Miller County Newsletters
Haley's Comment
Two Keys for a Healthy Lifestyle-Making Smart Choices about Nutrition and Physical Activity
January 10, 2008
It is the time of year when we evaluate our lives. We ask ourselves questions
such as, "Am I as organized as I want to be? Do I spend enough time with my
family? Am I getting the exercise that I want? Am I as healthy as I want to be?"
It seems that the busier we get, the harder it is to make healthy choices and
stick to them.
With the New Year, you will see a plethora of diet advice. Some of it is
dependable, research-based information; others are not. Unfortunately, a diet is
not what we normally think of it. A diet is what we eat. It's about making smart
choices when it comes to nutrition. Combine that with physical activity and you
have the two keys to a healthy lifestyle.
Many may wonder what they have to give up to have a healthy lifestyle. Will
it be necessary to deny the very pleasures of eating? Is this the end of eating
out? How much physical activity do I really need each day?
Committing to a healthier lifestyle is not about what we deny ourselves;
instead it's about the choices we make everyday. Not just the food choices as it
relates to what you eat, but how much you eat, when, and where. It's also about
choosing physical activity. The more active you are, the more you benefit your
overall health. You can further reduce your risk for many chronic diseases,
including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancers, and
osteoporosis, by doing more than the minimum 30 minutes of moderate-intensity
physical activity on most days of the week. If you incorporate up to 60 minutes
of cardio activity, it may also help you to prevent unhealthy weight gain or to
manage your weight, if that is your goal.
Don't expect great miracles immediately. You have to choose to give yourself
a healthy lifestyle. Start with small steps first, a slow, steady approach to
being healthy that you can live with each day or at least most days. Remember,
nobody's perfect!
At some level, we all know that a lot about being healthy comes down to
taking care of ourselves: what we eat, how much we eat, and how much physical
activity we get. Basically it means that in order to lose weight, we must burn
off more calories than we take in. We don't need to be rocket scientists to
figure this out. We have to make smart choices from every food group; find our
balance between food and physical activity; and get the most nutrition out of
our calories. No more soda and candy bars from the vending machine for lunch.
Despite what some diet products will tell you, there's no magic pill that
instantly does the trick. Developing healthy habits take effort.
We are only a week into the New Year and how often have we told ourselves,
"I'm going to start eating better and moving more." And, we mean it.
Unfortunately, it's easy to get derailed and fall back into unhealthy habits. We
don't mean to. But, it takes a real commitment to change our behavior,
especially for the long haul.
We remember from our health classes in school that we eat to live, but today,
some of us seem to live to eat. Food represents a lot of things to us. To some
it's a stress reducer—"I'm stressed. I'm tired and just want to go home and
eat." There's often nothing like the emotional comfort of a pint of ice cream.
Sometimes, food is our way of celebrating or a reason for coming together for
special events. Food is part of our social fabric. It's one way we pass
traditions down from generation to generation and sometimes preserve our
cultural identities.
There are ways, though, to make a healthier lifestyle doable. It may mean
finding the motivation to be our own personal trainer, using easy-to-make
recipes to prepare our own meals in about as much time as it takes to head out
to the nearest fast-food place, doing our best to eat healthfully on a budget,
or making better choices when eating out—the little things do add up and make a
big difference.
Let's start the New Year off with a great gift to yourself and your family—a
healthier you with smart nutrition choices and an increase or start of a
physical activity plan.
If you would like to receive free information on adapting the two keys for a
healthy lifestyle, you may contact me at the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service in Miller County at 400 Laurel, Suite
215 in Texarkana, call 870-779-3609, or e-mail me at
chaley@uaex.edu. You may also visit our
county webpage at
www.uaex.edu/miller/News/haleys_comment/.
We appreciate your feedback!
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