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Healthy Lifestyle Choices Could Mean 10 to 20 Years

by Chris Culbertson, posted Aug 19th 2008, 18:20

Healthy lifestyle choices have shown to increase life expectancy 10 to 20 years beyond the US average (currently 76 years). There are three key components; not smoking, healthy diet, and exercise.

Not Smoking

We all know the consequences of smoking now. It is a matter of making the decision to stop, and sticking to it. Find classes or resources that can help you quit at KCFit.net by clicking on ‘Smoking Cessation’ once logged in as a member.

Healthy Diet

First let me point out that by healthy diet, I do not mean going on a “diet” for a month or two. I mean, make these choices part of your lifestyle and make them into behaviors you follow forever. Eat foods closer to their natural forms. For instance, baked potatoes are closer to their natural form than French fries. If you can not tell what it came from, it is probably bad (i.e. Twinkies). 50% of the grains you consume should come from whole grains. Be aware that whole grains are an option and try to make the changes where it is easy to do so like buying whole grain bread for sandwiches you make at home or whole grain pasta instead of regular spaghetti noodles. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies, MORE IS BETTER. Eat more nuts, seeds, and healthy oils which are monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, or “good” fats. (Olive oil, canola oil, peanut butter, almonds, nuts, avocados, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, safflower oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn, fish, walnuts). Avoid trans fats at all costs. Trans Fats are not required to be listed on food labels. You must look in the ingredients and look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. General rule of thumb, the closer to the top those ingredients are listed, the more trans fats in the food. And last, reduce the amount of red meat you consume. It should only be eaten sparingly.

Exercise

In order to receive the full benefits of exercising, you should accumulate 30 minutes of moderate intensity level exercise on most days of the week. This means you do not have to get all 30 minutes at once, you can get 10 in the morning, 10 at lunchtime and 10 in the evening or however you would like. The exercise should also be of at least moderate intensity, this means you should know that you are getting exercise, and maybe breathe harder or even sweat a little.

These are a few points that might be easier to remember and act on. You do not have to jump in head first. Choose one or two things and really focus on them for a while, once you have made them part of your lifestyle, move on to a few new ones.

• don’t smoke (or use tobacco in any capacity)
• eat foods close to their natural form
• 50% of grains should be whole grains (5-7 servings daily)
• eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day (more is better)
• eat “good” fats mono and polyunsaturated such as nuts and oils
• avoid trans fats at all costs (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils on food labels)
• get a total of 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day

*This information can be found at www.culpritandthecure.com or in Dr. Steven Aldana’s book, The Culprit and the Cure. These are points taken from that information, processed, and broken down into a few simple tips that may be easier to implement according to my interpretations.

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