Mat Lock
Dr. Alka Patel, welcome to the Unleashing Potential podcast, you are a GP coach, therapist and lifestyle medicine physician, which is something we're gonna take a deep dive into. But firstly, how are you doing over there in the UK?
Dr. Alka Patel
We are doing well, thank you for asking that. It's very, very comedy. It's been a bright sunny day. So when the skies blue? Of course, we all chill out? Do we?
Mat Lock
Absolutely. At the time of recording this. Yeah, the UK have announced a series of lessening of restrictions from the covid 19 pandemic. And yeah, really pleased to hear that have you been bearing up? Cuz it's been a pretty tough year for you guys.
Dr. Alka Patel
It definitely has it's very been a real sort of roller coaster hasn't heard of sort of anticipation and hope. And then the hope is taken away from you. And then the end goal seems further and further away. And I think you know, it's it's Arsenal, human agility to adapt to change and live with change. That's been really tested during this time. I think if we go back to evolution, that's what we do. You know, that's when we are at our best when we're evolving and changing. So it really means a shift to kind of mindset and perspective to be able to just go back to that kind of route of life, which is evolution, isn't it?
Mat Lock
Yeah, that's exactly right. And one of the things actually will start immediately going off topic, but that's okay. Well, one of the things I have noticed, certainly when, when the pandemic restrictions were brought in down here, there had been Australia, actually, for all the doom and gloom and for all the heartache and cost and loss of life and illness and everything that's caused, actually, on a local level, I've definitely felt our local communities pull closer together, become much more aware of each other sort of asking how you're doing, and taking more notice, I think, rather than just being in this whirlwind of life and surrounded by white noise and everything that goes with it. So actually, I think there are many examples of there being silver linings all over the world to what has been a very dark cloud and continues to be in some parts of the world. But yeah, it's not not all doom and gloom.
Dr. Alka Patel
No, and I think you're right, I think you know, what we have to there's a lot of sadness and tragedy that has been associated with this, for sure, you know, loss of life, loss of earnings, loss of officer March. But they agree, I think there's also been a gain, which we would never have had, had we not? Had we more experienced this together, united. And there's something about connecting to your nucleus isn't there? and connecting like exactly as you've described, not everything that's so far apart, but what's actually close to you. And we've been almost forced to do that, whether we're looking at our when our in our homes more. So that's your immediate environment, and then your local neighborhood, suddenly, you're noticing things that you hadn't noticed before? And that kind of circle feels closer than it's ever been before? And isn't it?
Mat Lock
Absolutely, absolutely, it's very much the case. So how can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what, what makes you tick?
Dr. Alka Patel
And now love that question. Because it's a, we always dive into our job titles, don't we? I mean, even as you introduced that you are a GP.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely.
Dr. Alka Patel
Totally. But it's, it's really hard to actually describe the essence of you, isn't it? And, you know, what sort of person are you? I mean, yes, I'm a mom and a daughter and a wife and I have two puppies with children, my husband, you know, have that. I actually don't know how to answer the question, Who am I, without actually chucking in job titles? You know, the essence of me, it's very much about wanting to give, I think, and it comes from being the doctor and, you know, wanting to help but really wanting to do that in a bit of a different way to what traditionally doctors do. And I think for me, you know, it's been a very interesting personal journey, discovering that, actually is exactly that, like, Who am I? What is your identity? What is your purpose? I think that's such an important fundamental question for all of us. And, you know, back to the pandemic. I think it's given us space to have a bit of an introspective view and really discover what is it that ignites us and gets us out of bed every morning? You know, it's things for me it's things like this conversation, being able to talk about what feels important in life, what feels important people beyond beyond me is is definitely the stuff of life for me. But yes, I am a doctor by background, I am a GP, I'm a practicing GP and my big focus is is lifestyle medicine, which is very much about handing back health to, to people, because that's where it belongs, it belongs belongs to you doesn't belong to a doctor, we don't think.
Mat Lock
No, absolutely. So if you were to try and describe lifestyle medicine, for those who haven't heard the term or the term could even be somewhat confusing, because I guess we're used to either the lay person is used to going to the doctor when they get sick, and inevitably, either being referred to a specialist or receiving some form of prescription, which you go to the pharmacy next door to get and collect and so on. So how does lifestyle medicine differ to that to more traditional model that most of us will be familiar with?
