People who don’t smoke, eat five (5) servings of fruits and vegetables daily, exercise regularly and maintain a normal weight account for a mere 3% of the adult population in the United States, according to researchers.
Data was collected on 153,805 adults throughout the country. The data came from 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an annual survey of the nation’s health. They wanted to see the proportion of adults that met the definition for a healthy lifestyle.
They found 76% of the people surveyed were nonsmokers, 40.1% maintained a healthy weight, 23.3% said they ate at least five (5) fruits and vegetables daily, and 22.2% said they exercised at least five (5) times a week. When they looked at the combination of all four factors, they found that only 3% of adults meet their criteria of a healthy lifestyle.
Not leading a healthy lifestyle has taken its toll. There are millions of adults in this country leading less than optional lifestyles, and that’s translated into the obesity epidemic and higher risks of chronic diseases.
Those who live a healthy lifestyle live longer and have reduced disease risks, including the risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. They also have reduced medical expenditures and a better quality of life. I just watched an article on T.V. whereas a leading doctor said that most of our health concerns in life come from smoking and secondhand smoke.
The message is not new. Don’t smoke, don’t be overweight, exercise regularly and eat right. It’s exactly what our grandmother’s have been preaching to us for over 50 years. People are just squandering disease fighting opportunities. The result is disease and premature death that simply does not have to occur.
Todays culture promotes a sedentary lifestyle, which simply means our current lifestyle in this country supports sitting around. Within that, we are bombarded by advertisements telling us to eat all this junk food. Count for an hour how many food commercials come on your T.V., and you will see unhealthy food ads. We have to figure out how to encourage ourselves, and others to buck the lifestyle we have created for ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just like everyone else, sitting around watching ballgames, eating unhealthy at times myself.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know in the comment section below. I would really like to hear from you. Thank you for your time today.
Written by tomcmoore
Loves to surf the internet and review interesting subjects