CHANGE DIET & EXERCISE HABITS TOGETHER FOR BEST RESULTS, STUDY SHOWS

Most people know that the way to stay healthy is to exercise and eat right, but millions of Americans struggle to meet those goals, or even decide which to change first. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that focusing on changing exercise and diet at the same time gives a bigger boost than tackling them sequentially. They also found that focusing on changing diet first -- an approach that many weight-loss programs advocate -- may actually interfere with establishing a consistent exercise routine.

"It may be particularly useful to start both at the same time," said Abby King, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor of health research and policy and of medicine. "If you need to start with one, consider starting with physical activity first."

The study included 200 people, aged 45 and older, who were inactive and had poor diets. They were split into four groups: new diet and exercise habits at the same time; diet changes first and starting exercise a few months later; starting exercise first and making diet changes a few months later; and no diet or exercise changes.

The groups received telephone coaching and were tracked for a year. Those who made diet and exercise changes at the same time were most likely to meet U.S. guidelines for exercise (150 minutes per week) and nutrition (5 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables per day), and to keep calories from saturated fat at less than 10% of their total intake of calories.

The people who started with exercise first and diet changes a few months later also did a good job of meeting both the exercise and diet goals, but they were not able to limit saturated fat intake.

The participants who made diet changes first and started exercise later did a good job of meeting the dietary goals but didn't meet their exercise targets. This may be because each type of change has unique characteristics, explained Abby King. "With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat. You don't have to find extra time to eat because it's already in your schedule.
So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat," she said in the news release. King guesses that also time might be a key difference. For these busy participants, finding time to exercise was harder than simply eating more healthily.

To work towards their benchmarks, study participants made gradual changes based on their current diet and fitness levels. They jotted down their fruit and vegetable servings on calendars, and wore pedometers to track their daily steps.

"Many people who are sedentary think they are moving around a lot because at end of the day they're feeling fatigued, but in fact they might feel tired because of stress," King said. "This is where the pedometer becomes really helpful. People discover they're not really active at all throughout the day."

The bottom line: combining exercise with diet doesn't deter people from meeting their diet goals -- and may even help them along.
"By starting both at same time you're making the commitment to make both a priority in your life," King said. "I think it's a way of splitting your motivation across these two health behaviors instead of putting all of your efforts into one, which may lead to not having enough motivation to get to the second one."

Sources: http://www.medicaldaily.com/, http://consumer.healthday.com/, http://www.nydailynews.com/