Letter to Sons : Diet, Exercise and Centrum Multivitamins - Essential tools to healthy lifestyle - TheWackyDuo.com - Singapore Lifestyle Portal

Letter to Sons : Diet, Exercise and Centrum Multivitamins - Essential tools to healthy lifestyle



Dearest Sons

2018 is a year where health took the centre-stage in the family. 

A year ago, I weigh 81.2 kg.

Standing at a not very tall 1.66m, that is a hefty weight to bear for a man of my <ahem> stature. In addition, to being obese status, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  It does not help that all these add up to me being the perfect candidate for heart attack.  Coupled with the fact that I felt ill 4 times last year with a bout of chickenpox to kick off the start of the year, I figured it was time to do something about it.
Oct 2018
Falling ill was never a pleasant experience. During the time when I was in solidarity confinement due to chickenpox for 2 weeks, your mom had to bear the burden of handling both of you. From preparing you little rascals angels for school, the meals, the schoolwork, it was an arduous task considering that your mom is working full time.  I wished I could help but alas I was sent to temporary exile in the guest bedroom.


Things ought to get better, but unfortunately, the opposite happened. Before I recovered, the flu bug was passed around the household. It began with one of you and eventually, the last woman standing in the household succumb to it. At one stage, we were all bedridden together, making it one of the toughest period when it came to family health. 

We sort of had this coming to us. Amid taking care of 2 boisterous boys and juggling with other commitments, keeping a healthy lifestyle was the last thing on our mind. The root of our health problem began with our non-existent food preparation due to the lack of time. With a rich diet in fats and salt coming mostly from hawker food, we had very much neglected our diet. We had gaps in nutrition and vitamins on our regular diet of fried and oily food. Without addressing the lack of fruits, vegetables and proteins in our meals, together with a lack of supplements to overcome the vitamins deficiency, you can say we had it coming. 

What is lacking in our diet- Vitamins!

Being overweight meant that every breath we took was laborious. It was almost 3/4 through the year when an alarm bell rang off. Tipping the weighing scale at 81.2kg vs 63 kg for my recommended weight was the wake-up call. Base on the BMI scale of 30, I was obese and at high risk of health issue. Your mommy fared better at 61kg, but it is a mere touch to the overweight bracket.

The straw that broke the camel's back for us was when you boys asked us to play. Be it a game of catch or ball, we would indulge for a whole 5 mins before energy sapped from our hefty bulk. If we choose to continue at this rate, it will be just a matter of time before we become ticking time bombs. This was when we decided on embarking on a healthy lifestyle ahead of us. It will be a long-term investment of diet, exercise and supplements to give us a clean slate in health. The good thing, your mom had decided to embark on this wellness regime with me, thus making it one that is easier to overcome.

DIET 



For diet, we turned to the Keto Diet. This diet consists of low carb and high meat intake. We had tried some form of diet in the past. Eat less rice, eat vegetables, substitute mee for rice, no food after 8 pm and even skip a meal or two. All these did not create a dent to our weigh. It was only through 4 months of keto that we saw a significant weight reduction. I had my weight reduced to a more moderate 72kg while mom got back her pre-childbirth weight at a slender 52kg. While Mom had achieved her ideal Bmi and is in seven heavens with her progress. Your Dad is still a work in progress

Keto Diet with supplements

On the positive note, due to the diet, the cholesterol level had reduced to a desirable level with Triglycerides ( Fat in the blood) reduced to a significantly healthy level. The downside, there is a lack of vitamins in this meaty diet, thus the need for supplements to cover this gap.

EXERCISE


One of the reasons why we lost and kept the weight off was due to exercise. Your mom embarks on her thrice-weekly yoga classes while I pound the pavement for miles every other day.  Our activities might differ, but the results were similar as we kept the weighing scales from going up. Amazingly, I managed to run 5 km in under 30 mins. It was a timing I only managed in my teens. Not bad for an 'old ' man in his mid-40s. It shows that if you have the will, you can find the way.


Family runs
We were inspired by the success and saved a day of the week for a family runs every weekend. Now you guys can join in the fun. We just need to cut down on the grumbling and complaints of ‘not another round ‘ during the session. 

VITAMINS

Maintaining a balance with Vitamins
Diet and exercise are great, but you need to maintain a balance with the right supplements. For our keto diet, we were lacking in fruits and vegetables due to the carbs level in these food groups. This meant we are not getting enough vitamin A B C D and a whole lot of healthy 'alphabets' to keep the body function effectively.  

As a result, we started taking Centrum Multivitamins for men and Centrum Multivitamins for women. You probably could pick any supplements you need to balance things off, but when we googled best Multivitamins in Singapore, Centrum Singapore came back top on the result. What impressed us on the onset was the 70 years of nutritional science and 100,000 years of scientific studies on vitamins. 


Moreover, there is his and her version. Upon research, I found out that Men and Women face different nutritional gaps. Men would require higher calories, proteins and Vitamin C due to their higher energy requirement, heavier weight and immune system need. On the other hand, women require more calcium, iron and folic acid due to thinner bone composition, menstruation and pregnancy respectively. Since Centrum came up with multivitamins addressing the different needs of each gender, it was a no brainer as our choice of health supplement. We do not want to simply take anything off the shelf and would prefer one that is targeted for our needs.

The impact of the combination of these changes in lifestyle? 

Healthy Parents = Happy Family

We had been as healthy as a family for the past 5 months. I got a boost from the multivitamins with more energy while there is an extra glow in your mom's complexion from the lifestyle changes and the effects of the multivitamins.

By keeping sickness at bay, we ensure we are spending quality time nourishing our family instead of repairing the body. It was not surprising that our family time has been about having fun instead of nursing each other back to health.

In a nutshell, staying healthy is important to a family.  Exercise, diet and vitamins. These are the 3 words that will make you a healthy person. After all,  Healthy Parents = Happy Family. Remember that when you become parents in the future.

Lovingly yours

Dad

GIVEAWAY




Thank you for reading this post. To kick-start a healthy lifestyle, Centrum will provide a bottle of Centrum for Men and Centrum of Women to giveaway. We will be picking 2 readers to win a bottle each worth $44.10.

1) Be a fan of Centrum Singapore and The Wacky Duo on Facebook

2) Bonus Entries if you follow Centrum Singapore Instagram

3) Join the Rafflecopter below 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4) Share this facebook post, tag 2 friends and tell us if you would like the Centrum Men or Women Multivitamins on the facebook post 

The contest closes on 2 March
Winners will be announced on this post on  5 March


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