We passed the 10% milestone last week, by introducing the fifth of the fifty-two Healthy Changes for 2011. If you’ve done all five, you should be feeling the benefits. Each change addressed a serious lifestyle problem for Americans:
1. Sugar reduction: To beat the AHA ceiling for added sugars (25 grams or 6 tsp. daily for women, 37 grams or 9 tsp. for men), reduce sugary drinks to one (12 oz.) per week. A future post will tell why this rule should also apply to diet drinks.
2. Trans fat elimination: To remove trans fats from the diet, stop buying all deep fat fried foods.
3. Whole grains: To gain the health benefits of whole grains, only eat cereals a) made from whole grains and b) with more natural fiber than added sugar.
4. Vitamin D: Reach optimum blood levels of vitamin D by including a little midday sunshine most days, weather permitting. (People in the northern latitudes, intolerant of sunlight, or just worried about vitamin D should consult a doctor.)
5. Exercise: For full health and fitness, get at least 30 minutes of exercise most days. More is better, especially if you sweat. Do it midday to top off your vitamin D.
Drinks are important—what you drink, because of the daily volume, can greatly affect your health. Healthy Change #1 took away nearly all your sugary drinks (and it was suggested to apply the 1/week limit to diet sodas also). So what can you drink?
The short answer is “water”. The experts say about eight cups a day, depending on size and activity. I doubted I was drinking that much so I measured water into a pitcher and used it for 24 hours. I was drinking less than I thought—I keep a glass of water handy now. I drink it cold as tests show this improves metabolism and weight loss. Drink two glasses before meals and you’ll improve weight loss by another 30%, according to one study.
Are you often tired? Do you regularly need an energy boost? One theory of why we’re all consuming so many sugary drinks and other addicting stimulants is that poor lifestyle habits leave us perpetually tired. We eat foods high in sugar and that puts us on the sugar roller coaster—needing a sugar fix every couple hours. Maybe we don’t get enough sleep so start the day tired. Or perhaps we’re living with an overload of stress and never really relax. There are other causes of tiredness, including chronic dehydration from insufficient water. Fatigue is a common problem judging by the popularity of unhealthy energy drinks, or the more recent use of power shots. If you frequently need a drink to pick you up, talk it over with your doctor.
Do you sometimes tire of water and just crave variety? I do, about once a day. Here are some ideas that will help meet your fruit and vegetable goal:
• Homemade smoothies are great because you can put the whole fruit in along with the healthy ingredients you enjoy. (I’ll share my recipe in a later post.) You can even slip in some vegetables. The green drinks are great for getting your veggies.
• Herbal teas are my wife’s preferred evening drink, especially when it’s cold out.
• Homemade fruit juices are best though easier if you have a juice extractor. The store-bought juices are invariably processed from concentrates and often shipped 1000s of miles, so vitamin content suffers.
• Orange juice is refreshing, especially if you squeeze the oranges yourself. Using oranges from Costco I can make a 6 oz. drink for $.58 (two oranges). Store-bought O.J. costs about 50% more. Grapefruit juice is good too; I dilute it with lots of ice.
• Lacking both an apple tree and a press, I buy my apple juice. Everyone likes apple juice; it’s the cheapest fruit juice though the high level of natural sugars can be a problem for the diabetic.
• If you purchase drinks, look for the 100% berry juices rich in antioxidants, like blueberry, pomegranate, or cranberry. A disadvantage is these drinks must be pasteurized for safety.
• The 100% fruit juices can be extended by following the European custom of mixing them 50/50 with sparkling water, or use tap water with ice.
Oh, I forgot milk. I like milk, though I don’t care for the way it’s produced or processed. We’ll come back to milk in a future post.
Please comment with your own favorite drinks and we’ll share them in a follow-up post.
Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.