National health observances

July is the month to change your lifestyle
and focus on healthy eating and exercise.

July is the month to change your lifestyle and focus on healthy eating and exercise.

Healthy lifestyle is key to good health

Many chronic conditions are linked to excessive weight, lack of exercise and other poor lifestyle choices. You can reduce your risk for high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease by following these suggestions:

Say yes to healthy eating.

Get going

Regular exercise can help you live longer and reduce your risks for many diseases. Exercise is important because your body was designed to be used. Like any fine tool or instrument, it can get rusty if it just sits around.

Jump-start your exercise program by figuring out why you may have stopped — or never even started — working out. For example: Did family or work obligations keep you from going to the gym? The obstacle could be as simple as shifting your workout time. Or it may require rethinking how you exercise. Find something you enjoy doing that you look forward to and can fit into your schedule. Meantime you can do yourself good by taking these small steps:

Any exercise is better than none. Regularly walking for as little as a half hour most days of the week has been shown to reduce the risk for heart disease.

BCN resources

page modified 07/02/2010