This Week's Healthy SC Challenge Tips

First Family Encourages Healthy Changes in Nutrition, Exercise and Tobacco Use
COLUMBIA, SC – June 13, 2008 – 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. The tips can also be found on the challenge’s website, www.healthysc.gov.

Heatlhy Tips

Nutrition
With the rising costs of food, it is still possible to be healthy and save money.  Food is more expensive in restaurants, take-out/delivery, and fast food chains than it is in a grocery store. Buy your produce such as fruits and vegetables as sales come and go. Usually if you look for the fruits and vegetables that are in season, you can get them at a cheaper price. The same goes for your lean meats. You can buy regular meats like ham, steak, and chicken and cut off the fat yourself and have lean meat. No need to buy meat with the fat already cut off. And of course, water is the key. Drink more water for a natural hunger suppressant, but do not neglect your nutrition and not eat.
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Physical Activity
Traveling this summer? Incorporate activity into your trip. Maybe your idea of a great vacation is lying on a beach for a week, but even that plan can accommodate a little movement, as long as it’s fun. The next time you plan a vacation or business trip, think about how you can work in some pleasurable activity. Book a walking or bike tour to introduce you to your destination*or use your vacation to try a new sport you’ve always wondered about, like sea kayaking. Walk the beach each morning and/or evening or amble downtown from your hotel, rather than taking a taxi. Choose entertainment options that keep you moving, like playing mini golf or bowling rather than watching a movie. Seek out hotels that have health clubs or safe walking routes nearby; call ahead to make sure the fitness room isn’t just a few ancient exercise bikes. (Pack a jump rope just in case.) www.eatingwell.com

Tobacco
Today we understand much more about the addictive nature of nicotine than we did 20 years ago. So it’s not a good idea to try to quit cold turkey. Instead, if you find yourself getting irritable and having uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit smoking, start with nicotine-replacement products, like gum, nasal spray, patch or inhaler. You may even want to talk to your doctor about combining two forms; some studies find combining the patch with the gum or nasal spray increases long-term quit rates compared with a single type of replacement therapy. If you’re uncomfortable using nicotine replacement products, talk to your doctor about bupropion (Zyban), a prescription antidepressant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administraion to treat nicotine addiction.
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The Healthy SC Challenge is an outcome-based, cooperative effort aimed at encouraging individuals, communities and organizations across the state to show shared responsibility in developing innovative ways to improve the health of South Carolina’s citizens. For more information about the Healthy SC Challenge, please visit www.healthysc.gov, or call 803-74772.