Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle

I accumulate ideas.  Write them  down on slips of paper.  My bulletin board runneth over onto the adjacent walls. 

For one reason or many, these things provide a framework for how I try and live my life.  You already knew that this was going to be about what it takes to be healthy.  So here you go--Joe's tips for a better lifestyle:

Exercise daily.  You probably knew that one was coming.  You don't have to run a daily marathon but do something every day.  If it is just walking in the neighborhood, well that's better than doing nothing. 

There isn't a day off.  I've said it before, many times--find something you enjoy doing.  If it takes competition to motivate you, so be it.  Build it in.

Use reusable grocery bags.  Yeah, I know...it's hard to remember to take them when you go to the grocery store.  An estimated 8 billion pounds of grocery bags goes into our landfills every year.  8 billion pounds!   That's unreal.  If tied together, enough to circle the globe 300 times.  Each and every year.

Take the stairs.  Do you really need to take the elevator to go up one level?  I've even embarrassed people by writing about them here, using vague references so that others wouldn't be able to identify them.  But you know who you are.

Recycle.  It's easy.  Every person in America generates almost 5 pounds of waste a day.  Over 75% of that could be recycled.  We've got curb-side recycling, recycling centers, and recycling services that will come to your home and pick up all your recyclables for a really reasonable fee.   It's really easy.   And smart.

Don't always look for the closest parking space.  If you are physically able to walk across a parking lot, don't drive around waiting for the closest parking spot.  Use it as an excuse to get a few extra steps in.  And if you deserve that handicapped sticker, by all means you have a right to it.  But if you don't and use it anyway...well, there is a special place for you.

Turn off your engine in a drive-thru.  Whether it be the bank or the fast food joint, turn it off!  American vehicles burn up over 1.5 billion gallons of gasoline each year just sitting in the drive-thru lane and letting their engine run.

Yes, I've heard the statistics about restarting the engine but if you are going to be there more than 30 seconds, it pays to kill your engine.  And remember that the average fast food drive-thru time is 135 seconds.  For goodness sake, you don't need fast food much anyway.

Brown bag lunch.  It's healthier, it's cheaper, and it gives you time to run errands and still get home on time (or early) in the evening.

Get a mammogram.   It makes sense. 

Over 50?  Get a colonoscopy.  If you have a family history of colon cancer, start at 40.  Colon cancer is almost 100% preventable with colonoscopies.

Over 50?  See a dermatologist.  A lot of cancers that end up elsewhere, start as skin cancer.  So always use sunscreen when you're out in the sun so that the dermatologist doesn't have to work so hard.

Stop smoking.  You've heard it from me time and time again.  Smoking is about the dumbest habit you could develop.  Think of it this way:  If you smoke, your kids will likely smoke.  Is that what you really want?

Cut back on fried food.  Not eliminate (this is the South, after all), just cut back.  It will make a difference in the incidence of heart disease.