Dr. Alka Patel
Okay, so there's probably quite a few important elements to bring into a definition or a description religion, the first thing I probably want to say is lifestyle medicine is an evidence based speciality. So it's research backed. And I think that's really important when you're when you need to be sure that there's credibility in the information that you're giving. So it's an evidence based medical speciality. And what it does is it uses what I call therapeutic lifestyle change. So TLC, and people are familiar with TLC, and all sorts of words that they tend to love and care. And that is its essence, but its therapeutic lifestyle changes. So the therapeutic part means that there's a difference is there for wellness and feeling good and being healthy. So there's therapy involved. But these is these are changes based on your lifestyle. And when you think about lifestyle, we all think about lifestyle in different ways. And I'll come on to sort of, you know, how I define lifestyle and like to meet kind of the concepts of lifestyle easy for people, but the idea behind love, so medicine is an evidence based, medical speciality that uses therapeutic lifestyle changes to do what to prevent, treat, and modify symptoms and disease. That's pretty much lifestyle medicine, in its essence, that is absolute distinction is what you bought out, which is, it lies in prescribing, not prescribing drugs, primarily, but prescribing lifestyle change as the most important therapy for disease treatment, reversal prevention, well, of course, medication or the modalities, they're there, but they're almost a supplement to lifestyle change. So lifestyle comes first, which is actually why they brand my business, my essence is called lifestyle first. That's what I predicate everything that I do.
Mat Lock
Music, my favorite, I have to say, really resonated quite deeply with me. And I love the fact that I've read somewhere on one of your sites or posted your reader for you tried to redefine health as a verb not in there and as something you do, not something you have described as a life skill. Jonah, just let's dive into that a little. I mean, when we talk about lifestyle medicine, you've given us the definition, which I appreciate. And that's really important to have to understand, I guess, the foundation on which we're building, but you're talking about life skills. And that it's something that you do not something you have. So I guess what, where do you start when you're talking to someone who's new to the subject who's come to you with, they may have come with whatever their issue is? And you feel that they should lifestyle changes, perhaps the place to start rather than the more traditional issuing of drugs and the like? Where do you start?
Dr. Alka Patel
Maybe start with a bit of an analogy, actually. So your area of expertise is fitness, isn't it. And if we take fitness as the analogy, that we all know that we're not going to grow biceps and six packs overnight, these things take time, and they take building may take skill. But actually, we all know that we can build muscle so long as we do it in the right way. And that is the same with with health with skills, you need to have skills behind what you do to create better health to create better muscle. And as an athlete, yourself, I think you'll probably resonate with this is that we need to oscillate to don't we don't continuously activate muscles in the hope that they're going to, you know, get bigger and better and do more for us. We have to rest them. So you can't be continuously pushing the buttons of life. You have to have periods where actually there's rest and recovery because the gain from that is so much greater. And it's the same With our lifestyles, we've always got that on button of Go, go, go, go, go, what's going to happen when you overuse a muscle, it tears, it breaks down. And it's the same with with life and health, isn't it? So it's, it's very much that analogy of you know where to start, well actually think about how you build up skills in the gym, or of exercise or fitness of muscles and do the same across the whole of your life.
Mat Lock
Which, in practical terms, would mean implementing smaller steps from the beginning and starting to build on those rather than just going all in from day one and changing everything in your life, which can be either confronting, and prohibitive, or not sustainable. So the suggestion, therefore, is just to introduce incremental steps.
Dr. Alka Patel
Yeah, absolutely, I think we tend to do all or nothing, we either say, I'm going to go and you know, run the marathon, or I'm not going to do anything or we say, Well, I'm never touching, you know, process with ever again, in my life. We can't sustain that. I don't know if you've ever heard the sort of story of the British cyclists and, and the Olympics, but they went for years, hundreds of years, if there's a little bit of going that long, but without any medals at all. And then one year along comes at, you know, a new coach. And what does he do, he doesn't change everything. In fact, he seems to change very little. But what he does changes the small things, and he makes those 1% gains, doesn't, he changes the fabric of the seats, he changes the rims of the tires, he changes the massage gel, but that the cyclists use and suddenly, you know, they hit the British Olympics, and it's metal after metal after that laughter medal. Why? Because it's the sort of the increment, isn't it? It's the aggregation of marginal gains is the is the mathematics behind it. And so if you can skin up in snorting increments, your gains are going to be incredibly huge. And I think that's, you know, really, really important aspect of lifestyle, change of life, some medicine is actually creating habits and some automaticity in your life as well, that allows change to not feel like it's based on self control or willpower determination. But for some things, just to be automatic choices in life. Yeah, when you're starting to make change in the beginning, you got to think it through and plan. But eventually, you want these things to become as easy as brushing your teeth, don't you?
