PURSUING A DISEASE-FREE LIFESTYLE

Apr 23 2009

Get physical. In some circles, it’s no longer physically correct to use the term exercise. The focus, if you please, is now on physical activity, “Exercise tends to be a negative term for many people,” says Kerry Stewart, Ed.D., a clinical exercise physiologist and director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. “They think of exercise as pain or extremely hard work.”

Buried somewhere in that semantic sideshow is a helpful message for the retooling of your lifestyle- namely, that while structured, moderate exercise is best, any kind of regular movement helps. “The major problem is not doing anything,” Dr. Stewart says. “With physical activity as the goal, you can build activities into your lifestyle that aren’t usually considered exercise-like a sport you think is fun or just mowing the lawn regularly.”

Make exercise your cornerstone. The beauty of the disease-free lifestyle is that every element seems to boost every other. For example, reducing stress helps you quit smoking, which helps you exercise, which helps you lose weight. But exercise itself may be the sultan of synergy. “Start by exercising and that will ignite all the other things,” Dr. Burke says.

Exercise may work as your lifestyle cornerstone because it has been shown to increase what is known as self-efficacy. “That means that people who exercise have a higher degree of confidence in their ability to do things and they’re more likely to do them,” Dr. Stewart says. “People who are physically active tend to do other things as well to keep them healthy.”

Keep it positive. If you equate a healthy diet with deprivation, you’re not going to be very enthusiastic about it. So concentrate on what you should eat, not what you shouldn’t, suggests Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Rather than obsessing about the fat content of your diet, focus on positive things like getting more whole grains and fruits and vegetables,” he says. “Think more along the lines of balance. It’s not that you can’t eat any dairy products or beef. Just don’t make them the focus of your diet.”