Easy ways to live longer, stay active, eat fruits & veggies, DON’T SMOKE and no or moderate alcohol consumption.  Nothing new, but always a good reminder. A new study looked the correlation of these 4 things to longevity and the higher the number of the 4 health behaviors that are poor the higher effective age compared to actual age.  Those who had all 4 poor health behaviors were effectively 12 years older than their actual age, not to mention future quality of life.

As a mother of 3, business owner, wife and community volunteer, I know how the demands of life can get in the way of meeting healthy diet and exercise goals, so there are some tips that may help all of us;

• Coloring in the line by getting your fruits and veggies in an array of colors or as said in the health industry, eat the rainbow.  Try to get fruits and veggies from each color of the rainbow and you will be getting your fruits and veggies fill for the day.
• Give yourself a break and break up your exercise routine with shorter groups of exercise like 3 small ten minute walks rather than 30 minutes all together.  I get 2 of my 3 walks just walking to and from my store and the train and walking around the store probably makes up the 3rd, so that was easy.  So look at your life to see where you may be able to replace a small car ride with walking or maybe biking.
• Smoke out your smoking and quit now.  Risks of many serious diseases are lowered by stopping smoking and it is never too late, you can always lower your risks by quitting.
• Celebrate life with a smoothie, some use the antioxidant properties of some alcohol as a reason for moderate drinking but as little as only one drink daily can increase risks of some cancers.  Any amount of positive antioxidants that can be obtained from alcohol can be much outweighed by consuming fruits and veggies high in antioxidants or with an antioxidant supplement or resveratrol.