The top 25 ways to a healthier way of life

No. 1

Eat breakfast

The details: Starting the day without breakfast is like getting in the car to drive to work and not starting the engine. Our mothers were right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, says James Joachim, a primary care physician practicing internal medicine and medical nutrition on Physicians Drive in Wilmington. Dr. Joachim, who specializes in medical nutrition, sports nutrition, weight management and weight loss, says a breakfast high in complex carbohydrates and protein generates energy and kick-starts your metabolism to help the body burn fat.

GET STARTED: Your best bet? Oatmeal and yogurt create a good carbohydrate/protein combo.

No. 2

Load up on antioxidants

The details: Free radicals are essentially free-floating or unattached atoms or groups of atoms. As these renegade atoms run amok through our bodies, they leave unmeasurable amounts of cellular damage in their destructive wake. When our bodies are exposed to damage from free radicals, they become more susceptible to other problems, from signs of premature aging to even developing cancer. Some studies have shown an antioxidant-rich diet can prevent free radical damage. The main antioxidants used to combat free radical damage are vitamin E, beta carotene and vitamin C.

GET STARTED: Stock up on vitamin E by eating nuts, fish oils, fortified cereals and whole grains. Vitamin C is found in green peppers, spinach, broccoli, kale, kiwi, cantaloupe and citrus fruits. Beta carotene is found in tomatoes, yams, broccoli and carrots.

No. 3

Move more

The details: Exercising has benefits that go beyond a fit-looking physique.
According to Physical Activity and Health, a U.S. Surgeon General’s report, regular physical activity not only improves the chances of living longer, but also helps prevent arthritis, osteoporosis and diabetes. Relieving the symptoms of depression and anxiety are on the list, as are the well-known benefits of exercise that include weight control and protection against heart disease and some cancers, including colon and breast cancer. Dr. Joachim estimates that only one in five Americans gets the baseline level of exercise recommended for adults. The current recommendation is 30 minutes a day, most days of the week.



No. 4

Maintain a healthy weight

The details: Maintaining a healthy weight means that your weight is appropriate for your height, age, sex and body frame. Obesity contributes to a number of health risks, including increasing the risks of developing diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research reports that having an appropriate body mass, coupled with eating properly and exercising can reduce the incidences of cancer by 30 percent to 40 percent.

GET STARTED: Re-member, it’s a lifestyle change, not a diet. Follow the guidelines in these pages.

No. 5

Eat six small meals a day

The details: It’s no secret that Americans overeat. Have you dined out lately? Portion sizes have exploded. Try to remember the last time you had an appropriate serving of meat, one that fit in the palm of your hand or was roughly the size of a deck of cards. Combine that cut of meat with a side of potatoes, a salad, which could likely be a meal on its own, and bread. Maybe you even had dessert. Did you leave feeling satiated or sick to your stomach? Three squares used to be the rule, but doctors and nutritionists now suggest eating four to six small meals a day, or every three hours, to speed up metabolism and burn fat faster.

GET STARTED: Wondering what to eat? A small meal could consist of a yogurt and a half of a banana; or a half cup of unsalted peanuts and a cup of nonfat cottage cheese; or a half of a turkey sandwich and a cup of carrot sticks. If you are planning an evening out, you can still be judicious about your meal choices.

No. 6

Know your history

The details: Melissa Ulstad, a physician assistant at Wilmington Internal Medicine, says one of the most important steps a person can take in an effort to live a long and healthy life is to know what they are up against. It’s amazing to me how many people don’t have a clue about their family medical history, Ulstad said. They don’t know how grandma died. It was cancer. Well, what kind? It matters. Ulstad encourages patients to dig deep. Elisha Wendt, pictured here with her mother who died of breast cancer in 2000, is aware that she has an increased risk for cancer and must take the necessary precautions.

GET STARTED: If a relative died or had high blood pressure early in life, then you should have screenings done and remain hypervigilant to manage the genes you had no control over. In effect, history could help save your life.

No. 7

Quit smoking, today

The details: If you started smoking at 20 and you’re 40 now, you’ve taken 15 years off your life, says Demetrius Harvey with the American Lung Association in Raleigh. Smokers, even those who smoke only on occasion, are not only more susceptible to developing lung cancer, but their risks of having high blood pressure, a heart attack or stroke also increase. By quitting smoking, you’re increasing your longevity. You can enjoy life like a normal person. Food tastes better, and you have better health levels all around, Harvey says. We’re talking about giving yourself five to 10 additional years to be around family, friends and loved ones.

GET STARTED: Help is everywhere. While a strong support system is valuable, so is willpower. Consider patches, cold turkey or hypnosis, but talk to your doctor first.

