Healthy Eating, Exercise Leads To Sustained Healthy Living
Researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine discovered making just a few simple changes to an unhealthy lifestyle could help encourage other healthy habits and sustained healthy living. The details of the study were released in the May 28 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
According to lead researcher Dr. Bonnie Spring, two of the most effective first steps are watching less television and eating more fruits and vegetables.
The researchers broke 204 adults into four groups. The first group only increased fruit and vegetable intake, the second decreased fat intake and sedentary leisure time, the third decreased fats and increased activity and the fourth increased fruits and vegetables and increased activity.
The participants were paid to complete a 20 week trial period. By the end of the 20-week trial, they found 98 percent of participants opted into a second 20-week period without pay. Those who just dieted without adding exercise were not able to sustain the overall healthy lifestyle.
“Just making two lifestyle changes has a big overall effect and people don’t get overwhelmed,” Dr. Spring said.
“Americans have all these unhealthy behaviors that put them at high risk for heart disease and cancer, but it is hard for them and their doctors to know where to begin to change those unhealthy habits…This approach simplifies it.”
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