As we near the end of March, I hope you’ve already seen a news story or read a blog that acknowledges that it’s National Nutrition Month. The annual nutrition education and information campaign, created by The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, encourages us to make informed food choices and develop sound eating and activity habits. The goal is to promote simple lifestyle habits that are based on timely and scientifically-based food and nutrition information.
Hopefully you’re already embracing a lifestyle that starts you off with energy to power through your day, accomplishing what you set out to, and that helps you feel content in manifesting the destiny you want for yourself. We all benefit from a little reflection, and taking a moment to review our day-to-day habits to ensure they’re serving us best is a good place to start.
The Lifestyle of Choice
As we start our lifestyle review, we want to keep it practical, remembering that stress management is a key component to good health, and nothing can create stress like a plan that’s not manageable. There is no one-size-fits-all lifestyle, and the sooner we allow ourselves to break free of the pack and be our own unique individual, the better.
For starters, research consistently shows these six aspects to be key components to a healthy lifestyle, so much so that together they add an average of 13 years to our lifespan. So, if you’d like to live another healthy decade or more, check the tips below:
1. Follow a healthy diet. Unsurprisingly, topping the list is diet. Nothing else has the same power to add quality years to your life. I know there are lots of diets being touted as ‘the way’ to be fit and healthy, but science constantly backs meals that are loaded with vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, and healthy fats; and that limit red and processed meats, and sugary foods and beverages.
2. Be physically active.
We have 24 hours in every day, so even subtracting a combined 16 for a good night’s sleep and average work day, that still leaves 8 hours to find 30 minutes for exercise. You can even break it up into two 15-minute segments if that works better in your day, the benefits are nearly identical.
I’m 6 days into my personal 30 day challenge to exercise every day, regardless of the day’s circumstances. I needed a jump-start because it’s been a good 6 months since I was exercising regularly, and I just kept putting it off. Less than a week in, I realize it just isn’t that hard.
3. Obtain/maintain a healthy weight. Using a body mass index (BMI) chart, a normal, healthy weight falls between 19 and 24.9. There are a few flaws with this assessment, as it literally looks at our mass/weight in relation to our height, and doesn’t account for those who are super muscular, but it works for most of us.
4. Never, never, smoke. Enough said. Any product that contains nicotine goes into this category. Vaping is not healthy.
5. Drink alcohol in moderation. That’s no more than one drink daily for women, two for men. Three drinks each on Friday and Saturday night pack a heavier negative health impact and do not constitute moderate drinking, taxing the liver much more than the one drink a day guideline.
6. Manage your stress.
What you do to manage stress matters much less than doing it on a daily basis. Stress promotes all of the disease states we’re trying to prevent, including heart disease, cancer, and mental illnesses including anxiety and depression. Stress can lower sexual desire, cause gum disease and tooth loss, promote premature aging, weaken our immune system, and often cause weight gain.
If, after reviewing your lifestyle, you find one or more of these top six life-extending behaviors to be lacking, choose a simple way to work closer to the target: be consistent but not perfect, and acknowledge your efforts along the way. You can do it.
Karen Fisher, MS, RD, LDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website atwww.NutritionConnectionNV.com
To find a nutrition expert in your area, go to the academy website – Find an Expert https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert
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