Sometimes the hardest part about making changes is simply getting started.
But affecting great change can be accomplished by little adjustments.
Overhauling your lifestyle to improve your health can seem daunting and, quite simply, impossible so most of us won’t even consider the challenge.
However, starting with two simple aspects of your routine can snowball into real results that have substantial impact.
Eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting back on television viewing are two lifestyle changes that can effect dramatic changes in the ability to continue on a path to healthy living.
To determine which changes were most effective, the researchers recruited 204 adults aged 21 to 60, who engaged in all four unhealthy diet- and activity-related behaviors. The participants were divided into four treatment groups, each of which was assigned two lifestyle changes: increasing fruit and vegetable intake and increasing physical activity; decreasing fat consumption and reducing leisure time spent sedentary; decreasing fat intake and increasing physical activity; or increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing sedentary leisure.
The participants engaged in their treatment regimens for three weeks and self-reported their progress by logging their data into a personal digital assistant every day and sending it to a coach who communicated with the participants as needed by telephone or email.
