Best Ways to Repair the Damage of Our Past Unhealthy Habits

Exercise is the best way to repair damage and prevent future diseases

The number one way to improve health, even if we have damaged our bodies through past unhealthy habits is to simply get moving. Walking, aerobics, dance, swimming, yoga are all ways to keep our hearts moving, and our bodily functions and their connected support systems engaged.

Patients who are undergoing chemo and radiation treatments for cancer are now being advised to get up right as soon as possible as sedentary life styles can reduce muscle to fat quickly. Dr. Kathryn Schmitz of the University of Pennsylvania, lead author of new guidelines says, "It's as simple as getting up off the couch and walking." (USA Today)

Quit smoking

The Surgeon General's website offers ways for people to quit smoking, offering smoking cessation aids such as gum, nasal sprayers, and patches. It says that many people are not able to quit the first time they try because it is hard to do, but they urge people to keep trying. Acupuncture and therapy, including hypnotism are other ways people try to quit.

Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" is an excellent read, and has been used by millions to help them quit. Carr encourages people to continue to smoke as they read his book and says, "Smokers do not smoke because they enjoy it or because they want to. They only tell themselves this to retain self-respect." (The Easy Way) I'm still reading the book (again) but I know a handful of people who got it the first time.

Drinking

In our youth, some of us can drink for hours, get a few hours of sleep, wake up feeling refreshed or hung-over, but still manage to carry on with our day. As we age, our metabolism rate changes. Our body's ability to turn calories from alcohol into energy switches and instead, the body starts storing this sugar as body fat.

When this fat settles around our waist, it can bring about changes in the way our bodies work that result in Diabetes, Cancer, High Blood pressure, Heart Disease and other disorders.

To live a healthier lifestyle, reduce or eliminate the alcohol and hydrate. If not drinking is not an option for you, look at the calories involved in your favorite drink, and find something that is equally appealing that is less fattening. See here for Herbal vitality's caloric content of average beer, wine and mixers.

Junk food

We are what we eat, or at least that was what we were told in high school. In fact, the reality is what we eat does play a big role in our overall health. Eating junk food in limited quantities is okay for most people provided they balance their diet with healthy options, and daily exercise.

Childhood obesity, under age drinking and teen smoking sets the stage for future problems as we age. When we start early with unhealthy habits, it is harder to break them the longer we stay in those old patterns and the older we get.

(June 3, 2009)- Dan Childs, ABC News Health, offers a list of the 'Top 9 most unhealthy things to order at popular restaurants. The average daily intake of calories is about 2000. The question is- would people still order these things if they knew how many calories they had in them, or are they buying them for other reasons such as wanting to get more food for more money - relating value with quantity rather than quality? Or are they buying out of habit? If they grew up on fast food, are they continuing that as adults?

What's the go forward on living healthy habits?

When trying to repair the damage of the past with our unhealthy habits, as we change - we should let our family and friends know why we are changing. At the very least, we should vow to not get worse, and then gradually make changes that we know in our hearts it is time to make. Start by getting out of the chair or off the couch!

We are all products of our environment, and if we can, we should try to subtly influence the environments of our children and grandchildren with new values and positive affirmations about healthy living. We can do this by promoting family and community activities that don't involve sitting in front of the tube or going out to eat.

Instead of getting together for a BBQ with heavy foods, alcohol and possible smoking, elect to take a family bike ride with a small picnic basket that contains fruit, water and maybe some crackers and cheeses, and a bottle of wine. We can learn to make music and teach children to dance. If we are creative we can make art and show it off. Mostly, be active, and be balanced. Eventually, everything, including the waist, will fall into place.

Sources:

Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking"

Childs, Dan: ABC News Health, 'Top 9 most unhealthy things to order at popular restaurants

Herbal vitality's caloric content

USA Today

Surgeon General's, quit smoking