It's all about your Lifestyle

Chandi Schwab

According to a study by Michigan State University, a healthy lifestyle is defined by four basic criteria:

1)Not smoking
2)Holding weight down
3)Eating right
4)Exercising

Of the 153,000 respondents, only 3% participated in all four of what are termed healthy lifestyle characteristics.

There are millions of adults leading unhealthy lifestyles; resulting in children falling under the same category. What can be done to help people change? Everyone talks about achieving it, but most people have plenty of excuses as to why they can’t, won’t, or don’t want to change their current status. The most common excuse people make for not trying to have a healthy lifestyle is “a lack of time.” Have you ever said to yourself, “Oh, I’m tired, I don’t have time to exercise?” or “I don’t feel like cooking dinner tonight; let’s just get some fast food.”

Yes, excuses are real and they are contagious.

Time and health always seem to be at odds with each other. We have time to work, time to commute, time for our business associates, but very little time to spend on ourselves, people we love, or even random people who deserve our attention.

What's Your Lifestyle Like?

The reason lifestyle is so important is because how you live determines your choices and these choices decide how healthy you are and whether you're on the road to achieving good health. Where do you fall on the healthy lifestyle continuum? First, figure out how much time you spend doing the following:

•Sitting at a desk
•Sitting in a car
•Sitting in front of a TV
•Sitting in front of a computer
•Eating out at restaurants
•Drinking alcohol
•Eating fast food or junk foods
•Staying up late/not getting enough sleep


Now, how much time do you spend:

•Being active in general (taking the stairs, walking instead of driving, gardening, cleaning, etc.)
•Doing cardio exercise
•Strength training for all muscle groups with challenging weights
•Preparing your own meals and snacks and eating fruits, veggies and whole grains
•Reading food labels
•Tracking your calories
•Sleeping
•Dealing with stress in a healthy way

If you spend more time doing the things in the first list than the second, it's time to reevaluate your priorities and decide what you really want for yourself. Living healthy means spending time and energy on your body--moving it around and paying attention to what you put into it. Staying in an unhealthy lifestyle means you can avoid expending energy, time and effort...but at what cost?

Choosing Health

As humans, we like habits and routines, so much that we often keep doing the same things even when we know they aren't good for us. Changing bad habits takes time and effort and, for a healthy lifestyle, you may be changing a variety of things like:

•What time you get up each morning
•What time you go to bed each night
•How you spend your free time
•How you spend your money
•How you shop, cook and eat
•How much TV you watch
•What you do with your family and friends

What better time to start than now? Evaluate where you are at,and set realistic goals in small amounts so they are attainable. As you accomplish the goals you have set you will be pleased with yourself and be an all in all happier person:)Good luck!