Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com The 50 Healthiest Habits and Lifestyle Changes www.Ebook777.com The 50 Healthiest Habits and Lifestyle Changes Myrna Chandler Goldstein and Mark Allan Goldstein, MD Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Copyright © 2016 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Goldstein, Myrna Chandler, 1948- author. | Goldstein, Mark A. (Mark Allan), 1947- author. Title: The 50 healthiest habits and lifestyle changes / Myrna Chandler Goldstein and Mark Allan Goldstein, MD. Other titles: Fifty healthiest habits and lifestyle changes Description: Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2016] | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016010070| ISBN 9781440834714 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781440834721 (EISBN) Subjects: LCSH: Health promotion. | Nutrition. | Health behavior. Classification: LCC RA427.8 .G654 2016 | DDC 613—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010070 ISBN: 978-1-4408-3471-4 EISBN: 978-1-4408-3472-1 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available as an eBook. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 www.abc-clio.com This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America www.Ebook777.com We dedicate this book with love to our five grandchildren: Aidan Zev Goldstein, born February 8, 2008 Payton Maeve Goldstein, born December 4, 2009 Milo Adlai Kamras, born August 9, 2011 Erin Abigail Goldstein, born December 29, 2011 Zoe “Scout” Eames Kamras, born February 16, 2014 Contents Introduction ix Forming and Reforming Habits xiii Food and Healthy Eating 1 Avoid Unhealthy Diets and Weight-Loss Methods 1 Don’t Skip Breakfast 6 Drink Sufficient aterW 11 Eat Meals as a Family as Often as Possible 16 Eat More Local Foods 21 Eat Organically Grown Foods When Possible, Especially for Certain Foods 27 Eat the Recommended Amount of Fruits and Vegetables 32 Eliminate or Greatly Reduce the Trans Fats in Your Diet 38 Incorporate Healthier Snacks into Your Diet 43 Limit Fast Food Intake 48 Limit the Intake of Caffeine and Energy Drinks 53 Limit Processed Food 59 Limit Sodium and Salt Intake 64 Read Food Labels 69 Reduce Your Intake of Refined Sugar 76 Exercise and Physical Activity 85 Make Time for Frequent Exercise 85 Participate in Group Sports 91 Walk or Bike Instead of Driving Whenever Possible 97 viii Contents Medical Care and Avoiding Medical Issues 103 Don’t Use Antibiotics Unless Necessary 103 Get Vaccinated for Conditions That Affect Teens 109 Maintain Good Bone Density 114 Practice Excellent Home Dental Care 119 Prevent Vitamin D Deficiency 125 Protect Your Hearing 131 Take Care of Your Feet 137 Safety 143 Don’t Text While Driving 143 Learn Ways to Prevent Violence 148 Prevent Sports Injuries 153 Use Protective Gear 158 Use Seatbelts 166 Mental, Emotional, and Social Health 173 Build Social Connections and Friendships with Peers 173 Build Your Resilience 178 Don’t Become a Bully 183 Improve Self-Esteem 188 Maintain a Healthy Body Image 194 Practice Mindfulness 199 Sex and Dating 205 Get Screened for STIs 205 Get Vaccinated for HPV (Human Papillomavirus) 210 Cultivate Healthy Dating Relationships 216 Practice Safer Sex 221 Use Emergency Contraception When Necessary 227 Other Lifestyle Choices 233 Avoid Electronic Cigarettes 233 Avoid Indoor Tanning Beds 238 Get Enough Sleep 242 Improve Health Literacy Skills 249 Learn More About Internet Addiction 254 Limit Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields 260 Limit Screen Time 265 Reduce Stress 270 Use Sunscreen 276 Glossary 283 Index 289 About the Authors 305 Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Introduction As a physician who completed special training in adolescent and young adult medicine and who founded and directs a division at Massachusetts General Hospital that meets the medical needs of this group of people, Mark A. Goldstein, MD, is always interested in ways to improve the lifestyle habits of his patients. That is why when he and his wife, Myrna Chandler Goldstein, were first ap- proached to research and write a book on 50 healthy habits, they instantly replied in the affirmative. People who begin to follow healthier habits at younger ages are more likely to adhere to healthier lifestyles as they grow into their young adult years, their middle years, and eventually into their senior years. Of course, teenagers are not the only people who have habits or regular and recurring patterns of behavior. People of all ages acquire habits. Even young chil- dren demonstrate them. What happens when a parent tries to read one bedtime story instead of three? The child will immediately plead for the other two. The child and parent have created the habit of three bedtime stories, and that is what the child wants and expects. According to a study