Who Wants to be More Healthy? Six Simple Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle

Do you know how to keep yourself healthy? It can be confusing with headlines coming at you.� They said Hormone Replacement Therapy is bad for your heart, now maybe it isn't. They say eat soy, but now they say not too much. Should you take an aspirin everyday? What new test is right for you? What about vitamin E or Fish Oil or the latest diet pill?

How do you know what to do to keep yourself healthy? Go back to the basics!

Pay Attention: If you don't pay attention to your health, don't worry – it will go away.

Prevent disease by seeing your doctor and controlling your risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.

In addition, be brave and schedule the screening tests. A recent study by the National Cancer Institute and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a steady decline in the number of women getting regular mammograms. Finding cancer early through screenings like mammogram and colonoscopy is essential to survival. In this case what you don't know CAN hurt you.

Be Active: A study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology is just a recent example of something we all know: people who are active are more healthy than those who sit around.

An active lifestyle doesn't mean you have to spend your life in the gym. You simply need to move your body thirty to sixty minutes per day (more if you are trying to lose weight.)

Doing chores, walking the dog and using a pedometer are all great ways to be more active. Being active will help control your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight as well as reducing your stress level. All good things for your health.

Put Good Stuff In/Keep Bad Stuff Out: Fuel your body with food which has recently had the sun shining on it. Flip over the package and read the ingredients. If the list includes items with more than three syllables, put it back. Avoid trans-fat and anything listing partially hydrogenated oils.

Water is your body's best friend. Keep you blood flowing and your digestive track working with five large glasses per day. Avoid soda and other sweet drinks, even diet ones, which trick your body into craving more sweets.

Stay away from second-hand smoke. Whether you smoke or someone around you does, you are doubling or tripling your risk of heart disease and cancer.

Breathe: Everyone needs at least five minutes to themselves every day. Stress is one of the for disease, and perhaps the most difficult to control. Take a moment each day to sit quietly, breathe deeply and let go. Clear your mind of the demands of the day and focus on the good things in your life.

Be Honest With Yourself: We all know, deep down, if we need to lose weight, if we need to eat better and if we could do better for our own health. Yet, it is easy to ignore.

Get out the tape measure. Measure around the widest part of your waist. If it is more than 35 inches (40 for men) you need to do better.� Weight carried around the middle (around your internal organs) doubles your risk of heart attack. In fact, for women aged 45 -54 large waist size can double the likelihood of stroke as shown in a recent study published in the Journal of Neurology. Fat carried around the middle, combined with other risk factors like high cholesterol, smoking or inactivity is a recipe for disease.

Take your health seriously and start with one change. You'll feel better and will want to make other changes on your way to a healthy lifestyle.
Give Yourself A Break: Celebrate what you do for your health, and don't beat yourself up when you slip up occasionally. Making good choices on a regular basis builds a healthy lifestyle, not perfection.