Healthy Lifestyle
One Step at a Time
Thanks for visiting LifestyleSteps.org, where you’ll find simple and effective ways to take action for a healthier lifestyle.
In the pages that follow we will explore:
1. Healthy Lifestyle Resources
2. Lifestyle and Chronic Disease
Hello, and welcome to LifestyleSteps.org. My name is Ted Nyquist. I am a family practice physician with a special interest in Lifestyle Medicine. Over the 30 years I have been in practice, I have found that most of the chronic illnesses that we deal with are strongly associated with the lifestyle patterns we have followed throughout our lives.
In fact, many experts have estimated that lifestyle accounts for up to 80% of our risk for developing diabetes, heart disease, and many common cancers. Other diseases such as hypertension, auto-immune issues like arthritis, and many childhood conditions like asthma and acne have a strong lifestyle influence as well. And we are learning more about how our food choices and activity patterns even effect mental health issues such as memory loss, attention deficit, anxiety and depression.
My hope for LifetyleSteps.org is that it will plant some seeds of curiosity about the amazing power that our lifestyle has to effect our health and happiness. There are some great resources that I would like to introduce you to. I hope you will come to appreciate them as much as I do, and use them as trustworthy guides for a healthy lifestyle journey. Along the way I will share a few tips on how to improve our chances of success by keeping things as simple and fun as possible. The ultimate goal for this project is that we all will then be able to enjoy life more fully.
There are just five pages to this website. You can get to them by clicking on the titles of each page listed above. Most of the pages link to other websites that I encourage you to spend some time getting to know. The third page links to three fascinating documentaries. I hope that you will choose to watch at least one of them. The final page is simply a few thoughts to help wrap things up.
As we get started, here’s my first tip:
To increase our chances of success, every positive lifestyle step that we take should have two special qualities…Friendship and Fun!
If our actions are full of Friendship and Fun, we will succeed. If they don’t, we wont. It’s really that simple.
We are so wired for connection with others, that anything we do that threatens our relationships is doomed to fail.
And our lives are already full of too much stress. So let’s take steps that will bring us a greater sense of joy. If not, why even bother?
So let’s start right now.
Think about when and where could you spend a little time exploring the other LifestyleSteps.com pages that would connect you to something you really enjoy. Perhaps being at your favorite coffee shop. Or just in your favorite chair with some relaxing music playing in the background. Don’t be afraid to treat yourself a bit.
Is there someone else you would like to have join you on this journey to a healthier lifestyle? Maybe a good friend or a co-worker. Perhaps your spouse or another family member. There might be someone that comes to mind right away. Or you might think of someone as you continue on by yourself for a time. You could choose to actually be together as you look through this information. Or maybe just do some individual study and check in with each other from time to time.
See what you can do to make Friendship and Fun a key part of this project, and I’ll meet you at the next page, Healthy Lifestyle Resources.
See you again soon.
Ted Nyquist, MD
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