No. 8

Go get pricked

The details: Acupuncture has made a name for itself as a way to relieve pain associated with chronic problems such as sciatica, headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome, not as a way to bring pain on. Acupuncture as a whole, and as preventative medicine, is a form of total health care that can help you live longer, says William Mead, chiropractor, acupuncturist and owner of Mead Chiropractic & Acupuncture, 1201 S. 16th St. in Wilmington. It’s energy medicine, he says.
As a preventative tool, acupuncture can be used to find disorders or disturbances in the body before they become symptomatic. Electric-current detecting instruments and tongue diagnosis are commonly used to check energy flow in the body. Using what are called body meridians, acupuncturists choose a series of areas, called points, to place the needles.

GET STARTED: Make sure you pick a licensed acupuncturist in the area, and ask around for ones who come highly recommended.

No. 9

Go green

The details: Green tea, which has been used in Asia for centuries to promote good health, is not only an antioxidant worth adding to your anti-aging diet, it’s also an anti-carcinogenic. Scientists at the University of Texas Center for Alternative Medicine Research in Cancer reviewed 15 studies on green tea. The results more than half of the studies confirmed that green tea is effective against stomach, lung, gastric, bladder, colorectal and esophageal cancers.


No. 10

Say yes to garlic

The details: Garlic in its natural and capsulated forms can be seen as a near-cure-all, with properties that help ease disease and fend it off. Garlic kills off infection, viruses and bacteria in the body and protects and boosts the immune system, says Nicole Mohrman, a naturopathic doctor and owner of Nature’s Remedies, 5725 Oleander Drive in Wilmington. Fresh garlic has also been shown to treat ordinary chest complaints, such as asthma, colds, cough and flu.

GET STARTED: Eat too much garlic and the odor seems to seep through the pores and certainly from your mouth. Many high-potency garlic supplements are coated with chlorophyll to preserve freshness and increase absorption in the digestive tract. An added benefit of the chlorophyll coating is that garlic’s odor won’t hang onto your breath.

No. 11

Get your omega-3

The details: Omega-3s, or essential fatty acids, are just that essential to a healthy body. But because they aren’t produced by the body, they must be supplied in the diet, says Christine Hoskins, registered dietitian with New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Weight Transition program. The building block for all cell growth and production, omega-3s improve blood pressure, act as an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, and lower triglyceride levels and bad cholesterol (LDL). An added benefit? Omega-3 improves hair quality.

GET STARTED: To find them, look to the ocean. Fish such as salmon is a good source of omega-3, and fish oil tablets have the same benefits as eating fish, though Hoskins says you should look for oil-filled tablets instead of hard tablets. Flaxseeds are also rich in omega-3, as well as low in fat and calories. Flaxseed can be supplemented in tablet form or by cooking with the oil and using the seed itself in cooking.

No. 12

Protect your lower back

The details: Lower back problems aren’t a symptom of age, at least not old age. People can’t see back pain, it’s a difficult thing for someone to have. Loss of function in the back can cause people to become less social, avoid certain activities and even become depressed.

GET STARTED: Prevention is the key to loving your lower back. Stand up straight. Sit up straight. Work those abs to strengthen your core muscles. Bend with your knees. Stay flexible. Of course, that’s prevention. Current back pain needs serious attention. And if all else fails, get some physical therapy.

No. 13

Go with the flow, practice yoga

THE DETAILS: Many in Western society suffer from what Kristin Cooper Gulak, director of Wilmington Yoga Center on Oleander Drive, calls computeritis. We sit at computer screens all day, slumped over, letting our cores get lazy, and allowing stress to build as the eight- or 10-hour work day ticks by. We bring on our own low back pain and poor posture. We smoosh our internal organs, making it harder for them to work properly, and compress our diaphragm, constricting the lungs from taking deep, full breaths.
Enter the practice of yoga.

A lot of people think doing yoga is about being a pretzel, Cooper Gulak says. I hear people say, ‘I’m not flexible.’ If you can breathe, you can do yoga. And why wouldn’t you? Breathe deeper, have less stress. Reduce anxiety and depression, relieve chronic pain, relax, be more flexible, lower the heart rate, lose weight, decrease cholesterol, relieve allergy and asthma symptoms. And those are just the physical benefits of doing a little downward dog. Practicing yoga together removes people from the isolation of cubicles and opens up a community for like-minded people to find one another and interact.

GET STARTED: To get started, Cooper Gulak recommends knowing your goals (reduce stress, be more flexible, reduce pain, etc.) and selecting a class that will fit those needs. Lastly, work with a teacher in a setting that’s comfortable. Gyms and health clubs often offer classes for free.

