to be addressed first. Which is why people in metros and even tier 2 and 3 cities are fairly conscious about their gym routine but undo the benefits with a weekend of binge-eating because they cannot say no to friends or miss that insta-proud moment. When you are constantly stressed out about life as a performance, then the body craves sugar, it leads to hormonal imbalances, causes body inflammation and affects your sleep cycles. And then there are many avenues for instant gratification, be it food on order or snackable info and entertainment bytes that crowd your mind and keep it in alert mode,” explains Coutinho.
This need to stay connected with the world around, Coutinho feels, has made people slave to dependence. “We do not take responsibility for even the simplest decisions of life, distance ourselves and outsource our thinking to others. Seek remedy from others rather than working out among ourselves. Not only that, for everything else that goes wrong, you blame the trainer or life coach. So many times, my patients tell me, ‘Luke I signed up for your programme at a price and nothing works.’ Sit down with them and you know of their many cheat sheets and things not done. Think of your insulin as a key. When it is low in your blood, it opens the fat cell, and you can burn fat. But if your insulin is high because you’re snacking before and after your workouts, insulin is still high. You haven’t burned fat during your workout. You could be sweating but insulin cannot unlock your fat cells. This is why we recommend fasted workouts or fasted walking in the morning if you are trying to shed that extra fat,” he says.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE SKEWERED IDEA OF FITNESS
Coutinho reminds us that the six pack abs of people on social media are shaping a contorted vision of fitness. “You don’t know how many anabolic steroids have gone behind creating a sculpted look. We do not know of the underlying clinical condition of these people outside the gym. Most of them are into vaping, substance abuse and are sleep-deprived that cause chronic inflammation and trigger heart attacks in young people. Vaping suppresses testosterone needed for smooth functioning of all other hormones in the body. So, the real world is not on Instagram. What you see as an online advisory, just do the opposite and consult an expert. Remember there are no shortcuts to health,” he says.
THE SUGAR RUSH
Coutinho, who is now working as lifestyle advisor for FIT India, is currently working on strategies to wean children off their sugar addiction. “If scarcity was a problem when we were growing up, abundance is the real problem now. There’s a bakery or confectionery in every neighbourhood now and you don’t even have to walk for it. There is an unregulated marketing of health drinks that have added sugar, flavouring and hidden compounds that are not healthy. As a result of the sugar overload early in life stressing out the pancreas, juvenile diabetes is a given. Yet I have 95-year-olds and centurions who enjoy their desserts and enjoy longevity with good health simply because they measure everything that goes into their body and know when to stop. And while we have easily adapted to newer ways of living, we continue to eat carb-heavy meals of the past in our very sedentary times. Addiction awareness has to begin in schools and I hope there is a government policy to make health and nutrition a mandatory subject in the course curriculum,” he adds. He even advocates compulsory military or cadet training like Singapore and Israel, saying the child learns discipline and ownership of responsibility rather than feeling entitled.
Extra sugar is converted to glycogen but what happens when even your liver is full of glycogen? It turns into triglycerides. These are then stored in fat cells, also known as adipose tissues. This is the stubborn fat you see hanging onto your abdominal and midriff areas.
One of the biggest mistakes that most people make is snacking, says Coutinho. “Here’s a simple example, you just finished a meal. Your blood sugar levels are high. Just as your insulin is preparing to come down in the next hour or so, you eat a snack, and your insulin goes right up. When it starts to come down again, it’s time for your next meal. And it spikes again. If your insulin is high throughout the day, it can never become the key to opening the fat cells.”
WHY IS SLEEP MOST IMPORTANT
Of course, Coutinho focusses on the quality rather than quantity of sleep. “I have seen people have deep sleep for six hours with normal cellular energy and those looking exhausted despite nine hours of light sleep. Sleep is everything to the human body as it controls immunity, cleanses the toxins from your system, ensures growth and repair. Besides, the human brain can detoxify itself only when you are at a certain depth of sleep. It shrinks, releases a cerebrospinal fluid and gives itself a bath moving waste and toxins out of the way, the pileup of which causes cognitive decline and dementia. Women and men hormonal imbalances are caused by sleep deprivation, so it is the Holy Grail, the hours depending on the stage of life you are in,” explains Coutinho. And compensation for sleep debt doesn’t work. “Even if you have an odd hour shift, sleep off the requisite hours in the daytime,” he advises.
Emphasising the need for a food discipline, Coutinho cites the example of Finland, where restaurants shut down at 6 pm. “Get what you need by that hour and have it later if need be. But this way even the service staff can go home and have proper sleep. This can change public health status for the good. The pandemic taught us we could live with certain rules, didn’t it,” he asks.
REORGANISE YOUR LIFE LIKE A CO’S P&L STATEMENT
Coutinho completes all his commitments in a 16 hour-window and sleeps for eight hours. “You have got to set a school timetable for your life. For example, a Monday to Friday diet plan with just two reward meals over the weekend. If the movie can’t fit into this 16-hour schedule, keep it out. You have to look at your body management like a P&L datasheet of a company. Only with that attitude can you prioritise and value health,” he says. Coutinho warns about the dangers of medical device scans and tests. “Just do the normal screening tests and visit a doctor. If there is a problem in the body, he will let you know if more tests are required. Keep it gradual. Don’t build up anxieties with too many tests. And take small steps, don’t just join a gym and find it stressful before the month is over,” says Coutinho.
(Coutinho has just launched his new book ‘Small Wins Everyday’)
