Sept 27, 2024 – Food labels, making lunch and blue zones
Happy Friday! Each week, I’m sharing two nano health habits, a lesson, and an inspirational quote to ponder on your health journey.
No one’s yet discovered the elixir of youth. There is no one fix for a longer, healthier life. What we do have, though, are nano or micro habits that together make all the difference.
Two Nano Health Habits
Read food labels: The most important part of food packaging is not its fancy title, nor the claims from its maker. What’s most important is the food label that tells you what’s in it. Please read it. Pay attention to the ingredients and the serving size, which might be smaller than you think.
Make your lunch rather than takeout: Two-thirds of Americans eat too many saturated fats, like those in takeaway foods. Fried foods are a common source of saturated fats. Could you make your lunch instead of ordering take out? At least then you know what you’re eating.
One Lesson
Blue zones point the way to a longer life: Blue zones are areas in the world where people live long, many to over 100. These include Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy; Ikaria in Greece; Nicoya in Costa Rica and the Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California.
Writer and researcher Dan Buettner has spent the past 20 years summarizing what’s different about people who live in blue zones. He puts it down to a lot of walking. Every time they go to work, visit a friend or go out to eat, it involves a walk.
Blue zone residents also eat complex carbohydrates like whole grains and beans. They don’t eat simple carbohydrates like white flour and sweets.
As a result, their sugar intake is about seven teaspoons a day, compared to the 17 teaspoons of sugar consumed each day by the average American.
One Quote
“The doctor of the future will give no medication but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Thomas Edison
Jules Walters
Good news! I have finally submitted by first book Nano Health Habits to the first distributor. That's Amazon. Everyone on this email will get a free ebook. I'll email the details next week.
I'm a health coach for busy people, supporting transformations in health in under 30 minutes a day.
I studied through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, and I have a first-class degree in molecular genetics through King's College London.
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