Two Simple Healthy Habits

Two Simple Healthy Habits

I am amazed how two simple healthy habits can set me up for the day. Healthy habits build on each other. You do one, and it leads to the next. You feel stupid if you do one thing healthy like go for a long walk, and negate it with something unhealthy.

Yesterday, I arrived at work, ready to walk up the three flights of stairs to my office, which I have done for many years. I saw a woman I had never seen before, standing at the elevators. She was about fifty pounds overweight. I have no knowledge about her background. Perhaps she had lost weight and was in the best shape she had ever been in. Regardless, she was taking the elevator, carrying a Frappuccino with whipped cream. Maybe it was sugar-free. Maybe she usually drank black coffee and took the stairs. But for the purpose of this post, I will assume she regularly takes the elevator and usually drinks Frappuccinos.

I recommended to my patients that they break the habits that are unhealthy and unnecessary. It is easier to break a habit by replacing it with a healthier habit. In this case, the replacement habits are obvious. Instead of the elevator, take the stairs. Instead of regularly drinking Frappuccinos, make your own coffee.

Everyone likes a Frappuccino, and I have had my share. When our son was young, he would proudly order “Vanilla Frappuccino. No coffee. With whip,” pronouncing “whip” like Stewie does in Family Guy. He then sucked the whipped cream through the top of the rounded lid. I sat with him, usually with a latte, but sometimes with a Coffee Frap, thinking that I was having a coffee. I was kidding myself. A full-sugar Frappuccino is a milkshake. I like milkshakes, but they are not healthy. Few people have a milkshake every morning before work, but I know many who have a Frappuccino nearly every day. Most Frappuccinos have between 400 and 500 calories, with seventy to eighty grams of sugar. I drink homemade coffee, iced or hot, with milk, almond milk, or half and half. One of those small tub containers of half and half has ten calories and no sugar. I generally don’t sweeten it, but stevia has no known risk and has no calories.

The benefits of my coffee are numerous. It is much cheaper–a venti Frappuccino is as much as five dollars. My coffee, with the milk, is less than $0.50. That’s $2.50 a week for me and $25 a week for the Frap drinker. All that sugar and fat in the Frappuccino causes weight gain. A recent study showed that adding coffee to your morning routine results in a small amount of weight loss, even with creamer. Adding sugar negates the benefits and actually causes weight gain. Plus, it can be fun and relaxing to make a nice cup of coffee, setting me up for more healthy habits throughout the day.

The second simple, healthy habit is taking the stairs. It seems like you wouldn’t accomplish much by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. My office is on the third floor, so I take three flights of stairs up and down each day. That small intervention adds up. Taking the stairs daily improves cardiac fitness, blood pressure, and cholesterol, and it can help with weight loss.

The health benefits are obvious, but there are other reasons I walk the stairs. It gives me another minute to relax and think before I get to work. There is never anyone with me when I walk up the stairs, so I can gather my thoughts for the day. And, if I walk the stairs right before work, it gives me a small sense of accomplishment, again leading to more good habits. So, start the day with your own coffee, not a sugary, expensive drink, and take the stairs. Start your day healthier and with a sense of accomplishment. Who knows where it will lead? Maybe next, you will give up the treats in the break room.