6 Ways to Improve Your Health Today

By Birdie Varnedore, M.D.,SparkPeople.comResident Medical Expert and Member

We are well into 2012 and I hope you have been successful with establishing your healthy lifestyle habits so far. If you have fallen off the wagon, today is the perfect day to recommit to your new habits. If you've been consistent with your new habits and are seeing the results, keep it up! Finally, if you have reached your goal, then congratulations! But to each and every one of you, remember that your habits must continue in order to maintain a healthy weight and to be your healthiest self.

Some of you might like the sound of living a healthy lifestyle, but might not know where to start. Getting healthy sounds simple enough, but there are so many areas to focus on that it can become overwhelming. If you're still having trouble identifying how to get healthier, the basics are a good place to start. As a physician, wife, mother of 5, weight loss success story, and a regular person just like you, here is a list of what I believe are some essentials for improving your health.

1. Stop smoking. According to the CDC, ''tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States.'' That's a pretty powerful statement. The CDC says that there are about 46.6 million smokers in the United States. Many people, including my patients, are under the false impression that smoking causes only lung cancer. Smoking causes more than just lung cancer. Stroke, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (the disease that causes you to lug around a portable oxygen tank) are all associated with smoking. If you don't stop smoking for your health, then do it for vanity reasons. If you didn't know it already, smoking ages you. If you smoke long enough, your skin alone will advertise that you light up. Get help. Make an appointment with your physician to discuss your options if you need additional help with nicotine withdrawal.

2. Lose weight. According to the CDC, the amount of obese adults in the US grew by 2.4 million between 2007 and 2009. Obesity is considered an epidemic, and is very costly to the United States. In 2008, about 147 billion dollars were spent in medical costs in the U.S. due to obesity-related complications. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. Losing just 10 percent of your body weight is beneficial for your health, according to studies.

3. Exercise. Getting consistent exercise is probably one of the most difficult parts of achieving a healthy lifestyle. We all know that exercise burns calories, which in turn can speed up weight loss. But, did you know that exercise is far more important than just increasing your calorie deficit? Even without changing your diet, exercise is beneficial for your health. Exercise has been shown to lower the risk of early death, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, colon and breast cancer, adverse blood lipid profile, and metabolic syndrome. Other benefits include prevention of weight gain, weight loss when combined with diet, improved cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, prevention of falls, reduced depression, and better cognitive function in older adults. I could give an entire lecture on the different types of exercise, but in the end, the best exercise for you is whatever keeps you coming back.

Consistency is more important than doing any fancy exercise routine. When I was 300 pounds, the thought of exercising was pretty repulsive. I had visions of sweating excessively on a treadmill with some skinny trainer telling me to suck it up. I started working out at home on my elliptical about 5 or 10 minutes a day at a comfortable heart rate (about 120) and slowly worked my way up to where I am now. Consistent small changes are what lead to long term change.

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Birdie Varnedore, M.D., joined SparkPeople as a member in 2007 and lost 140 pounds the healthy way while balancing her demanding roles as a full-time neurologist, wife, and mother of five young children. Because of her amazing success, she has appeared in People magazine's annual "Half Their Size" issue, and on "Good Morning America" and "Oprah's Ultimate Weight Loss Finale."

A graduate of the University of Miami, Birdie has been practicing medicine since 2004. Board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in neurology and vascular neurology, she is a full-time neurologist at a hospital in Florida, and a member of her hospital's telemedicine stroke team.