4 Lifestyle Changes that Can Save Your Life

Would you like to reduce your chance of getting diabetes by 93%, heart attack by 81%, stroke by 50% and cancer by at least 36% percent?  You can, simply by following four lifestyle changes.  According to Yale University’s Dr. David Katz, many of the chronic disease that we take for granted are not, in fact, inevitable.  There is much we can do to avoid them.

Making lifestyle changes is never easy.  Therefore you need all the help you can get to motivate yourself to do the hard work of breaking old, unhealthy habits and creating new, life-giving habits.  Sometimes, simply knowing the outcomes of two very different paths is all it takes to give you the will power you need to finally change the trajectory of your like.

So let’s take a brief look at the illnesses mentioned above and then look at how you can avoid them.   

• Diabetes is a growing epidemic in our country, currently affecting 11% of people twenty or older.  Adults who have this disease are twice as likely to die early than adults who do not have it.
• The leading cause of death for women and men in the United States is heart disease.  More women die from heart disease than die from breast cancer.  And fully one-half of men who die suddenly from heart disease have had no earlier symptoms.
• Someone dies from a stroke every three minutes.  It is the third leading cause of death in our country.
• Cancer kills more than 1,500 people every day.  The only disease that kills more people than cancer is heart disease.

As it stands, the odds are stacked against you.  You are very likely to suffer and possibly die from one of the diseases mentioned above.

Unless you change your life. 

The Archives of Internal Medicine published a study that found that four lifestyle changes can significantly reduce the risk of these diseases.  These changes are:

1.  Not smoking

2.  Having a body mass index under 30

3.  Exercising at least 3.5 hours each week

4.  Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and low in meat

Do you want to change your life?

You have the power right now to choose your future.  Of course nothing is certain, but making these changes significantly increases the chances that your future will be vibrant and active rather than filled with disease and suffering.  What kind of future are you currently creating?  What kind of future do you want?