Unhealthy Living

Do you lead a healthy lifestyle? Most of us don’t, according to research published in the April 25th Archives of Internal Medicine. A mere 3% of respondents in a national phone survey of 153,000 people fulfilled all four steps for achieving a healthy lifestyle:

• Not smoking
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables
• Exercising 30 minutes or more at least five days a week
Three-quarters of those surveyed said they didn’t smoke; 40% maintained a healthy weight; 23% ate five or more servings of produce; and 22% said they exercised for 30 minutes or more at least five days a week.

With the government now recommending at least 60 minutes of daily exercise, and 9 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, we’ve got a long way to go. At least we have a new starting point: the new food pyramid, which we are encouraged to customize for our own use.