Are you one of the 3%

Less than 3% of American adults practice the 4 healthy lifestyle behaviours that protect from disease.

The four habits are moderate exercise, proper nutrition, a recommended body fat percentage and not smoking. These four basic habits are critical to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, many types of cancer and diabetes.

The economic cost of not practicing these 4 habits?

• According to the Diabetes Atlas, the global cost to prevent and treat diabetes and complications will be $490 billion US dollars in 2030.
• The Conquer Cancer Foundation estimates the global cost of cancer as 2.5 trillion US dollars per year. Tobacco-related cancers cost $200 billion per year. Obesity, diet and physical inactivity contribute to 20% of all cancers and are preventable.

Ellen Smit, author and associate professor at Oregon State University says,

“The behavior standards we were measuring for were pretty reasonable, not super high.This is pretty low, to have so few people maintaining what we would consider a healthy lifestyle. This is sort of mind boggling. There’s clearly a lot of room for improvement.”

If you are one of the 3% congratulations! That is the kind of wealth that money can’t buy. If you are not, pick one habit you would like to change. Only one, start small, it takes time to make a new habit. You may not see the benefit immediately, but every healthy choice adds up.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla