Here’s an article from Tyrone M. Reyes, M.D. (published in The Philippine Star this January) which I would like to share with everyone. Let’s start the year right. Cheers to good health!
“It may be just another date on the calendar, but for many of us, the start of a new year packs a potent psychological punch. It’s an opportunity for new beginnings, fresh starts, and a clean slate. It should also mark the end of procrastination when it comes to taking care of your most precious commodity — your health. Here are eight of the best tips you can use to improve your health in 2008.
1. Eat More At Home.
Last year was a rough year for trans fats. The FDA required that this artificial artery-clogging substance be clearly identified on nutritional labels. But here’s the catch: The FDA labeling rule applies only to food sold in stores; it does not apply to restaurants, bakeries, and deli counters. So, cities like New York and Chicago proposed citywide restrictions on their use in all restaurants. Since we have no similar rules or restrictions locally, it’s more than likely that you’re still eating trans fats when you eat. And Filipinos have been eating out in larger numbers every year.
The solution is obvious: Eat at home more. “You can’t protect yourself unless you fix your meals at home from scratch,” says Suzanne Hobbs, author of Get the Trans Fat Out. That’s because home cooking techniques typically use far fewer trans fats than restaurants. And when they do, it’s easy to cut the offending fats out: Simply read the ingredients and banish everything with partially dehydrogenated vegetable oil or solid shortening from your recipes (substituting healthful liquid oils such as olive oil and canola oil). But when scanning labels, be wary of the footnote “not a significant source of trans fat.” That actually means the food in question can have up to 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving even though the label says zero.
There’s really no going around the fact that a growing pile of research suggests that frequently eating out plays a key role in today’s obesity epidemic. That’s because trans fats aside, home-cooked food is usually lower in other nutritional bogeymen like saturated fat, sodium, and sugar, and higher in good nutrients like fiber, calcium, and iron. Dinner at home is a winning recipe.
2. Add 30 Minutes Of Exercise Per Week.
Researchers continue to demolish your excuses for not exercising, or not exercising enough. Maybe you’ve heard that people with arthritis shouldn’t exercise, for instance. Researchers at Northwestern University debunked that myth: Just the opposite turns out to be true, in fact — older people with arthritis who exercise are less likely to develop physical limitations that hamper their daily lives. Can’t find time to exercise? A study from the Harvard School of Public Health even found that if you manage to exercise only on weekends,that’s still better than not exercising at all.
Of course, experts now recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise daily to keep yourself healthy — and 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily to keep you from gaining weight. But even if you can’t meet these guidelines for vigorous exercises to develop fitness, don’t let that discourage you from doing moderate exercises that are still beneficial to your health.
3. Drink low-fat milk or eat calcium-rich food.
You already know that low- to non-fat dairy products help you meet your need for calcium, which is essential for staving off osteoporosis. Bess Dawson-Hughes, MD, director of the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston, emphasizes that eating and drinking your calcium, not popping a pill, is most effective. But remember to make your dairy low-fat or fat-free: drinking three glasses of whole milk daily instead of skim adds almost 200 calories and 14 grams of saturated fat, which can contribute to weight gain and higher levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.
Ideally, people should get their daily calcium quota through a healthy diet. Along with milk, dairy products of all types will do the trick. Other good sources include sardines or tinned salmon with bones, leafy green vegetables, soya beans, and calcium-fortified orange juice or breakfast bars.
4. Add Vitamin D.
Think of vitamin D as calcium’s partner. “Vitamin D promotes the absorption of dietary calcium,” Dr. Dawson-Hughes explains. “You need an adequate vitamin D level to make use of the calcium.” Research continues to support vitamin D’s importance in building bone strength against osteoporosis and the risk of fractures. Vitamin D may also help improve muscle strength, reducing the risk of crippling falls in the elderly.
You may not be getting enough vitamin D, however. Although the RDA for older adults is between 400 and 600 IU of vitamin D, Tufts research suggests you may actually need 700 to 800 IU to fully benefit. Unlike calcium, it can be difficult to get enough vitamin D from dietary sources alone. (Note, for example, that yogurt, while a good source of calcium, doesn’t deliver the vitamin D benefit that milk does.) Dr. Dawson-Hughes recommends combining inexpensive vitamin D supplements containing 400 IU and a multivitamin also containing 400 IU.
5. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Hardly a day goes by without more evidence that the vegetable and fruit aisles are the healthiest sections of the grocery store. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, analyzed data from more than 100,000 participants in two large, long-running studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study. They confirmed that participants who ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily had a decreased risk of heart disease. No wonder then that the new dietary guidelines recommend an admittedly daunting-sounding nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily. But don’t be discouraged by that number, says Alice Lichtenstein, D Sc, director of Tuft’s Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory. “People need to remember that a serving size is modest, and under normal circumstances most people eat more than one serving at a time,” she says. For fruits and vegetables, a serving is only a half-cup, so you should aim for two cups of fruits and two and a half cups of vegetables daily in a regular 2,000-calorie diet.
6. Eat like Popeye.
While it’s important to eat a “rainbow” of fruits and vegetables, some vegetables seem to be more equal than others. Popeye, the Sailor Man, it turns out, was on to something: Spinach, along with other leafy green vegetables, is proving to be packed with health benefits, including possibly helping prevent cataracts and reducing the risk of stroke and cognitive decline.
Eating more green leafy vegetables is one of the biggest changes most people need to make to align their diets with the new “My Pyramid” food pyramid. For many people, meeting the new guidelines will mean doubling or tripling their intake. That sounds huge, but it actually amounts to only about two or more cups over a week’s time. Now, that’s quite a doable thing.
7. Have fish for lunch or dinner.
The evidence continues to mount that fish, particularly those rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon and tuna, is good for your heart as well as your head. One study involving women with coronary artery disease showed that those who ate fish had a slower progression of plaque buildup in their arteries. Another showed a 13 percent slower annual decline in mental abilities in older people who ate fish at least twice a week. So now, eating fish twice a week is part of a healthy diet and it doesn’t have to be hard to do, once you get into the habit.
8. Don’t worry. Be happy.
Nearly a dozen studies show that happy people live longer. They’re also less likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, and pain from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. A recent research also showed that people who express positive emotions come down with fewer colds and flu after being exposed to the viruses than those who express negative emotions like anger, sadness, or stress.
Psychologists now believe happiness is a learned skill. In fact, Harvard’s how-to-be-happy course is now the university’s most popular class. It’s first lesson? Embrace your failures and frustrations. “When you give yourself permission to be human,” says course instructor and psychologist Tal Ben-Sharar, “you are more likely to open yourself up to positive emotions.” So be happy and you’ll live longer.
None of these research-based steps to a healthier you in 2008 have to be hard. So why not start the New Year off right and be healthier in 2008!”
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