Dr. Shahjada Selim is a distinguished endocrinologist, a bestselling author, and one of the few prolific medical researchers in Bangladesh. Currently, an assistant professor at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, he specializes in diabetes, infertility, osteoporosis, and a number of other hormonal disorders.
Recently Future Startup reached out to him to know more about his passion, work and his health advice for busy people . During the interview, he shared with us his valuable experiences, insights, and consultations.
Here are five vitally important health advice for busy people taken from the interview, you may see the full interview here.
01. Eat healthy: Be careful about what you eat
Dr. Selim points out two main reasons behind our proneness to diabetes, one of which is our food pattern. We have a very carbohydrate-dependent food-pattern in Bangladesh, especially rice and lentils. Carbohydrates have been linked to increasing the risk of diabetes.
People who spend busy life and have to maintain tight schedule often face an even greater risk. Because of the erratic nature of their schedule, they often consume unhealthy diets. They should, as Dr. Selim suggests, "adopt a more protein and vegetable-based eating habit which will reduce the risks of diabetes and other health risks."
02. Physical inactivity is a slow killer
More and more professional jobs are becoming sedentary in nature. People are now live in a perpetual sedentary roll: they wake up, take the car to office, sit at the office all day and the cycle continues.
It causes a serious lack of physical labor which is shocking because physical inactivity is the root cause of diabetes and many other health problems. Moreover, it is extremely anti-productive. People who do physical work or exercise enjoys greater benefits over people who don’t exercise.
As for entrepreneurs, Dr. Selim warns, " It does not matter whether you are an entrepreneur, CEO, top employee or a mid-level manager, lack of physical activity will finally push you to the edge of diabetes and other health problems."
Dr. Selim has put great emphasis on workouts for entrepreneurs, especially on walking. It has been proven to be remarkably helpful in warding off diabetes and helping with greater brain activity.
Dr. Selim advises that businessmen "must take time out to do some sort of physical work, such as- walking. If the nature of your work is sedentary, then walk after dinner at night. If you can’t make time to take a walk outside at all, try using a treadmill which I suggest to many of my patients."
03. Stay healthy, stay productive
A sound mind resides in a sound body. A healthy employee is sure to contribute more than his not-so-healthy peers. Besides looking after their own health, entrepreneurs should also consider the betterment of their employees' health.
"When you invest in the health of your employees," Dr. Selim remarks, "the return is way too high. Take a simple example, if people maintain a healthy lifestyle they would not get sick often and would not need sick leaves. This single metric can make a difference between two organizations."
04. No sweet for the busy guy
According to Dr. Selim, sweet is primarily responsible for the increase in our body-weight. He urges everyone to put a stop to this "sweetened culture" in Bangladesh. If you have an occasion to celebrate, don't bring sweets.
Eat fruits instead which will lower many health risks including, of course, diabetes. In fact, once, when WHO asked Dr. Selim to write a slogan for an awareness campaign, he wrote: Add fruits to your favorite food, not sweets.
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