Mat Lock
Absolutely. The I think one of the challenges and you're right, I mean, a lot of people I speak to they, they're kind of all or nothing, they and there's a I guess a society these days. Instant gratification is a thing. You know, we've got food on demand, we can get pretty much anything we want to quite quickly. And there was all those sort of modern marketing techniques and communication techniques. It's all instant. And yeah, for sure. I guess the life game hopefully is a long game. And that's the intention, at least. And yeah, I guess it would be a really important starting point for people to understand that, that it is a long game and just incremental steps along the way. One of the things I love about positive lifestyle change, of course, is that invariably, people feel better when they start making it a habit and implemented into their lives. And of course, that's one of the most motivating things in the world, when something feels good, or gets you the results you're after, you tend to do more of it. That certainly has been my own journey, go into plant base followed plant based, and certainly adopting certain exercise regime, if I can call it that without making sound too harsh. It's not harsh at all. In fact, it's very flexible. But nonetheless, it makes me feel good. So I do more of it. And I'm motivated to continue on doing that. But now I know you you've alluded to it already, you're the founder of the lifestyle first, and creator of the lifestyle first method, which is a blueprint for the 10 routes of life to optimize. There are 10 of them that are all aspects of health from performance, productivity, mindset, health, and more. We probably don't have time to go through all 10 in detail because for sure, you're a font of knowledge. And we could spend I'm sure an hour or more on each subject. But what I would like to do this first one is like purpose. And I'd love to just park there for a while. And actually one of the things I read in a post you've done recently, there's no books in the book, The boy, the mole, the fox in the wars said it better, your life is not perfect, and it's time that we accept. I love that because you talk to us from your perspective about the importance of understanding life's purpose.
Dr. Alka Patel
It's a it's a really beautiful concept. Purpose. I think I'm so funded Mentally important. So, I mean, I've been a GP for what, 20 years plus. And over those years, I get to know a lot about my patients I know where they go on holiday, I know where their children go to school, even what kind of socks they wear, because they're on my couch. But you know, the fundamental thing that for a long time I didn't discover about my patients was what matters to them. Because it's the things that matter to you, that become your driver, they are driving force. So I could talk endlessly about sleeping better, eating better, moving better, I newly diagnosed patient with with diabetes, I could talk endlessly about how important it is to minimize this and maximize this. But I couldn't expect that patient to walk out of my consulting room and do everything that I'd asked them to do. Because it didn't know what was important to them. Why was this going to be meaningful, and I think purpose is the thing that drives us to get out of bed every day have that motivation for the day. And it's not only that, it's not only that sort of activation, that purpose gives you many of alluded already to that gratification that we all need. We do need gratification. But deeper than that, we need that longer term fulfillment. But actually what research has shown is that purpose is fundamentally connected to survival. So there have been several studies that have been done that have shown that if you have purpose in your life, live longer. And that's so important to remember, I'm just pausing there, because that is that something to worth considering, in quite a lot of detail is that, why is that? You know, you've already mentioned sort of needing to feel good about life. And you know, this is really, really important, because there's so many physiological mechanisms in place as well aren't there that are very, very, sort of interconnected, our, our stress levels connected cortisol, which then connects to immunity and inflammation, and all these other pathological processes that are going on in our bodies, that connect the sort of mind and body. And it's so important, I think, to have that, that sense of reason, that sense of why and spend some time understanding that about yourself. Because not only do you want to live longer, but you want to live happier. And that, you know, again, these are fundamental principles in life, we all want to feel fulfilled. And that fulfillment usually comes from something bigger than us doesn't take comes from something that's beyond just just you. And I now lost the very, very simple question. I call it simple. But the very simple question to everybody that I need, all of my patients, for sure, is what matters to you?
Mat Lock
Yeah, I know, you smiled when he said it's simple question, but I would imagine it stops most people in their tracks. Or you get their first answer and dig in for the real answer. Yeah.