published in 2014 in the journal Nursing and Midwifery Studies, “the best time for establishing healthy lifestyle habits is during adolescence.” In this cross-sectional descriptive study, researchers from Iran investigated the health- promoting behaviors of 424 high school students in Rasht, Iran, during the first se- mester of 2012. Students from both private and public schools were included in the cohort; all the students completed questionnaires. The researchers found that al- though the students tended to engage in health-promoting habits, there was room for improvement. Moreover, the male students participated in more health-promoting behaviors than the female students. On the other hand, the older students, who were working hard to gain admission into the competitive university system, tended to be www.Ebook777.com x Introduction too busy to adhere to healthy habits. The researchers emphasized that health instruc- tors, teachers, and families need to pay more attention to these students to ensure that they follow healthy habits. “As most of lifelong healthy and unhealthy lifestyle habits are established during adolescence, developing effective health promotion and disease prevention strategies for adolescents seems crucial.”1 These results are not uncommon. Large numbers of teens and young adults fail to follow healthy habits. A study published in 2015 in the journal Collegium Antropologicum investigated the nutritional knowledge and dietary habits of Croatian adolescents, but it could easily have described teens in many other loca- tions throughout the world. The cohort consisted of 117 teens between the ages of 17 and 19 years; all the teens completed self-administered questionnaires. The researchers learned that less than one-third of the adolescents demonstrated ad- equate knowledge about nutrition and dietary habits. The males as well as teens from rural locations and teens who were overweight had even less knowledge than the others. Teens frequently skipped meals, especially breakfast, and males consumed high amounts of meat and meat products. Females and overweight fe- males practiced fad dieting. The males consumed high amounts of soft drinks while the females ate too many sweets. Most of their nutrition and dietary infor- mation was obtained from television. Evidently, these teens, as well as countless numbers of teens throughout the world, need to make a number of changes in their everyday habits. These changes included eating more meals per day, eating breakfast, higher intakes of fish, and lower intakes of meat and sweetened food and drinks. The researchers noted that “the final outcome would result in long- term positive impact on dietary habits.”2 And, intervention programs may improve habits. That is what Spanish re- searchers found in a study conducted during the 2013 to 2014 academic year and published in 2015 in the journal Nutrición Hospitalaria. A total of 158 students between the ages of 10 and 12 years were divided into an intervention group and a control group. For eight months, the researchers administered a Healthy Habits Program (HHP), a specially designed twice-weekly curriculum, to students in the intervention group. The students in the control group continued with their usual daily habits and did not participate in the program. In addition to the students, HHP included the parents and teachers of four schools. At the beginning of the study, there were no differences in eating habits between the two groups. By the end of the study, the intervention group had improved eating habits, and the eat- ing habits of the members of the control group had worsened. The researchers commented that their findings demonstrated “that healthy lifestyle habits in ado- lescents are controllable and improvable, even in a relatively short period of time, despite this being a stage of life that is characterized by major changes, progressive independence and increased risk-taking.”3 This book discusses 50 healthy habits that are useful for teens and young adults. But it also addresses barriers and problems associated with these habits. It is hoped that these entries serve as the foundation for interesting explorations and discussions. Introduction xi NOTES 1. Azra Sadat Musavian, Afsaneh Pasha, Seyyedeh-Marzeyeh et al., “Health Promoting Behaviors Among Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study,” Nursing and Midwifery Studies 3, no. 1 (April 2014): e14560. 2. Dragana Milosavljevic´, Milena L. Mandic´, and Ines Banjari, “Nutritional Knowledge and Dietary Habits Survey in High School Population,” Collegium Antropologicum 39, no. 1 (2015): 101–7. 3. Vicente Nebot Paradells, Ana Pablos Monzó, Laura Elvira Macagno et al., “Effects of An Intervention Program (HHP) on the Promotion of Healthy Habits in Early Adolescence,” Nutrición Hospitalaria 32, no. 6 (2015): 2640–49.