Healthy Habits: Small Changes, Big Difference

The key to lasting health is to take things step by step

From the LifeMinute Team

January 8, 2015

We're a week into the New Year...so how are you doing on your healthy habit resolutions? Well, the bad news is, it turns out getting started may be the easy part. It's keeping up the good work all year long that leads to lasting life changes, so we called in Dr. David Katz to help us turn those shiny new habits of yours into a healthy way of life.

"Inevitably, right at the top of the list of popular resolutions every year is a commitment to lose weight, find health [or] some combination of the two," says Dr. Katz, "But...many of us skip the steps that will get us to the destination...I think the key thing, really is to break it down into discreet, manageable steps. And the other critical issue here is to get past confusion."

A lot of that confusion has to do with calories - do they count or don't they? Dr. Katz says they do. "But counting them is tedious, and there's a much better way," he explains, "The real issue here is that the quality of foods we eat exerts a major influence on the quantity of calories it takes for us to feel full and satisfied. And that property of foods is called 'satiety.' If you eat highly nutritious foods, they tend to fill you up and give you valuable fuel of course, as well. But they fill you up and keep you full. There are many studies attesting to this. In my own lab, we've done research with walnuts and with KIND Bars. And that combination of fruits and nuts is loaded with nutrients but also full of fiber and good quality protein and doesn't have the processing that is actually used to increase the calories it takes to feel full, the exact opposite effect. If you snack on healthy foods, our research shows it actually helps control your calorie intake and exerts beneficial effects on weight and health overall. You can improve the quality of your diet, get full [and] stay full. So calories count but don't count calories. Make your calories count by choosing highly nutritious foods."

Another source of dietary confusion? Fats -- as in good versus bad. Dr. Katz says, "Well, there's no debate about unsaturated fats in foods like nuts and seeds. In fact, unsaturated oils figure prominently in the Mediterranean diet, which is one of the healthiest diets on the planet - in nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, a big part of that diet. The other thing that's easy to do is to make fresh fruits and vegetables a part of your daily routine and do that even when you're eating out. If you go out to a restaurant, one of the important habits, I think, to develop is that you routinely order a mixed green salad. Be careful what you put over it; it's no longer a mixed green salad if it's a Chef's Salad with cold cuts or has lots of croutons or bleu cheese dressing; go with a simple dressing: olive oil, vinegar, something like that, but lots of mixed greens -- [it's] really good for you and helps fill you up with high quality nutrition."

When it comes to putting this new knowledge into action, the doctor suggests you don't go it alone. "One of the mistakes we make with New Year's resolutions is...we leave out the people we love, we leave out our families. But in unity, there is strength," says Dr. Katz, "And if you make a commitment to improving your health that involves the people you love most in the world, well, then they're on your team - you're paying it forward to them, and they're making you stronger; then it's a lifestyle change and it's sustainable."

And finally, don't give up: Trade up. As in, healthier eating doesn't mean you have to give up the foods you love. "You can trade up to better foods in the category," Dr. Katz explains, "You know, if you eat a snack food, a snack bar for example, you trade up to something like KIND, which is a mix of really wholesome ingredients. Well, there's no sacrifice there - it's delicious, but you're shifting to a more wholesome food and one of the benefits of that, other than giving you better nutrition that fills you up right then and there, is it actually rehabilitates your taste buds, so you're eating foods that are really good AND good for your health, and frankly that's the win-win. And if you go through this sequence of simple, very manageable steps - well, frankly, you have a sustainable lifestyle change."

For more info about eating well, being healthy, and using lifestyle as medicine, check out the doc's web site at DavidKatzMD.com.

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