<p>After 30 years of eating badly on the run, I’ve spent the last several months cooking 3 healthy meals each day. I was amazed at my numbers at my doctor’s yesterday. Everything perfect, from cholesterol to blood pressure. It reminds me how easy it can be to really keep healthy by eating right and keeping fit.</p>
<p>Please share your health tips.</p>
<p>Do you mean the last few months have corrected every ill in your body from 30 yrs of eating on the run? Or do you mean the 30 yrs of eating badly didn’t affect you as adversely as you might have expected?</p>
<p>I have heard a daily, brisk walk is good for one’s health, and my aunt had such a regimen. She tripped on broken sidewalk and broke her ankle. She no longer walks “for her health”.</p>
<p>After both the husband and the wife had some fairly serious health problems, our neighbors started really watching what they eat…only organic veggies, no wheat products, hardly any meat, mostly soy. The wife is thin, the teen son is skinny and the husband is almost skeletal. They came over for a memorial day cookout. The husband and wife ate raw celery (sans low fat dip), a bit of chicken breast, grilled squash and mushrooms and a touch of rice pilaf. The teen son ate EVERYTHING…ribs, chips and salsa, ice cream, etc. He hates the way they eat at home. </p>
<p>I’m not knocking healthy cooking at all…I need to do a lot better myself…but people who really go off the deep end in restricting their food intake should do a lot of research first. My neighbors just don’t look healthy.</p>
<p>Avoid artificial sugars if possible.
I have been using Blue Organic Agave to sweeten my tea and oatmeal. Sweeter than sugar so you need less. Low glycemic index so it doesn’t cause a sugar spike. And it tastes great. TJs and Whole Foods Carry it.
I don’t miss my old Fresca and Diet Coke habit…yuk. And did you know Splenda is chlorine?</p>
<p>Younghoss, I have always been thin but my blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides were inching up and on my MD’s “watch list.” All are now low normal.</p>
<p>^Splenda has chlorine atoms as part of its structure- not the same thing as chlorine. Keeps your gut from absorbing most of it- no absorption, no calories.</p>
<p>Most people in America could get by with eating less meat. The Mediterranean diet (olive oil, vegetables, fish) seems to work well for blood lipid levels.</p>
<p>Exercise is good. Humans are meant to move, even if it’s just a little bit each day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park farther away from the store, etc.</p>
<p>Son of Opie is correct, Splenda has a chlorine atom in its structure. Not exactly a powerful alkylator, but who knows. I do not eat my lab chemicals. I just use one spoon of sugar instead of two, or no sugar at all 
My H’s gastroenterologist is not a huge fan of sugar substitutes. He says that because some sucrose substitues are not absorbed and/or metabolized by the human body, these compounds pass down to the parts of the GI tract where sugars do not belong, and some nasty buggers who love that stuff start multiplying in the lower parts of our guts because suddenly there is a steady supply of food for them.
Our family diet trick? Use salad plates instead of the big dinner ones. That way, the servings are smaller, and the plate still looks full.</p>
<p>Hey, don’t knock the sugar substitutes - some of us diabetics are very grateful for them.</p>
<p>While it is true that all exercise is good, you really need the “sweaty exercise” to get the maxiumum health benefits. And there are quite a few experts who say that should be sixty minutes a day of sweaty exercise - yikes.</p>
<p>I’m eating less (frequently one meal a day), taking in less suger and eating out less.</p>
<p>Running about 12-15 miles/week, playing tennis twice a week, weights every day, stretching several times a week. The improvement in quality of life from the exercise after 4 months is amazing. I do wind up rather sore from time to time but I consider it a sign of progress.</p>
<p>Who knows what to believe? My trainer says you don’t need to sweat, you exhaust your muscles one at a time, not yourself, with weight training and you can get great cardio without a sweat too.</p>
<p>BC, same trainer tells me you should not do weights every day (I love them and would happily) because you won’t get the same effect you will if you give the muscles proper recovery. His clients can only do weight 3 days/wk. Eat carbs before the weights, protein after to build muscle.</p>
<p>There’s still some debate as to whether being really fit (super-high VO2 max, sub 60bpm heart rate, under a six-minute mile) increases longevity more than just being active. It may be a linear relation, or it may be a logarithmic relation with diminishing returns… more studies need to be done to better say.</p>
<p>Yes, and movie buffs will remember the applicable scene from Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” when they revivied him from his slumber…</p>
<p>I read that some folks stoke up hunger by doing sweaty things and eat more, so walking and weight lifting works better. WL should allow time for muscle recovery so 3 times per week is good. </p>
<p>Wow, how does one eat once per day? I would starve! I though you were supposed to eat MORE times per day…just less each time. </p>
<p>I WILL continue to bash artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Nutrasweet. Lab chemicals.can’t be good. Stevia if you must…at least it’s natural. I have a family member who is a diabetic and she successfully avoids these chemicals. It can be done. But yeah, it’s hard. I went through withdrawal myself but it’s OK now. I think that stuff makes you crave more sweets.</p>
<p>To each his own, then. I’ve given up a lot (including most carbs!) but I’m keeping my artificial sweeteners. And hey, some of those “lab chemicals” (i.e., pharmaceuticals) help keep me alive!</p>
<p>I agree with the more small meals, good for keeping metabolism high.</p>
<p>You should eat something every 4 hours but stay off the food about four hours before you sleep. I think it is all down to portions and variety. Each to their own. I have found a way to stay thin and I am enjoying it. I try to mix my diet with different fruits and veggies and I eat more fish and chicken than any other form of protein. Oh yes and legumes. I went to a dietician for about a year and that really helped me. I basically eat the Mediterranean diet because that is what most are doing around me.</p>
<p>I find if I “stay off the food about four hours before you sleep” I have trouble falling and staying asleep…too hungry! Near bedtime, for me it’s a small high protein ‘snack’ like a piece of chicken, or couple slices of turkey from the deli.</p>
<p>Also, at work, I’ve gotten into the habit of taking a walk at lunchtime (and drinking a large coffee!), rather than trying for a power nap.</p>
<p>I had to retrain myself on the not eating past 6 p.m. routine. It took awhile but now my body/mind has adjusted. But whatever works for each of us is the key. We are all different. Good idea about the power walk instead of power nap. I was taking a little nap yesterday late afternoon after coming back from work and I couldn’t sleep so I got up and took my walk that I was trying to get around. I felt so good when I came home.</p>
<p>The latest study on exercise says you only need 7minutes a week:
[Want</a> to get healthy? Exercise 7 minutes a week | Global Industries | Health & Drugs | Reuters](<a href=“http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE50R0BH20090128]Want”>http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE50R0BH20090128)</p>
<p>Good news for lazy people everywhere!</p>
<p>I’ve started going to the gym and am finding that I am more energetic and mentally sharp. I’ve also started eating more, because I get hungry from exercising and have gained weight as a result!</p>
<p>Gaining weight isnt necessarily bad. You could be adding muscle.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why I run, as opposed to exercises that are less stressful to the joints, is to improve my conditioning for tennis. I would also like to get back into running races. I have a life goal of running a marathon but I don’t know if I will ever attain that.</p>