Dr. Alka Patel
And there's the lovely method of the kind of the five why method? Isn't it that you know, ask the ask why five times, if you say towards what's important to you, what matters to you? Family, people will say, well, money, work or holiday. What, why, and get to that real crux of what it is. And when you get to the crux, it's often associated with emotion, there's usually an emotion behind your y, which is so important, because emotions are signals to take action on a, but there's a really nice exercise of people are sort of wondering how to how to even start thinking about what their purpose might be, or what what is all of that about, you know, this isn't about the purpose of life, it's about the purpose of your life. So if you do a 62nd really kind of stream of consciousness. So just set your timer for 60 seconds, write on a piece of paper, what matters to me, and just let it flow. No grammar, no punctuation, just words, ideas, memories, the list, whatever it is, it's there, you know that it comes from a place and it's quick, and it's there, and you'll see those words popping out at you, that will allow you to probe more deeply into yourself as well. So yeah, that's something a business might want to try. And today.
Mat Lock
Yeah, I'm gonna try that. That's great. Well, they were, I guess, yeah, probably a bit more dialed in. I mean, certainly in mind that it was recently released at the time of recording this. Certainly, in talking to one of our sports nutritionist general and from the States. She certainly started first question, what are your goals? What are you trying to achieve when her new clients come to her and often is, I want to lose weight. Why is that? Because I want to look better. Now. But why do you want to look better? Exactly what you said. Just keep going until you get to the areas She said invariably, the very reason is they feel crappy. They just feel crappy. That's why they want to lose weight, it just takes a little bit of time to get to that understanding of what it is they feel a bit crappy. That's the pricing. But nonetheless, it often takes Yeah, the classic four or five why's to get there, and really make stops, people make some think I gave a talk recently, a couple of weeks ago to a local company, he was there kickoff for the year, and they just wanted me to come in and I guess talk about what we're doing and talk about my book, lead by example, and all of that. And actually, I focused the whole air on the journey, I went on to understand my way, which led to me leaving the corporate life and locating myself in a part of the world, which I'm in. And yeah, with my wife and three dogs, and then you said two or three, we were dog lovers, and so on, and so on. But it really did stem from me, understanding my why. And I'm really I'm saying what motivates what and, and here, I guess you want my purposes,
Dr. Alka Patel
in that you've mentioned work, and actually leaving work and, you know, almost jumping ship and, and finding a new purpose and creating new work with purpose. Because I think, again, fundamentally, the workplace is where we spend a lot of our time. And I certainly see a lot of people who have kind of incongruent values to the values of the workplace or their own values don't match up. And that creates a huge conflict with purpose and why and again, you know, back to research, but again, what's what's been found is that people who have a purpose of work, also feel that satisfaction, that fulfillment, happiness, they have better health, they have better futures, they live longer. So all of this is very, very connected. I think it's also really important to ask yourself, why do I go to work? What is it about work that I, that I'm, therefore what is the purpose of my work, because we all need to feel valued, don't we, when we're to sense of belonging, we all want to feel connected, we all want autonomy, we need all of those elements as part of our work. And when we don't get those, of course, that's when health starts to starts to change. And back to the fundamentals of lifestyle is, you know, traditionally work was work and home was home. And, you know, you might go to the gym on your way home and lifestyle happens at home, it doesn't happen at work. But that is you know, that is that is not the reality of how we should be living our lives. Because everything is very blended life is a blend, it's not a balance, it's we've got to start to sort of intertwine you the person in all the different roles that you do in all the different environments that you find yourself in and positioned lifestyle in all of those sectors as well as being in their real priority.
Mat Lock
Yeah, 100%. Look, I'm in the job. I'm in the role I was in. I mean, many a number of people I knew actually asked. When I announced that I was leaving corporate, I was going to be moving back to Australia and finding my own way. A number of them literally said, You're mad. Like, you've got the best job, you got the best situation. And in many ways I understood why. And when I understood that comment, because the company I worked for, was really a great company, a great employer. And yeah, I was remunerated, remunerated well, and I had a lot of autonomy in all those things. I ticked it ticked a lot of boxes, but it lacked purpose to me. I didn't see the point of it. I couldn't see what impact I was having. And for sure, that was that honestly made me miserable. I become very, very miserable the rest of my life and feel like, you know, was ticking all the boxes. And I don't regret it at all. I mean, I I feel more fulfilled now. I don't yet have the monthly hug of the bank account that I used to have. And I don't actually need that is what that's the irony, isn't it? I've adjusted my lifestyle to, to not need that great big monthly hug actually. We all have to pay the bills, but that's actually all we need to do pay the bills. If we're if we're otherwise satisfied and fulfilled, then that's a much better place to be. So when we talk about life's purpose, I can certainly I feel like I can absolutely relate to that. And I also agreed that I know a lot of people who they just do their job. And they they might do it perfectly well, but they're not fulfilled by it. It's just a job. It's a means to paying bills. It's something they have to do. And again, not to make it too altruistic. We do have to pay the bills, there's no question but trying to find a way of doing that. And we're working for a company where the values are more aligned and there's a bit more sense of fulfillment and so on surely has to be what we're striving for and part of what we strive for. That's what I certainly was encouraged by your employees don't always appreciate that. But actually, they're missing the point. Because if they have employees who are not aligned with the values of the company, then actually, they're unlikely to be getting the best out of those employees. And they may well be better off parking camera, either changing role or even changing company. And that's certainly my counsel to anyone I interact with on these subjects is to really understand whether the roles that they're doing, the company they're working for, really aligned with who they are. And if not, then for sure, some sort of changes required.
