Building healthy diet habits for a lifetime

February 2, 4:47 PMPhiladelphia Health ExaminerThomas Hartmann

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Philadelphia Health Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Maintaining healthy weight requires forming lifetime habits, of which healthy eating is just one. But life has a way of throwing a few literal curve balls at anyone trying to maintain a healthy weight.

Among the top offenders are pregnancy and middle age -- for some, these hit as a double-whammy. Another high-ranking suspect is depression.

What strategies can be adopted when our metabolisms ebb and stop consuming food at the pace we eat it?  This series of articles will deal with some practical ideas for achieving a healthy weight over a lifetime.

Let's put a few things in perspective first, however: in terms of health, modern Americans are at a disadvantage compared with the farmers who populated this country two hundred years ago. Labor-saving devices have replaced manual effort to the extent that in many homes one can eat one's fill and earn one's income for a month. if not longer, without breaking a sweat.

The result? Two out of three Americans are obese. Ask any family doctor what his or her practice's biggest concern is.

While it is true that Americans are living longer because of advances in medicine, their quality of life is not necessarily advancing into old age. These days, one has to build the right habits into one's life in order to maintain vitality.

Upcoming: how to maintain lifetime healthy habits