Dr Melize De Villiers, owner of Health Matters Medical Centre, was recently voted Best Family Doctor in the Best of Ballito awards. We chatted to her about how to best keep health issues at bay, and what we can do to enjoy overall wellness.
When it comes to preventing illness, Dr Melize cannot stress the importance of proper nutrition enough. “I can hardly think of one illness that’s not related to diet!” she says. “If you think of hypertension, diabetes, gout, colon cancer, female cancers, infertility, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases – these are all related to your diet. So, it really is true that you are what you eat!”
There are specific foods that improve your overall health and can help to prevent or fight cancers, and help detox, and boost your immunity. Some good options include green leafy vegetables, berries, beetroot, seeds and legumes, garlic and olive oil. Her top tip when it comes to diet is to make sure that you have different coloured foods on your plate. “This is a simple way of knowing that you’re getting in various vitamins and minerals,” she explains. Equally important to diet is regular exercise. Dr Melize believes exercising on a regular basis is key to overall health.
Another factor in staying well is good quality sleep. “It’s essential to the functioning of our bodies,” Dr Melize explains. “While we are asleep, our brains process all the information we are exposed to during the day; it forms long term memory; it gets rid of toxins and releases essential hormones.”
Insomnia is generally a symptom of an underlying condition and not a diagnosis itself. The underlying condition is often anxiety, depression or burn out; and it’s important to seek help if you have trouble sleeping because it’s so often an indication of other mental health diseases.
If you’re wondering whether or not you should take vitamins and supplements, Dr Melize recommends seeing your doctor for a personalised assessment as individual factors will determine what you need.”
Interestingly, one of the things that Dr Melize believes most people can improve on is self-care. “Make time for yourself, do things that make you happy and make you laugh; make time for friends and family and hobbies. All these things will give you natural endorphins. You need a happy brain to have a heallthy body.”
Dr Melize recommends that everyone see their doctor for a yearly check up, which includes a physical exam, blood tests and radiological exams. This can assist in early diagnosis and prevention or treatment of disease, which can be life saving!
