Start Small
by: Andrea J. Stewart
It doesn’t take much work to make a healthy adjustment. Personal trainer Judith Bruen suggests taking a few more minutes on a walk, or having one less soda a day. In fact, the Surgeon General’s report finds that one 12-oz soda (150 calories) or 30 minutes of brisk walking most days can add or subtract about 10 pounds to your weight each year. 
Technology has eliminated much of the day-to-day exercise that people were never really aware of. For example, people no longer need to roll down the windows in a car because they are all automatic. “We’ve gotten rid of anything with physical exertion,” Dr. Michael Fine said.
Cooking food at home can also make a big difference. A 2004 study by Carol Byrd-Bredbenner suggested that the overall food preparation knowledge of young adults is low, which prevents them from using alternative cooking methods to improve the healthfulness of food. Poaching and grilling food instead of frying could cut down on calories, if they only knew how. Byrd-Bredbenner found that young people rely on high-fat convenience food because of this lack of knowledge. Learning to cook familiarizes people with common ingredients, so an informed person can make better selections when dining out.
Nutrition experts said people need to first change how they see food, and decide what place it has in their lives. “Food is not your lover. It’s not your entertainment,” said holistic health counselor Christi Lehner-Collins. Collins said that people turn to food to solve everything and tend to forget that it’s just food.
Art by: Andrea J. Stewart