Secrets to Living Long and Staying Healthy

My neighbor is an 85 year old woman who doesn't look a day over 65. She is in incredible physical and mental shape and she hasn't so much as had a cold in over 15 years. How does she do it? I'll tell you.

Staying Physically Active and Being Part of the Community
Anne wakes up every morning, sweeps the sidewalks around her apartment then tends to the plants around her apartment. She goes for a walk around the block, socializes with her neighbors and some of the guys on the maintenance crew, then she lifts weights (in her apartment). This is her routine every day except Sunday because on Sundays she dances (all alone in her apartment).

Eating a Variety of High Quality, High Nutrient Foods
She eats a huge variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and beans and whole grains like oats and whole wheat, barley and whole grain rice and she always has 5 almonds a day for a snack. She drinks a lot of water and enjoys hot and cold herbal teas (no sugar, bag teas).

Planning
Anne plans her meals for the week on Sundays. She makes a list for the grocery store, then goes shopping and gets only what she needs. Having a list makes for faster, healthier, less expensive shopping. Anne puts on the blinders and goes to exactly what she wants in the store, tosses it in her basket and moves on. This helps her avoid junk food temptations.

Going Vegetarian Once a Week
One day per week, Anne goes vegetarian. Twice a week, she eats fish. Four days a week she eats meat (a different meat each day). For example pork, chicken, beef and lamb.

Eating Small Amounts of Meat
She keeps her portion sizes small and always has more servings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains than meat.

Eating "Junk" Foods Sparingly
When she uses butter, it's always the real thing never even considering margarine.

She eats cheese once or twice a year.

She eats a single serving of high quality (low number of natural ingredients) ice cream once or twice a week. She drinks a glass of red wine once or twice a week and then on Sundays, when she is finished dancing, she has a single glass of Bourbon.

Anne also rarely goes out to eat and when she does, she never finishes her meal. She doesn't eat highly processed, convenience foods, either.

Vitamins
Anne takes a high quality multivitamin daily. She considers it her insurance plan.

Relaxing and Educating Herself
In her free time, Anne reads. She values her relaxation time and reads a variety of material from the newspaper to novels to magazines and books on health and fitness. She keeps her brain active by studying the latest and greatest advancements in health and fitness and as a result she knows a lot about which foods can help eliminate or reduce symptoms from many medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and arthritis.

Practicing Good Hygiene
Another key to Anne's good health is her all around good hygiene. She washes her hands frequently and takes very good care of her teeth. Good oral hygiene is extremely important and is an often overlooked component of health and fitness.

Routine
What makes Anne so successful is that over the years her healthy habits have become a routine. For her, it now takes more time and energy to be unhealthy than it does to be healthy.

Psychologists say that it takes about 2-4 weeks of daily repetition before a behavior becomes a habit. This week, in honor of Anne, I'd like you to pick one of Anne's behaviors and incorporate it into your daily life. When that behavior becomes routine, pick another one of Anne's behaviors and so on.

Have fun!