Healthy Eating Archive

Vacation activities are often healthier than everyday habits. Since heart disease and cancer are linked to lifestyle choices people can change, such as poor diet and inactivity, maintaining habits fostered on vacation can improve overall health. These habits include spending more time outdoors, moving more, spending less time online, eating a more varied diet, dining more with others, getting more sleep, and engaging their brain in novel ways.

People who followed a balanced diet consisting of a good mix of healthy foods like lean meats, vegetables, fruit, and dairy, with occasional processed foods had the highest scores of cognitive function compared with other eating patterns, according to a 2024 study.

Being a night owl might increase the risk of developing many health problems, so it might be worth it for night owls to go to sleep a little earlier. The sleep schedule must be shifted slowly to make a lasting change. Tips to do that include setting a bedtime goal between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.; going to sleep 20 minutes earlier every five days, until the bedtime goal is reached; possibly using certain sleep aids until the bedtime goal is reached; and setting a consistent wake time no later than 9 a.m.

People can reduce their LDL cholesterol in three ways. One strategy involves dietary changes, such as eating more fiber-rich foods and swapping saturated fats for unsaturated fat. Another is to take one of several dietary supplements, including psyllium, plant sterols, or red yeast rice. The third entails taking a prescription medication, such as a statin. Many factors can affect whether these different strategies are advisable or useful, including a person's age and other risk factors for heart disease, their current dietary habits, and the quality of the supplements they take.

I was surprised to see an ad in one of my cooking magazines promoting palm oil as a healthy fat. I thought it was supposed to be really bad for you. What's the story?

A vegetarian diet can meet all a person's nutritional needs if planned thoughtfully. Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts, avoid saturated fats, watch calories and portions, and be physically active.