5 Most Important Things You Can Do to Stay Healthy

The current crisis in American health reflects the premise that curing disease is the essence of health. However, as evidence accumulates that modern medicine is not as good at curing today's killer diseases as society is at creating them, it appears that a more useful approach to health and wellness would be one that emphasizes health eating and prevention as well as treatment.

This article discusses the five most important things that I personally do and hope you are willing to do to stay healthy and well. Here they are:

1. Be Familiar with Your Health Condition
Knowing more about your health, both when something ails you and when you feel fine, helps you to live a healthier lifestyle. It reduces your fears of health impediments to your quality of life. People who take an active interest not only in their illnesses but also in their overall health are 15 % more likely to feel that their health problems are not reducing their satisfaction with life.

2. Eat Grapes and Oranges and Drink Both Grape and Orange Juice Regularly.  
The bioflavonoids (chemical compounds related to vitamin C) in grape juice interferes with the process by which cholesterol sticks to arteries. Regular consumption of grape juice reduces the likelihood of clogged arteries and lowers the risk for heart disease and strokes. Vitamin C, found in many fruits including oranges, also inhibits the process of artery clogging as well as lowers blood pressure. Regular consumption of vitamin C is found to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and premature death.

3. Have a Tomato in Different Ways.
Unlike most fruits and vegetables, the tomato retains its health effects in any form - cooked or raw. Include some form of tomato product in your diet whether it's canned, raw, cooked, in soups, sauce, ketchup or juice, at least five times a week. This provides enough lycopene ( a member of the protective and immunity-building  carotenoid family) to cut the risk of cancer and heart disease in half and to improve the health of lungs, eyes, and the skin.

4. Eat Less, But Eat More Often.
If you're thinking about cutting back on the amount of food you eat by cutting back on the number of times you eat, don't do it.  Eating fewer times reduces the efficiency of our bodies in processing food as fuel. In other words, skipping meals maximizes the caloric effect of the food we eat.  A study found that people who ate five or six times a day had 5% lower total cholesterol and were 45% more likely to be able to sustain their target weight than people ate once or twice a day.

5. Choose a Doctor You Can Connect With.
It is important have a doctor that you can connect with. We need to have a good feeling towards our doctor. This includes knowing that our doctor is truly listening to us and responding positively to our concerns rather than seeing us as just another number.  People who rate their doctors as being friendly  were two times more likely to seek medical attention at the first sign of distress and were three times  more likely to follow medical instructions.
These five simple, but important things, are the essence of what I do to stay healthy.  I'm sure they will work for you also.

Will Barnes, Therapist and and Personal Growth Consultant, for over thirty-eight years has counseled and consulted with individuals and families in the areas of personal growth, maintaining a sound mind and body, and building healthy relationships. Visit http://youcontrol.blogspot.com for more articles to help you take control of your life and live it to the fullest.

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