Starting Your Journey to Healthy Eating and Active Living: A Comprehensive Guide

Welcome to your first step toward a healthier, happier life. At the Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research (CHEAR), we believe in empowering individuals to take charge of their health through sound nutritional choices, balanced diet, and regular physical activity. This article will take you on a comprehensive journey, providing you with the knowledge and resources needed to establish and maintain healthier habits. Why Healthy Habits Matter Health isn't merely the absence of disease—it's a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. The decisions we make daily about what to eat and how to move our bodies play a crucial role in maintaining optimal health. Longevity: Healthy habits like eating nutritious food and staying active can increase your life span and improve your quality of life.Disease Prevention: They can help prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.Mental Health: Good nutrition and physical activity improve mental health by reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. A Guide to Healthful Eating: Making Nutritious Choices Healthy eating is not about rigid…

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Read more about the article 10 Ways to Make Lifestyle Changes Easy
A young woman writes resolutions in a journal.

10 Ways to Make Lifestyle Changes Easy

Making the decision to invest in healthy lifestyle changes is more than just flipping a switch. Making sustainable lifestyle changes is a process that takes time, dedication, and patience. Psychologists have found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become automatic, but the truth is that building and maintaining lifestyle changes is highly dependent on each individual. For this reason, it is important to set up your lifestyle changes to work with your life and to give yourself grace as you find the rhythm that works for you. However, there are some easy strategies that can help you develop a lifestyle change plan that works for you. 1. Focus on the whole picture Lifestyle changes are like a puzzle. There are many pieces that must add up to the whole picture. Building habits in only one area of the puzzle will leave your overall picture lacking dimension. Your physical, mental, and emotional health all work together to make and break lifestyle changes, so it is important to understand how…

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Read more about the article Understanding Natural Versus Added Sugars
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Understanding Natural Versus Added Sugars

Ever wonder why you crave sugar yet feel terrible after eating a cookie? Well, wonder no more! Sugar can be found in everything from fruits to candy, yet not all sugar is the same. Foods containing natural sugars offer nutrients that keep your body healthy, provide fast yet stable energy, and keep your metabolism stable. Fruits, for instance, offer essential nutrients such as potassium, vitamin C and folate. Added sugars, on the other hand, are harmful in large quantities. Getting your sugars from natural sources like apples, bananas, low-fat milk, Greek yogurt, carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes will satisfy your body’s need for sugar while maintaining your blood glucose levels for longer periods versus the sugar rush, and subsequent crash, received from added sugars found in sugary breakfast cereals, candy and chocolate bars, jams and jellies, dairy desserts, and puddings. Let’s start with understanding the difference between natural and added sugars, and how to identify them. Why Natural Sugars are Good Fruits and dairy contain fructose and lactose, natural sugar that is digested slower than…

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Read more about the article How to Keep Exercise Interesting
Girl looking at fitness tracker while running on treadmill in gym

How to Keep Exercise Interesting

Getting bored of your usual workouts? Then look no further! It’s easy to re-invigorate your physical fitness by reframing what exercise looks and feels like. When thinking about keeping exercise interesting, focus on the intersection of your fitness goals with activities you enjoy. Fitness goals other than weight, such as mobility, lifting certain amounts of weight, or running a 5K are more attainable and will keep you motivated. For example, if you want to work on flexibility but hate yoga, take a stab at gymnastics! The foundation of exercise is remembering why you want to be active and how you can make it enjoyable. Before we get into some ideas for spicing up your exercise routine, let’s talk about how to make exercise in any form more interesting! Using a fitness tracker is an easy way to challenge yourself to push limits and stay accountable. You can also exercise with friends, in a class, or as part of a recreational team to make it a social event! Not interested in working out with others. No…

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Read more about the article Why Fad Diets Don’t Work

Why Fad Diets Don’t Work

Sometimes it’s fun to jump on board the latest trend, but when it comes to fad diets you might want to consider skipping out. Not only do fad diets not work, but they can cause long-term harm to your health. UCLA looked at 31 different diets that lasted 2-5 years and concluded that 30-60% of dieters regained all the weight or more! Not only that, but weight cycling has been shown to increase the likelihood of death by coronary heart disease by 66%. Now you might be thinking, how can I improve my health in a healthy way? Studies show that losing 5-10% of body weight will strengthen your heart, lower diabetic risk, reduce strain on blood vessels and posture, and help your breathing! There are easy ways to make sure your weight loss journey is healthy and maintainable! Why Fad Diets Don’t Work Most fad diets are based on elimination or deprivation of the body. Any diet based on restricting specific food groups, combining foods in a specific order or timing, or following rigid…

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