No. 14

Say ‘ohmmmmm’

The details: Racing thoughts can be like deafening bulldozers plowing down peace of mind, mucking up decision-making and creative thinking, muddying clear visions of self-worth.
Meditation can quiet the rumbling and free the mind from having and obsessing over unproductive thoughts. It can also reduce high blood pressure and stress, and ease depression and anxiety. If the mind relaxes, your body will relax. And if the body can relax, the mind is quiet, Cooper Gulak says. Meditation is said to be the process of attaining total awareness through the cessation of thought.

GET STARTED: You can start by sitting in a comfortable position, in a straight-backed chair, on a cushion or folded blanket or with your back against a wall. Relax and pay attention to your breath. Let your thoughts come and go. Try sitting for 15 to 20 minutes. While home meditation through books and videos is fine for someone with experience, a first-time mediator should find a teacher. Listening to a teacher’s voice and having guided meditation alone will help create focus.

No. 15

Wear sunscreen

The details: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates skin cancer as the most common form of cancer in the United States. From 65 percent to 90 percent of melanoma, the third most common type of skin cancer, is caused by exposure to ultraviolet light or sunlight. What’s scarier not even sunscreen is entirely effective in preventing skin cancer. UVA and UVB rays are the culprits that damage skin. The Food and Drug Administration has organized a rating for UVB rays, but not for UVA.

GET STARTED: Buy a sunscreen with both UVA and UVB protection and that includes zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Read the labels, especially on SPF/moisturize combinations. The active ingredient still needs to be zinc or titanium dioxide. If zinc is way down the list of ingredients at 1 percent, it’s not worthwhile.

No. 16

Moisturize, moisturize,
and, oh yeah, moisturize

The details: Who says it’s vain to want to look younger and look younger longer? Taking care of your skin by cleansing and moisturizing daily gives it that extra boost to retain elasticity and texture, says Brandy Dixon, an esthetician at Ki Spa at The Forum on Military Cutoff Road. Facial moisturizer is a line of defense against daily damage that comes from pollution, sun and makeup. It’s very important to moisturize because it hydrates the skin, Dixon says.

GETTING STARTED: Dixon suggests using products that contain herbal extracts and natural ingredients, such as Jurlique’s Herbal Extract Recovery Gel ($40 for 1 fl. oz) that is sold at Ki. Dixon warns that many less expensive moisturizers use fillers, or synthetic products such as propylene glycol, which is found in anti-freeze. Check the label, she adds.

No. 17

Protect your collagen

The details: You may have been diligent about keeping your body in shape, but once age 40 rolls around, the wrinkles start to come out regardless. Protecting the collagen in skin is an important part of aging gracefully. Collagen, a protein within the body’s connective tissue, starts to break down around age 40 and becomes noticeable by age 60, according to Jonathan Crane of Atlantic Dermatology Associates on Medical Center Drive in Wilmington. By 80, there is significant breakdown in collagen, when wrinkles become more folds of skin than fine lines.

GETTING STARTED: There’s hope; natural hope. The most important thing you can do is use proper sunscreen, Dr. Crane says. Buy sunscreens that list either zinc oxide or titanium oxide as the main ingredient. Aside from prevention, laser treatments can firm up the collagen in skin.

No. 18

Get juiced

The details: Have an aversion to the cranberry’s tartness? You might want to consider setting the aversion aside, because this firm, round berry can do a lot to keep your body and mind on track longer.
Cranberries have more free-radical-fighting power than other more traditional foods and vegetables such as strawberries, spinach, broccoli and oranges, according to The Cranberry Institute in East Wareham, Mass. And it’s long been known that cranberries and cranberry juice are important to urinary tract health. Cranberry juice has other unexpected benefits, such as protection against chronic age-related burdens like loss of memory and coordination. Cranberries also reverse or slow the progression of oral bacteria that causes plaque.

GETTING STARTED: Avoid sugar shock by buying only 100 percent natural juice.

No. 19

Use olive oil

The details: Olive oil is a fundamental ingredient of Mediterranean diets, which are renowned for being good for the heart. Olive oil’s most healthful component is its percentage of monounsaturated fat.
The use of foods and oils containing monounsaturated fat boosts the good cholesterol (HDL) in the body, and therefore, acts like a shield against heart disease.
Using olive oil when cooking, instead of butter or vegetable oils, is the healthiest choice, says Hoskins, the Weight Transition dietitian.

GETTING STARTED: Tidal Creek Cooperative Market Natural Foods & Deli, 5329 Oleander Drive, carries a variety of organic olive oils that range in price from $8.59 to $48.99 for 3 liters. The market has a large selection of Greek, Mor-occan, Italian and Calif-ornian olive oils that retail for about $15 for 16.9 ounces.

