New year, new healthy you

Make this the year you go from good health to great. It’s easier — and less painful — than you think. “The trick is to make small adjustments and let them add up,” says David Katz, MD, director of the prevention research center at Yale University. Check out our list of specific, totally doable mini-changes to make 2010 your healthiest year yet.

8 You Know You Should Do But Don’t

•Eat breakfast. Study after study shows that people who eat a morning meal are more energized, focused, and weigh less.

• Bone up. Try a calcium supplement daily. It’s easier than ever with the chewable ones.

• Get your three-a-day. Of whole grains, that is. They can cut your risk of heart disease and diabetes by more than 35 percent. Good sources include oatmeal and brown rice.

• Milk it. It’s a great source of calcium and vitamin D, which recent research shows may help you live longer. It’s also linked to a lower risk of some cancers. The average daily dose in the studies was about 538 IU. Three cups of milk give you about 300 IU.

• Hydrate. Unless you have a medical contraindication to drinking lots of fluid, take at least six to eight glasses of water a day.

• Do a shot of sunscreen. You need a full shot glass to cover your entire body, and one teaspoon for your face to fully protect against skin cancer, according to the US Skin Cancer Foundation.

• Lunch on salad. It’s an easy way to get at least two servings of vegetables in one shot. Be sure to toss in the brightly colored ones, which are highest in disease-fighting antioxidants. Try tomatoes, red and green peppers, and broccoli.

• Floss. Gum disease increases your risk of various conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.

8 You Can Now Count As Healthy

• Nibble before dinner. Having about 70 calories of healthy fat 20 minutes before you eat — that’s six walnuts, 12 almonds or 20 peanuts — can trick you into thinking you’re full faster. This works because good fats stimulate the production of a hormone that sends the signal to your brain that you’ve eaten enough.

• Have a pizza night. Pizza is often dismissed as unhealthy, but if you use whole wheat crust and low-fat cheese, and pile on the veggies (skip the pepperoni and ground beef), it’s one of the most nutritionally sound meals around.

• Juice it up. Say goodbye to its reputation as a sugar and calorie bomb. New research has found that drinking fruit and vegetable juices can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 76 percent and helps lower cholesterol. Just make sure you go for 100-percent juice (read labels carefully).

• Put pasta on the menu. Choose multigrain varieties. They’re loaded with fiber to help you get the recommended 25 grams per day.

• Drink a fruity cocktail. Research shows that alcohol can increase the level of antioxidants in certain fruits, including strawberries.

• Express yourself. When people wrote affectionately about their close friends and family in three 20-minute sessions, their cholesterol levels dropped an average of 11 points.

• Go shopping. Buying something as small as a lipstick or a shaving cream can give your mood a lift, plus you can burn up to 160 extra calories walking around the mall.

• Go gardening. Increasing light physical activity — such as gardening — can lower blood glucose levels and may reduce the risk of diabetes, according to research published in the journal Diabetic Care.

5 Non-Negotiables

• Know your “big seven.” Weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, and blood sugar — they’re the most crucial indicators of good health and disease risk, says Dr. Katz. If any of these fall outside the healthy range, work with your doctor to get them under control.

• Take your family health history. Many diseases have a hereditary component, and your doctor may want to watch you more closely for conditions that run in your family.

• Measure your waist monthly. If it’s increased, you’re at a higher risk for conditions like heart disease and diabetes, regardless of your weight.

• Get an annual mammogram, if you’re a woman, starting at age 40. Along with a yearly clinical breast exam and a periodic breast self-exam, it’s the best way to catch breast cancer in its early, most treatable stages. If you’re a man, get a regular prostatic check- up.

• Do a full-body mole check on yourself monthly, and get one yearly at the dermatologist. If you notice any that are new, changed or bleeding, see a dermatologist ASAP.

12 Weight-Loss Tricks

• Switch one soda (diet or regular) for water. In one study, dieters who replaced almost all sweetened drinks with H2O lost an average of five pounds more than those who didn’t. Even limiting diet drinks can help.

• Eat and run. Before you reach for that brownie, think about how far you’re willing to go for it. The answer: A 26-minute run. One mini peanut butter cup? That will cost you 1/3 mile.

• Chew slowly. In a recent study, when people were told to eat quickly, they ate 646 calories in nine minutes, but when they were encouraged to pause between bites and chew each mouthful 15 to 20 times, they took in just 579 calories in 29 minutes.

• Shut off late-night TV. Replacing one hour of “inactive” awake time with sleep can slash your calorie intake by about six percent simply by giving you fewer chances to eat, says recent research.

• Turn in a little hungry. Nighttime noshes can add up to 300 calories daily. On a scale of one to 10, one being stuffed and 10 being faint due to hunger, go to bed at about five.

• Be a flexitarian. Going meatless for at least two meals a week can help reduce the amount of saturated fat and calories you consume.

• Change your dressing. A salad is certainly virtuous — until you pour on the dressing. In fact, people can often get more fat and calories from dressings than any other food. Try one of the new salad dressing spritzers, which adds flavor for just 10 calories.

• Leave a few bites behind. This equals about 100 calories, which is all you need to cut from your daily diet to avoid gaining the one to two pounds most adults put on every year.

• Go the extra mile to help ward off weight gain. That’s about 2,000 steps (or about a walk around the block).

• Jump rope to up the calorie burn of your walking workout. Start by doing 20 jumps every five to 10 minutes.

• Sit in front of the TV...on a stability ball. “It gets you to hold in your abdominal muscles, so you’re building strength and helping posture,” says Katie Dugggan, MPH, of the prevention research center at Saint Louis University’s School of Public Health.

• Exercise while you e-mail. Sit upright and inhale deeply. As you exhale slowly, draw your lower abdominals in toward your spine. Hold them tight (while you take a few easy breaths). You may repeat the cycle as you do your e-mail or listen to your iPod.

And 5 That Are Just Plain Smart

• Know your workout number. Monitor your heart rate to make sure you’re getting the most out of your walk or jog.

• Sneak in strength training. It’s key to warding off the weight creep as you age. Hold a four- to five-pound medicine ball while you’re doing cardio and pass it from one hand to the other, or do shoulder presses with dumbbells.

• Sport some shades and make sure they have UVA and UVB protection (check labels). Excessive sunlight exposure over time can up your risk of cataracts.

• Take fish oil capsule. It’s a good source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

• Buy a new pillow. It’ll make all the difference in how you sleep. A pillow that’s indented in the center or conforms to your head shape is best for reducing neck pain.

Try these easy tweaks to help you feel and look your best in 2010!