|
Even though
everybody seems to know what a healthy lifestyle is, very few
actually live it, a new study contends.
Those who don't
smoke, eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily,
exercise regularly and maintain a normal weight account for only
3 percent of the adult population in the United States,
according to the report in the April 25 issue of the Archives of
Internal Medicine.
"We looked at
national representative data for 2000," said study co-author
Mathew J. Reeves, an assistant professor of epidemiology at
Michigan State University. "We wanted to see the proportion of
adults that met the definition for a healthy lifestyle."
In their study,
Reeves and his colleague Ann P. Rafferty, from the Michigan
Department of Community Health, collected data on 153,805 adults
from all over the country. The data came from the 2000
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which is an annual
survey of the nation's health.
Reeves and Rafferty
found that 76 percent of the people surveyed were nonsmokers,
40.1 percent maintained a healthy weight, 23.3 percent said they
ate at least five fruits and vegetables daily, and only 22.2
percent said they exercised at least five times a week.
"When we look at the
combination of all four factors, we found that only 3 percent of
adults meet our criteria of a healthy lifestyle," Reeves said.
"This data shows the extraordinarily low level of adults living
a healthy lifestyle."
Reeves pointed out
that there is substantial data showing the benefits of living a
healthy lifestyle. "Those who live a healthy lifestyle live
longer and have reduced disease risks, including risk for heart
disease, cancer and diabetes. They have reduced medical
expenditures and a better quality of life," he said.
The message is not
new. "If you want to say, 'How can I best maximize my quality of
life, my longevity, reduce my disease risk and reduce medical
expenses?'-- you would lead this sort of healthy lifestyle,"
Reeves said. "Don't smoke, don't be overweight, exercise
regularly and eat right -- it's exactly what your grandmother
has been telling you for 50 years."
Not leading a
healthy lifestyle has taken its toll, Reeves said. "We've got
millions of adults in this country leading less than optimal
lifestyles, and that's translated into the obesity epidemic,
higher risks of chronic diseases," he said.
Reeve's main concern
is for the future. "Because of the ability of the medical system
to keep people alive longer, we are going to have more and more
elderly people who have a lot more co-morbidities that are going
to be consuming a lot of health-care dollars. We can't afford
the health-care system we have now. What's it going to be like
in 30 years?"
One expert thinks
it's the job of health professionals to get the message out to
people that living a healthy lifestyle is important. "We need to
educate people about what is healthy, and how to incorporate it
into their daily lives," said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical
nutritionist at New York University Medical Center in New York
City.
The problem,
according to Heller, is that there is not enough money being
spent to get that message out. "The government allots its funds
to other places -- not a whole lot into public education and
health," she said.
Another point Heller
made is that today's culture promotes a sedentary lifestyle.
"Our current lifestyle in this country supports sitting around,"
she said. "Within that lifestyle, you are bombarded by
advertisements telling you to eat all this junk food. We have to
figure out how to encourage people to buck the lifestyle we have
created for ourselves."
Another expert
believes that by not living healthy lifestyles, people are
denying themselves a better life. "What we in preventive
medicine know is that we are squandering disease-fighting
opportunities," said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the
Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of
Medicine.
"The result is
disease and premature death that simply need not occur," Katz
said. "Reeves and Rafferty are pointing out how much of the
power of preventive medicine is already in our hands. But for
the majority of us, [it is] apparently slipping through our
fingers."
Note: Science has clearly shown that the vast
majority of us do NOT eat a healthy diet. Therefore, we leave
gaping holes in our nutritional intake with our current poor
food choices. We, at OneLife, cannot prepare healthy and
nutritiously balanced meals for you each day, but we can help
fill your diets nutritional gaps.
Our vitamin basics: OneLife’s Daily Multiple, the Advanced
Anti-Oxidant, Calcium Plus and Something Smells Fishy. Check out
our website (www.onelifeusa.com) for loads of published research
on the why these products are essentials.
|
Home
Contact
Us
Health News