Dr. Alka Patel
But interest, actually, isn't it the concept of money, and happiness, and how we how we do seem to connect the two. But when you look at the surveys, and when we look at people, I when I had my surgery, well, you know, pivot, in my career, one of the first things I did was get on the plane and went off to India, and did some voluntary work out there and met some of those that have that religious people at the end of their life, and there was poverty, there wasn't money. And yet, you know what, I saw some of the happiest people there. And so we all say this money doesn't buy happiness. And we know this fundamentally, I think money gives us freedom, to do the things that then we can then utilize to fulfill our passions and our purpose, I certainly wouldn't sort of negate it. And he may say, money is not important. But I think you know, more important is that we can gain that even greater happiness and fulfillment from following, you know, what we know, comes from that instinct and that kind of sense of value and importance. And these are not easy decisions, I think, you know, you and I have both made big changes in our careers and our focus, and, you know, used our values to tune into that. But these are not decisions that are easy for everybody to make, not even, you know, not even things that they could contemplate because perhaps money is so important or because there are no other people involved in those, those decisions. But it doesn't mean that you still can't find purpose in your work. That's that you're in at the moment you have, it's a mindset shift, it very much is about recreating your relationship with your work, because we're then moving into the territory of burnout. You know, if you're, you haven't got that relationship with your work that gives you fulfillment, you're on a trajectory to burning out and feeling that loss of autonomy and belonging and competence. And that's when even you know, your health is even more on the line. So you know, really important to just, we reframe that relationship with your work, see what you can do, what conversations can you have, within your environment, allow you to share your skills, share your expertise, think about where do I feel most lit up at work? What do I want to do more? Or what actually would I never want to give up doing? What do I you know, what do I want to do less of work? Who can I have a conversation with that about? Because I've got other things I'm going to be able to showcase? And it takes a little bit of bravado, doesn't it to have those conversations where you can't jump ship? Actually, you know, do that. But you know, your working environment can be the place where you find purpose, as well.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely. And the one of the I mean, the leading theme of what I tend to talk about about leading by example. And I yeah, I firmly believe that, in fact, we all regardless of hierarchy, here, I'm not talking about an organization chart, even though most businesses need to have one to be organized, and that's okay. But actually, that doesn't matter where on the organization chart you sit. And in fact, just in life in general, the opportunity to lead by example, not only is it does have a profound impact on yourself, but those around you. And I often counsel people who are in jobs that perhaps they don't really enjoy, but they feel a bit stuck, don't know what their options are. And then as a starting point, I like to Well, actually, there are a number of factors in your life that you do have total control over. Even if it doesn't feel like it. There are so many we dig into what those may be, but as well, the ability to have a positive impact on those around you by leading by example. That in itself is empowering. And self perpetuating almost and there's a power that comes with that. And the I think it's important and certainly some of the subjects if not all of them in in the lifestyle. better choice out are first method. They are things we have control over. We might not think it but we do and in particular, we think that for example food exercise, Sleep time, energy, I mean new collections, habits, emotions, no, those are nearly all of the 10 that we have control over. They're essentially. So regardless of optimal insurance situation, regardless of our perceived status, which unfortunately society, still places focus on that. regard slowness device situation and lessons there SEO, in general terms, we have control over many things in our lives. And there's something just empowering about understanding that, and taking control of some of those
Dr. Alka Patel
