Healthy Habits by Charlyn Fargo on Creators.com

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Healthy Habits

Look around and you'll see the pink breast cancer ribbon everywhere, from bagels in the shape of the ribbon to pink kitchen gadgets sporting the ribbon with proceeds going to breast cancer research. Breast cancer is just one of the women's health issues that can be reduced by lifestyle changes. There are actually several healthy habits that can help decrease the rate of many diseases, not just breast cancer.

Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter offers six key dietary and lifestyle habits to reduce the risk of blood pressure by almost 80 percent, according to findings from the second Nurses' Health Study with data from 83,882 adult women. High blood pressure contributes to more excess deaths in women than any other preventable condition, according to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who conducted the study.

The lifestyle habits include:

— Have a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 (the threshold for overweight).

— Engage in an average of 30 minutes of vigorous exercise each day.

— Adhere to the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). It includes a high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products and whole grains, and a low intake of sodium, sweetened beverages and red and processed meats.

— Drink alcohol modestly: no more than a glass of wine a day for women.

— Make sure you take 400 micrograms or more per day of supplemental folic acid.

— Use non-narcotic analgesics (pain medicine) less than one time per week.

Women in the study who subscribed to all six of those low-risk factors had a 78 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure than other women. Women who achieved three of the factors cut their hypertension risk in half. Of the six factors, BMI was the most powerful single predictor of hypertension.

In another study of data from 20,900 men from the Physicians' Health Study I, also conducted by Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, lifestyle changes to protect against heart failure were similar: normal body weight, not smoking, regular exercise, moderate alcohol intake, consumption of breakfast cereals and consumption of fruits and vegetables. — Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, October 2009

Q and A

Q: I only drink beer two nights a week, but can that be causing my weight gain?

A: When looking for eating habits that can lead to weight gain, it's usually best to look at what you eat and drink on a daily basis, but once or twice weekly treats can have an impact if they're really high-calorie.

How many beers do you drink on each of those twice weekly beer-drinking nights? If you have one or two 12-ounce beers, that totals 300 to 600 calories weekly. That could be responsible for slow creeping weight gain (less than a pound a month), but is unlikely to be responsible for a more rapid gain.

However, larger amounts even twice a week certainly could produce larger weight gain. For example, if each of those nights you have five 12-ounce beers (or one 60-ounce pitcher), that's enough calories to produce nearly a half pound of extra body fat each week. If those beers are accompanied by snacks like chips, nachos, pizza or chicken wings, your evening can easily add from a few hundred to a thousand extra calories — then those beer-drinking nights could make you gain a few pounds every month. — American Institute for Cancer Research

RECIPE

This recipe for Chicken and White Bean Chili, from Southern Living's 2008 Annual Recipes, is a comfort dish that has been lightened up in calories and on time, using a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket deli.

Chicken and White Bean Chili

3 to 4 cups chopped cooked chicken

4 (16-ounce) cans navy beans, rinsed and drained

4 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chilies

1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth

2 tablespoons Chili Seasoning mix

Garnishes: sour cream, fresh cilantro

Stir together first 5 ingredients in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Garnish, if desired.

To make your own Chili Seasoning Mix: combine 3/4 cup chili powder and 2 tablespoons each: ground cumin, dried oregano, dried minced onion, seasoned salt, sugar and dried minced garlic. Stir all together. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 months. Shake or stir well before using. Yield for chili: 11 cups. Serving size: 1 cup.

Per serving: 295 calories, 26.7 g protein, 38.3 g carbohydrate, 4.1 g fat, 38.2 mg cholesterol, 9.9 g fiber, 700 mg sodium.

Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian in Springfield, Ill. For comments or questions, contact her at charfarg@aol.com. To find out more about Charlyn Fargo and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.