Better Health & Living
Tiny Changes, Big Benefits
A few short walks, a tuna sandwich instead of a sub, and a handful of walnuts...
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Never underestimate the power of a smart little lifestyle tweak. A growing stack of studies proves that seemingly tiny everyday choices—such as ordering grilled fish rather than a burger or taking a walk during your coffee break—can dramatically lower your odds for devastating yet common health problems such as cancer, dementia, diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke. Of course, if you’re already taking medications to help treat or prevent these problems, don’t stop. Making these small changes could provide an extra margin of safety. Here are the details.
Tiny Change: Eat fish instead of chicken, beef, or pork three times a week
Big Benefit: Lower your risk of dementia by 47 percent
When Tufts University researchers measured levels of a “good” omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexaenioc acid (DHA) in blood samples from 899 older women and men, they found that those with the highest scores were the least likely to develop dementia—Alzheimer’s-like brain changes that are common in old age. The high-DHA group ate fish three times a week, which is as easy as ordering grilled salmon when you eat out on Saturday night and having a tuna or salmon salad sandwich for lunch twice a week. Hate fin foods? Try fish-oil capsules: Swedish scientists recently found that they slow age-related cognitive decline.
Tiny Change: Choose more whole grains
Big Benefit: Lower your blood pressure by 3 to 7 points
A high-fiber diet can lower levels of heart-threatening LDL cholesterol. But a new study at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, reveals a hidden bonus. When 25 overweight women and men who were already following the American Heart Association’s recommended heart-healthy eating plan added more whole grains to their diets, they lowered their systolic pressure (the first number in a BP reading) by 3 to 7 points and their diastolic pressure (the second number) by 5 or 6 points. They also lost about 2 pounds in five weeks. Since 90 percent of Americans will develop high blood pressure at some point after age 55, this is good news—and so easy. “By simply replacing white flour with whole-wheat or barley flour, white rice with brown rice, and standard cereals with barley or whole-wheat cereals, we were able to lower blood pressure,” notes lead researcher Kay M. Behall, PhD, a USDA research nutritionist. The study participants were eating 18 to 26 grams of fiber from grains alone. Men should get 38 grams of fiber a day from all sources, and women should get 25 grams.
Tiny Change: Take four short strolls every day
Big Benefit: Cut your blood pressure by 3 to 5 points and keep it lower for 11 hours a day
Good news for busy people: In a University of Illinois, Bloomington, study of 21 women and men, short bursts of exercise not only lowered blood pressure as effectively as a single 40-minute session, but mini-workouts kept volunteers’ BP lower for 11 hours a day, compared to just 7 hours for those who did one long workout. And while a 5-point drop in systolic blood pressure may seem small, lead researcher Janet Wallace, PhD, of the university’s clinical exercise physiology lab, says it “has been reported to reduce mortality significantly and to give a 14 percent reduction in stroke and a 9 percent reduction in coronary heart disease.” Why it works: Frequent short periods of exercise give artery walls a more consistent workout that seems to retune parts of the nervous system that control blood pressure.
Tiny Change: Take a vitamin D supplement
Big Benefit: Cut your risk of certain cancers by 30 to 50 percent
Pop 1,500 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 every day this winter if you live in the northern two-thirds of the United States or if you live farther south but don’t get at least 15 minutes of unprotected midday sun exposure. Upping your D3 quotient could cut your risk of 16 forms of cancer—including breast and cervical cancer—by 30 to 50 percent, say University of California, San Diego, researchers. “Hundreds of laboratory studies show that vitamin D is anticarcinogenic; it helps stop cancer from proliferating, promotes the death of tumor cells, and helps block a tumor from developing blood vessels,” says lead study author Cedric F. Garland, MD, a professor at the university’s Moore Cancer Center.
Tiny Change: Snack on walnuts instead of chips
Big Benefit: Cut your odds of having a fatal heart attack by 9 percent
An estimated 54 million Americans have low levels of “good” high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)—the friendly little heart helpers that whisk “bad” low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) to your liver for disposal. If your HDL levels are below 50 mg/dl for women or 40 mg/dl for men, you can give them a 2- to 3-point boost by eating a small amount of walnuts (about 14 shelled halves) every day. (Exercising, losing weight, quitting smoking, and having one alcoholic drink a day can help, too.) Every little bit counts: A 1-point increase in HDLs means a 3 percent drop in heart attack risk.
Tiny Change: Sip water, unsweetened tea, or fat-free milk instead of sweetened drinks
Big Benefit: Cut your risk of diabetes by 44 to 62 percent
High in calories and packed with refined sugars that send blood sugar soaring, a single daily serving of soda raised risk of metabolic syndrome by a staggering 44 percent in a recent headline-grabbing study from the Boston University School of Medicine. “The reason is the calories—and the other foods people have along with soda, such as double cheeseburgers and large orders of fries,” says Martin Abrahamson, MD, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. (Diet soda raised risk just as high, most likely because it often washes down those burgers and fries.)
Water and unsweetened iced tea are good choices because they’re calorie free, while low-fat and fat-free milk (or yogurt or cheese) supply calcium, vitamin D, and other minerals, which may be the reason dairy foods lowered metabolic syndrome risk by up to 62 percent in a new British study.
Tiny Change: Move more every day
Big Benefit: Increase your longevity odds over the next six years by 30 to 70 percent
The secret of a long life? Just move! When researchers at the National Institute on Aging studied 302 healthy women and men ages 70 to 82, they found that the most active study volunteers burned an average of 994 calories per day and were 70 percent more likely to still be alive after six years as compared to the least active group, who burned just 392 calories daily. And there’s no need to buy a treadmill. Keep track of your daily activities, and the calories will add up. For example, working for an hour in the garden burns 324 calories, while scrubbing floors zaps 360.
Regular contributor Sari Harrar is an award-winning journalist who writes about health for many national publications, including Women’s Health, Prevention, Fitness, and O, The Oprah Magazine.
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