No. 20

Have a glass of (red) wine

The details: Red wine contains two beneficial components, flavonoids and resveratrol, both of which come from the skin, pulp and seeds of grapes. Flavonoids are another form of antioxidant, and resveratrol may help reduce the risk of blood clots. The American Heart Association recommends that if you plan to drink wine as a way to prolong mortality, drink it in moderation. Too much wine or other forms of alcohol can increase high blood pressure, obesity, stroke and cancer. That means limit yourself to one to two 4-ounce glasses a day.


No. 21

Pass the truffles, please

The details: Dark chocolate not milk chocolate or white chocolate provides a double punch to improve your health.
Studies at the University of Cologne in Germany and at Italy’s National Institute of Food and Nutrition Research in Rome report that dark chocolate lowers blood pressure and has been added to the list of antioxidants that can fight free radical damage. Dark chocolate is the sweet of choice because it contains a compound called plant phenols, or cocoa phenols, which lower blood pressure. Getting the medical nod to eat dark chocolate isn’t an opportunity for unabated indulgence. Balance your diet. You’ll have to eat less of other foods high in calories and fat to fit in the treat.
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No. 22

Be social

The details: Stress and anxiety are killers, according to R.J. Torraco, a therapist at Cognitive and Behavior Therapy Center of Wilmington. Left untreated, high anxiety can lead to gastrointestinal problems, alcohol abuse, depression, panic attacks and insomnia. People’s emotional health is carried out in how they treat their bodies, Torraco says. When people aren’t grounded, centered and positive, they don’t treat their bodies well. In a society in which we succumb easily to the grind: get up, go to work, come home, watch television and maybe hang out with the family for a little while, or walk the dog, there isn’t much time for stress relief.

The details: But making time to be social, be engaged, is essential to our health, happiness and quality of life, Torraco says. Engage in any assortment of social activities once to twice a week, whether attending church, going to the movies or joining a book or social club.

No. 23

Pop some aspirin

The details: Aspirin is a magic little pill. Most people use it to whisk away tinges of pain and muscle discomfort. But the teeny little tablet has much greater powers besides alleviating the leftovers of weekend warriordom. People who regularly take aspirin have less chance of developing stomach, lung or prostate cancers, possibly because blocking prostaglandins, or enzymes derived from fatty acids, inhibits tumor growth.
According to the National Cancer Institute, studies have shown that people who regularly use aspirin and aspirin-like drugs to treat conditions such as arthritis have lower rates of colon polyps, cancer and colon cancer deaths. Aspirin also has been said to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Then there is the benefit that most people already know about: Aspirin inhibits blood from clotting, which then decreases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

GETTING STARTED: Many seniors take an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks, but before starting any regimen, talk to your doctor.

No. 24

Make a little love

The details: Having sex does more than put a smile on your face. The American Academy of Anti-Aging claims that sex increases the supply of oxygen to cells in the body and stimulates various organs. It helps balance out bad cholesterol (LDL) and good cholesterol (HDL). Research also has shown that having sex regularly might reduce joint pain and headaches. And the benefits of having sex go on: It relieves stress; it protects the prostrate gland; it helps ward off depression; in men, it increases the level of testosterone released into the body, which helps strengthen bones and muscles. Plus, it’s fun.

No. 25

Get your Zzzzzzzzzz’s

The details: The number of hours of sleep we get each night has been slipping away since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1900, we slept nine hours a night. We got eight hours of sleep in 1930. In the 1970s, the number fell to seven. Currently, the numbers are split. That’s because the amount of sleep we get has ties to socio-economic status, said Ulstad, the PA at Wilmington Internal Medicine, quoting from the University of Chicago’s July 2006 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. White women sleep 6.8 hours a night on average; black women sleep 5.9 hours a night. The amount of time spent sleeping is even lower for black men, at 5.1 hours. White men average 5.9 hours a night.
Sleep is restorative. It helps our bodies recuperate. Being mentally foggy and physically fatigued aren’t the only problems associated with not getting enough of it. People who don’t sleep enough tend to be more obese, Ulstad says, because they secrete more leptin, a protein hormone that increases appetite. Obesity can bring on a host of other ailments. Having trouble getting to sleep is often part of our sleep-less society. Ulstad says that some experts blame our nighttime restlessness on the Internet. Take the bright light of the screen and add in content like checking for response to a few e-mails you sent before leaving the office and you have pre-bedtime anxiety.
If someone has a problem going to sleep, you should take some time about your bedtime ritual, Ulstad says, We do it for our kids, but we don’t do for ourselves.

GET STARTED: Before you reach for a sleep aid from your local drugstore or per prescription, maybe we should all cut out caffeine at night, grab a book and have a warm glass of milk. Then maybe we’ll live longer.

peace, love & brown rice
Mind Of Peace