areas are many, what we call socio economical determinants of health as well. So, you know, certainly our environment and our situation, play a part. And, you know, we can't always choose what adverts on the sides of buses, and we can't choose what our nearest supermarket is, or you know, how cheap McDonald's is going to go on their burgers. So those sorts of things. We can't or you know, where we live, and our housing and all those things, that that sometimes are kind of just part of our demographic and our and our kind of socio economic stage in life really. But even within that, as you say, the things that you do on a day to day basis, let's say, sleep as a very fundamental area. You know, it's the most natural physiological thing that we all do. We're all designed to sleep in a rhythm are all of our body clocks, we've got toxin ourselves, and you know clocks in our all of our environments, our brains guide guided by a clock or biological clock, the whole circadian rhythm is one big clock. And if we just tuned into that rhythm, everything would work pretty well. Yeah, the hormone releases happen at the right time, the melatonin to help you sleep is released at the right time. But what do we do? What do we do? instead? We answer that late night email from work at 11 o'clock at night, we scroll on our phones, again, just one more post one more pose, we binge watch net Netflix, we just got to get one more episode in and we set it up set on natural physiology. But all of those touch points are choice points, we have a choice to scroll, or watch one more episode, do I eat all the way until I go to sleep? Do you know all the things that is he say, we do have a choice over what we do in those instances, which then have a really big impact on our trajectory for aging on our trajectory towards outsiders, counselors, diabetes, heart disease, all of those things, actually, in asleep, fundamentally, is the time when you get your reset, you get your emotional reset, you get your gut reset, your brain has its washed out, everything happens that we need to function for the next day happens in sleep. So really important that we actually create choices that enable us to maximize the opportunity that sleep gives us and we can all do that. Now. You know, just what is the one thing you might do today, that will actually going to help you sleep better, sleep longer, stick with better quality, because you will be a better happier, healthier person born tomorrow, you know, when you're irritable with your partner or, or or someone tomorrow, you don't always connect it to how you slept the night before. But actually your emotional tone is determined by your sleep. And I think it's really important that we spend you know time reflecting on those sorts of things as well. And, and also, you know, when you look at people who say, Oh, I don't need much sleep, I get by with three or four hours a day, I'm always you know, productive. I wanna I just don't need much sleep. But actually your trajectory is set for later life to become more difficult if you look at people like Margaret Thatcher, Minister in the UK, Ronald Reagan. You know, they were the kind of steel hawks who they didn't sleep much they were busy working and you know, giving to the country but their trajectory was set the outside was dementia memory issues later in life. And that fundamentally connects to to poor sleep, because at nighttime is when we, as I said washed out our brains all those protein fibrils and tangles are cleared out at night. And if you don't allow yourself to do that, we're going to build that up and be over the years. So yeah, really important thing to think about those things because you have a choice as you saying that those things for sure.
Mat Lock
I feel like you're speaking directly to me. The list of 10 things you've absolutely nailed the one that I'm appalling it really i mean i average about five hours sleep a night, but I'm not in the mode of Oh no. That's just your And it's wonderful. And you know, I can perform I do before absolutely i. Until more recently, I was doing all sorts of ultra endurance events quite successfully and holding them full time corporate role internationally and all of those things, but it's not lost on me. I'm absolutely acutely aware that it's, it's not right, I like him. So I can, that's always smiling when you were talking. It's like, how do you
Dr. Alka Patel
describe his passion. So we often talk about passion and purpose in the same breath, but it's your passion for what you do that is driving you to do more of it. And so you sacrifice unconsciously you sacrifice sleep, to do more what gives you purpose or gives you that fulfillment. But actually, this is where you know, this is where the breaks need to go on. Because the stuff that fires you up, is also going to be the same stuff that burns you down?
Mat Lock
Sure, yep. I was giving some advice recently, which I've, I've taken, which I've adopted. And that is, every Friday, my calendar is now blocked. So there's no possibility of people booking in meetings and all of that. And therefore, the fright Fridays now become my choice of what to do. And I have to say, my first three Fridays, and doing that, I have worked. But I've looked differently, without a sense of pressure without a sense of time, pressure. And I find it much more enjoyable, and far more relaxing. And that's allowed me to enter the weekend in a different frame of mind. And I really appreciate that. I don't know that has helped me sleep better, particularly yet. But nonetheless, it's at least a step in the right direction to making some adjustments.
