Learning to become healthier from the healthiest among us
The end of the year is a good time for self-reflection, and we’ve been thinking about the advice we give you — on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and achieve a younger RealAge, especially in light of a powerful new study in The Lancet that offers a new perspective on Americans’ collective health challenges.
We talk a lot about what it takes to make you healthy — to resist diabetes; avoid heart disease, cancers and depression; and maintain a healthy weight:
— Avoid the Five Food Felons (saturated and trans fats, added sugars and syrups, and any grain that isn’t 100 percent whole).
— Exercise 30 minutes five or more days a week; do 30 minutes of strengthtraining twice weekly; do 40 jumps a day.
— Sleep seven to eight hours nightly.
— Avoid first-, second- and third-hand smoke.
— Stay connected with friends and family; volunteer for a charity, club or other organization.
But have you done those things recently? Chances are with chilly weather, holiday schedules, the winter sniffles, work, family … well, only 2.7 percent of American adults answering a survey published in 2016 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings could say they met the criteria for a healthy lifestyle!
So we need to find additional ways to help you achieve your goals. Maybe if you meet — first on paper, then face to face — some folks who, without much trying, turn out to be healthier than the average American, that will inspire you todo the max for your healthiest, happiest future and a younger RealAge.