What really works to make sustainable changes in diet and lifestyle? It's probably not
what you think. In over 30 years of conducting clinicl research ,I've learned that the
real keys are pleasure, joy and freedom. Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.
Why? Because life is to be enjoyed. There's no point in giving up something you enjoy unless
you get something back that's even better, and quickly. When people eat more healthfully, exercise,
quit smoking, better, so quickly, it reframes the reason for making these changes how dynamic
and powerful are the mechanisms that control our health and well-being. When you evercise and
eat right:
You brain receives more blood flow annd oxygen, so you become smarter, think more clearly,
have more energy, and need less sleep. Two studies showed that just walking for three hours
per week for only three months caused so many new neurons to grow that it actually increased
the size of people's brains!
Your face receives more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. You look younger
and more attractive. In contrast, an unhealthy diet, chronic emotional stress and smoking
reduce blood flow to your face so you age more quickly. Smoking accelerates aging because nicotine
cause your arteries to narrow down, which decreases blood flow to your face and makes it wrinkle
prematurely. This is why smokers look years older than they really are.
One of the most interesting findings in this study was that the mothers' percptions of stress were
more important than what was objectively occurring in their lives. The researchers gave the women a
questionnaire and asked them to rate onn a three-point scale how stressed they felt each day, and
how out of control their lives felt to them. The women who perceived that they were under heavy
stress had singnificantly shortened and damaged telomeres compared with those who felt more relaxed.
Conversely, some of the women who felt relaxed despite raising a disabled child had more
normal-appearing telomeres. In other words, if you feel stressed, you are stressed.