Doctor Alasdair MacDonald’s personal story is a timely reminder that changing your lifestyle and becoming healthier is entirely possible.
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The Launceston General Hospital director of medicine has spoken about how he looked to prevention to enjoy a healthier lifestyle and to reduce his risk of developing preventable diseases.
Dr MacDonald has a family history of vascular disease, so part of his decision to change his lifestyle was to “be sensible” about that.
“I have my blood pressure treated and I exercise and diet in order to manage the other aspects,” he said.
At a time when Tasmania has some of the worst statistics in the nation when it comes to obesity and chronic illness, it’s a message that needs to remain in the spotlight.
Just a few years ago, Dr MacDonald was 30 kilograms heavier than he is today.
“I spent quite a chunk of my life with the, ‘do as I say, not as I do’, type of advice to patients and wasn’t necessarily setting a good example,” he said.
Creating a healthy lifestyle is not rocket science.
For Dr MacDonald, it was about a sensible amount of exercise, a sensible diet and reducing meal portion sizes.
That included basic changes like walking to and from work.
“You’ve got to realise that it’s about living a healthy lifestyle and there’s not an end point. How you change needs to be in a way you know you can sustain long-term.
“I don’t think you can go on a diet and then expect you can go back to the lifestyle that put the weight on, so it’s been about making the changes and knowing they’re changes for life - not just changes to lose weight and then return to overeating and drinking too much.”
It’s good to see someone like our hospital’s director of medicine making a positive change and setting a good example for his colleagues, the patients at the LGH, and the wider community.
Hopefully it is something that will inspire those in a similar situation to the one Dr MacDonald was in 30 kilograms ago.
Next Sunday, he will take part in the Clifford Craig Foundation’s Run & Walk For Your Heart – an important event that raises awareness about heart disease.
And with daylight saving beginning that same weekend, it’s a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors and get a bit more active.