Dr. Alka Patel
That's what we were talking about at the beginning is you know, it takes discipline, it was not easy for you to have Friday's off and have it blocked out in those first Wi Fi is probably feeling really itchy about all this is a bit unusual, and not okay, you know, and easy to break those self set rules. But actually, once you get through that discipline phase, it actually you see the benefits and you see the ripple effect of the one change that you make, and then you add more changes on it, your fighters will become revolutionize, and then your skill will improve because you're eating better. And you're stepping out more you do all the other things that will encourage that. So, but yeah, I think you know, don't underestimate the initial discipline that you need to have. But again, think with the end in mind.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely. That's really to me, serving sleep absolutely, obviously, vitally important. And something I continue to work on. exercise and food tend to be if I was to name the three things which seem to come up with people, I interact with our audience, if you like, food, exercise, and sleep, the top three, in terms of being mentioned, might not be in that order. But they are somehow all related. And so when we think about health, certainly, from your perspective, yeah. When we think about food and exercise, we want to talk about the importance of sleep, and how do you tend to start the conversation around? Let's start with spending? For example? How do you tend to have that conversation with the new patient or client?
Dr. Alka Patel
So I think it's again, thinking about, why do we eat? Why are we eating? What is food all about? And I like to think about, you know, food as fuel, thing for function and food for fun, and we need all those elements. When we think about food, you know, and if we even look at sort of food for fun it is it fundamentally food is a real connector, isn't it? We, you know, restaurants, memories from our childhood, the Romeros, you know, grandma's cooking, these food is a real connector for us. And we have, you know, we have a lot of social connections around food as well, I think it's really important to maintain that. I think also, you know, we don't appreciate the sensory experience of food enough either, to really, really understand it as value, you know, the idea of eating, eating was to tapping away on the computer, or on that next kind of zoom call and, and having a breakfast or lunch at the same time is actually you've missed out on the whole experience of the because one of the functions of food is fulfillment, isn't it actually, and you know, understanding the aroma and the texture and, and the taste and the sound and really enjoy that you can only do that if you're focusing on what you're eating and how you're eating. And then of course it is in a food for fuel is ultimately its energy source. And we get very, very zoomed in on the detail of food. And I think actually we need to take a step back and move away from the dramas of which diet and what the name of it is and if it's paleo or keto or plant based or you know, the next thing that sort of comes along and really tune in to what why what is it that you want to gain or change about how you eat While you eat when you eat, and all of those are important to how we're what the when. And back to sustainability each new way that actually you can sustain. So when you look at something like intermittent fasting, which is probably a topic all on its own. But you know, eating within a time window, we know is important because it allows, again, enough time for your guards to reset every night. But is it sustainable for you to eat within a four hour window, forever in a day, or is it not. And if it becomes part of your lifestyle, and part of your routine and part of your rhythm, great, but actually, if it's causing irritability, if it's affecting your gut, then it isn't something you're going to be able to stick to or should stick to. So you got to tune in to what sort of important for you. And you know, I think if we all just didn't one thing, and D processed our diet D processed our food choices, that in itself would have the biggest gains even before we got into, you know, omega threes and sixes and Gene seeds and flax seeds and all the rest of it was a deep processing of food. And eating fresh and eating whole is is going to give you huge gains, actually the first place to start with, with food, I think
Mat Lock
I really liked him. I love that and one of the share now remember hearing only simple, lovely way of describing the ideal diet, from my perspective, and I think it speaks to what you've just said as well. But it's a guy called Richard Rome, who has the ritual podcast, I've been an avid fan and follower of his. And he certainly went through major life changes from alcohol and substance abuse and, and changes like around and yeah, suddenly went down the whole ultra endurance, whole food plant based trip. But anyway, he he the way he described it, he said guys should don't make it complicated, like just eat food as close to the ground as possible, as often as possible. And the simplicity of that. Yeah, it's true. I believe it to be true. I certainly buy into that, let's say, and not yet in terms of de processing the diet, it's that along the same along the same thing. Without question, but I'll come conscious of time. And I'd love to just get your thoughts on exercise, I'd love to just say again, how you approach that with a new patient or a new client or even an existing patient who you've been saying for years, who perhaps you feel would benefit from focusing on exercise? How do you tend to frame the whole subject when you're talking to someone.
Dr. Alka Patel
So you'll know I love my letters or my anagrams. I like to talk about exercise basics with people. And basics basically looks at exercise pretty broadly. So the B is balance. A is agility. S is strength. I is intensity. C is cardio. And so they've got me there, I forgotten what that last letter is, how could I do that stamina,
Mat Lock
they make it easy to remember.
