This Week's Healthy SC Challenge Tips

The Healthy SC Challenge is the Sanford family's effort to get all South Carolinians to do just a little more to live a healthier lifestyle. The tips are designed to encourage individuals and communities to live healthier lifestyles in three categories - nutrition, exercise and help to quit smoking.

Nutrition
Olive oil is fruity, flavorful*and confusing. Plenty of research suggests that cooking with olive oil can be beneficial to your health. Its monounsaturated fat content can help lower LDL, or "bad" blood cholesterol. The question then becomes-which type of olive oil to use?

Olive oil comes in a number of varieties, including virgin, light and extra virgin. All are the same in terms of fat content, either types of fat or total amounts of fat. The difference in olive oils lies mostly in the flavor. Extra virgin olive oil is low in acid, resulting in a fruity flavor and aroma, so you don't need to use as much to enjoy the flavor. Virgin olive oil is more acidic, meaning you need to use more to get the distinct olive oil flavor. Light olive oil is lighter in color and flavor.

Whichever type of olive oil you prefer, remember they all have something else in common: They are all high in total fat and calories, so go easy on portions.
-American Dietetic Association, www.eatright.org

Physical Activity
Balance changes are one of the primary changes that occur in middle age adults. This is usually the combination of a decrease in muscle strength and muscle mass. Did you know after age 20 adults lose an average of 10 ounces of lean body mass or muscle a year? The average adult gains an average of 1 pound and 10 ounces of body fat a year during the same time period. The exchange of fat for muscle can mask the changes if only reading the scale. The actual strength loss can be estimated at a 15% loss of muscle mass per decade by the age of 50 and continues to age 70. After 70 up to 30% of existing muscle mass is lost each decade.

Exercise is MORE important as we age. It is never too late to begin. Adults over 75 who never exercised have demonstrated significant physical improvements in clinical studies! Begin walking 3-4 days a week for 15 minutes at a comfortable pace. Start your strength training by doing mini-squats everyday-twice a day while you brush your teeth! This will be about 25-30 mini-squats. As your quadriceps (thigh muscles) get stronger, try brushing your teeth balancing on one bent leg! As your leg strength builds up from walking and exercise, your muscle mass will increase and so too will your balance. Improved balance translates into a younger more youthful you!
-Pam deMent, RPT, MAS- Lexington Medical Center-Lexington, SC

Tobacco
The immediate impetus to experiment with tobacco is often social, prompted by friends, family members, or other role models who smoke. However, various other factors-some of which may make certain youth more susceptible to addiction and long-term use-contribute to initiation and progression toward regular tobacco use.

The process by which a person moves from experimenting with tobacco to becoming a regular user can include the following five stages:

1. The preparatory stage, when a person's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about tobacco use are formed.
2. The initial/trying stage, when a person tries the first few cigarettes.
3. The experimentation stage, which is a period of repeat, irregular use that may occur only in specific situations over a variable time.
4. Regular tobacco use, when a routine pattern of use has developed. For youth, this may mean using tobacco every weekend or at certain times of the day.
5. Nicotine addiction, which is regular tobacco use, usually daily, with an internally regulated need for nicotine.

-Youth Tobacco Cessation: A Guide for Making Informed Decisions, www.cdc.gov