Behaviours

​I will confess that I have not always been as health conscious as I am currently portraying in print. Evidence of this unwholesome past is highlighted by the revelation that I once tried smoking. Considered by many to be the evillest of modifiable behaviours. I say tried only, as I never developed into a regular user. Tobacco and I never becoming comfortable allies. Despite no lack of effort on my part, all attempts to puff on a cigarette, no matter how cautiously, came to the same painful conclusion that I reached after my first experiment with the evil weed.

One day, during a long lunch break, huddled around the old toilets in a hidden corner of the school, I lifted a brand unspecific cigarette to my mouth and nervously inhaled. I wouldn’t say that it began as an enjoyable experience, the bitter smoke offending my tongue and gums as soon as it entered, but things became even worse as the smoke made its way into my lungs. Once there, it instigated a fit of coughing that continued unabated for around five minutes, as I struggled to take another, smoke free, breath. Such a reaction seemed to encourage an uncomfortable dizziness and nausea, that forced me to take recovery on the dirty floor of a room that had become recently abandoned. My smoking partners, doing what all teenagers do when things get dicey, had promptly run off. None of them wishing to be present when my corpse was discovered.

I was momentarily relieved about this, as my lungs had ignored their primary role and become an exit only organ. My main concern, as I sprayed a kaleidoscope of coloured phlegm around the floor, was that I would not get off with anybody during the remainder of my school years if anyone had stayed around to witness it. After another 10 minutes, under the watchful gaze and mirth of those who had returned, I was able to sit up and request another drag, pretending I had enjoyed the first one. Unsurprisingly this encouraged more of the same.

Throughout these difficult teenage years, I tried the evils of tobacco on a number of occasions, experiencing a similar reaction with each attempt. To such an extent that even my smoking peers refused to let me try ‘one more time’. Not due to concern for my wellbeing, but mostly as it seemed that I was spoiling their attempts to look impassively cool. So it was that for my remaining time at school, I looked upon the smokers with a certain respect, as they flouted the rules so bravely. They seemed, to us incompetent smokers, as such impressive rebels. Standing in circles, hidden from view, sharing supposedly one of the worst (legal) things you, as an individual, can do for your health.

My jealousy did not rest solely on their perceived revolution, there were also rumours that the dubious pleasure of nicotine helped these miscreants stay thin. A motivating factor in adopting the behaviour in the first place. Although I believed such gossip at the time, I have seen many of my smoking peers since they have left school and the rumoured effect either does not last, or never held true in the first place. It would also appear that the sense of cool is something that passes. When I do happen across them, they can all still be found puffing on the irresistible tobacco sticks but now with more compulsion than they demonstrated during their smoking formative years. The nonchalance of the adolescent rebel replaced by the craving of the adult addict. To a person, they are quite open about how they would like to break the habit if they could.

Now, this is not a quit smoking blog - although if there is a market for one, I may consider a second series - so I share this story to highlight that they, like me, seem to spend an inordinate amount of time dieting. However, it would appear to be slightly contradictory to swig from a glass of cheap brandy in one hand, puff on a strong cigarette in the other and insist on organic low-fat food for lunch. It seems incongruous to carefully balance your diet without consideration of how your other behaviours are impacting on your general health. It doesn’t mean that you can’t do it of course, just that such activities are incompatible. Why allow your actions to clash in a battle for your wellbeing? So much better to let them work together, rather than against each other.

Accepting that we should align behaviours, for the good of our health is one step, knowing how to do it is another matter entirely. We may often understand what behaviours are good, or bad, for us, but we are not always sure how they may work together. We have generally established that the only way that smoking can ensure weight loss, is through the development of a range of chronic diseases that reduce the body to few working parts. But the impact of other behaviours is not always so clear. Many will point to the medicinal qualities of a regular, if controlled, alcoholic drink. I would question this. I am not sure what kind of people these ‘many’ hang out with, as controlled drinking proves a rarity amongst my friends. We only need to look at the fast-food establishments supporting lines of revellers in any city centre, on any weekend evening, to realise that a few drinks do not turn us into a population of vegetable eaters, or exercise enthusiasts. If drinking encouraged you to seek out vitamins and fibre, nightclubs and bars would be surrounded by greengrocers rather than burger vans. And towns would be full of young adults drinking well beyond safe levels and then crowding into the nearest fruit shop.

The evidence is stark and it is not simply the immediate influence of alcohol that we must consider. The aftermath from an evening out drives many a partier to the local café for a healthy - in size if not nutrient content – cooked breakfast. Commonly washed down with gallons of caffeinated sugary drinks. The body, so depleted by alcohol, craves calories, often for a few days after.

Admittedly the extremes of alcohol intake can lead to temporary weight loss, as the Sunday morning street cleaners or vomit dodgers can attest to. But this is more damaging than digesting the food in the first place and is normally more than made up for later in the week. We must, therefore, not view diet as isolated from our other behaviours. It is not independent from the other things we allow ourselves to do. A rounded approach is required if we are to consider ways to curb, curtail or control what we consume. So by all means think about the food you are eating, but think about the other things you are doing at the same time, as they are liable to have an effect.