Dr. Alka Patel
Because actually, if you get those exercise basics, right, then you've pretty much covered all your bases. Because when we think of exercise we do in our most of our heads, we're thinking either about pumping iron, or we're thinking about running on that treadmill. And actually, it's far more fundamental than that balance is so important, the B because actually, you know, we fall over. And as we get older, we fall over even more. So we've got to work on our balance in order to actually not hurt ourselves when that happens. And it's so important. And yet it's so easy, you know, simply standing on one leg was the kettle is boiling. And it's done. You know, this is again, not something you have to spend a lot of time doing. But thinking about a cow do a bit of balancing exercising today and just spending a few minutes every day doing it. So again, balance, I think, you know, 10 minutes every day, 10 minutes, even every other day, we know is enough to start to kind of give you that sense of place, which is so important. And agility as well. So agility, the a is your stretch, you know how flexible are you and again, we need flexibility so that we actually don't harm our muscles and harm our bones. And now we don't actually spend that much time thinking about stretch, thinking about posture. We concentrate a lot more on contracting our muscles and we do actually on stretching them. But again, you know, spend those 510 minutes every day thinking about stretching, I certainly do that, you know, every morning I love kind of getting up and, and having a well sort of, you know good stretch routine to kick start my day. I know I'm sitting down right at the moment as well. But I'm, you know, constantly standing up there get greater agility. When I'm standing, I stand up when I'm consulting, I stand up when I'm in zoom things and the agility you get from that is, is huge. So I think, again, important to really think about your, your agility, and yes, of course, cardio, you know, we know that to get your heart rate out to get the muscles pumping all that is really important, but to do all of it, I think rather than focus on one area, and then the key message of exercise has to be again, come back to enjoy it. for enjoyment, you have to enjoy exercise, and you'll do it more. And be you know, you'll you'll, you'll share it, you can do it with friends, family, there's all different ways of exercising as well. But you know, get that old skipping rope out, get that hula hoop out climb on the ground with your kids. And you know, there's so many different ways we'll keep it. Keep it fun. So yeah, try and keep smiling while you're exercising. And you'll feel much better. For sure.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely. Like every everything we're about with the bay games, and their their wellness warriors program. It's all about functional fitness. That's what we're about. So you mentioned the biceps earlier, six packs, and they're fine. But that's not what we're that's very much vanity training. I'm not going to demonize that Millers, if that's what you're looking for game on, as long as you're taking care of everything else as well. And I actually loved the acronym, basics, because it's so perfectly auction through every aspect of the sort of holistic approach to fitness. And you're right, it has to be fun. And certainly we we aim to achieve that as well. Because you have to make it fun. And often. For us that involves working out training and maybe competing, friendly competition, but in pairs or teams of four. And then you're getting that human connection as well that that human interaction, that collaboration, a conversation that's so important that that certainly is more likely to put a smile on the dial. And, yeah, and work is magic, from a mental health perspective to let alone the physiological realities of getting the endorphins flowing. And all of those things that we know as well, that they're their effect. And they were and yeah, no, I appreciate it very much. I'm, I think we've we've probably there in terms of time, and I feel like we're only scratching the surface with you. So maybe this is not the person the only time we have you on the podcast. And I'm constantly very generous with your time and would love to have you back on but you don't have to commit on camera. But
Dr. Alka Patel
hopefully having a conversation, it's been very easy to just flow into. And as you say, we're off on tangents, if we've ever known it's a much depth to
Mat Lock
get into. Oh, absolutely. And look, I'm very grateful for your time and you sharing your message and for Yeah, I guess doing what you do. And if people want to find out more about you or about the lifestyle person method, how would they do that? Where would they go?
Dr. Alka Patel
What's the easiest way my website Of course, dralkapatel.com has got sort of information you can drop me a message on there as well. I'm on all the usual social media handles and channels as well. So I'm actually Dr. Alka Patel, UK. So happy to kind of be messaged through there as well always up for a good chat, happy to answer questions, as well. So those are probably two easy places to find me like you. I've got a podcast as well. The lifestyle fairs podcast. So it's got lots of tips on there, as well. So
Mat Lock
for sure, I will put all of that in the show notes so that we can make it easy for people to get in touch with you or indeed to tune in and have a listen to your podcast. But with that said, Thank you again for being on the podcast really appreciate appreciate your time and I'm conscious. It's in the evening, where you are in the UK. So thank you for that. And yeah, I look forward to look forward to chatting again.
Dr. Alka Patel
Absolutely, No, thank you. It's been a really lovely conversation. So thank you so much.
