<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Everywhere we turn, we&amp;#039;re faced with get-healthy guidelines. Exercise an hour daily! Eat tons of vegetables! Meditate! But who has the time (or money or energy) to do all this? Fortunately, it turns out that perfection is overrated and there is a way to strike a smart yet realistic balance. Here&amp;#039;s how. You Hear: Don&amp;#039;t leave home without slathering yourself in sunscreen.  Good Enough: Make sure your face is covered, then assess your daytime plan. If you&amp;#039;re just driving to work or taking a short walk (20 minutes or less) outside where there&amp;#039;s some shade, it&amp;#039;s fine to skip the sunscreen except on your face, says Eric Schweiger, MD, a dermatologist in New York City. The skin on your face is more sensitive and exposed to more direct sunlight than other body parts. It&amp;#039;s also worth noting that some rays can penetrate windows and your car&amp;#039;s windshield, but again, those are most apt to reach only your face. When you&amp;#039;re heading outdoors for the day, however, all-over sunscreen is a must, says Dr. Schweiger. He recommends sunscreens with Helioplex since they last longer (you can reapply about every 4 hours instead of every 2 hours). You Hear: You need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night.  Good Enough: If you&amp;#039;re alert and well-rested (without coffee), you&amp;#039;re doing fine. We all need different amounts of sleep, and some people really do feel rested on just 6 hours, says Alice Domar, PhD, coauthor of Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won&amp;#039;t Break Your Health. However, studies show that if you&amp;#039;re averaging 5 hours or fewer, you may be putting yourself at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes and other problems. Not sure how much snooze time is ideal for you? On the days you&amp;#039;re feeling great, note how much sleep you averaged for the past three nights. Over time, this will give you a good idea of what to shoot for. And if you&amp;#039;re always exhausted, start going to bed 10 minutes earlier each night until you start feeling better. You Hear: Stress will make you sick if you don&amp;#039;t meditate or do yoga.  Good Enough: Do something\u2014anything\u2014that relaxes you for a few minutes every day. Yoga and meditation are both great stress relievers, but all you really need is a little daily downtime, says Birgitta Schmidt, MD, an instructor at Children&amp;#039;s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. A recent Columbia University study found that doing just a few minutes of slow, deep breathing anywhere can reduce stress and, if practiced over time, increase longevity. Listening to soothing music, walking outside or simply finding quiet time alone have also been associated with significantly lower stress levels. If you are interested in yoga or meditation, remember that a class is just one way to go; DVDs and podcasts work just as well. You Hear: Buy only organic food.  Good Enough: Buy certain organic items when you can. &amp;quot;Going organic can&amp;#039;t hurt, but the truth is, there isn&amp;#039;t any hard research proving that nonorganic food is dangerous,&amp;quot; says Karen Ansel, RD, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman. Her advice: If you can afford it, spend a little extra to buy organic versions of the items on the Environmental Working Group&amp;#039;s (EWG) &amp;quot;Dirty Dozen&amp;quot; list of most contaminated produce. EWG says that by switching to organic versions of items on the Dirty Dozen list\u2014celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale/collard greens, cherries, potatoes and imported grapes\u2014you can lower your pesticide intake by as much as 80 percent. What about other foods, like eggs, dairy, chicken and beef? &amp;quot;In a perfect world, everything would be organic, but it&amp;#039;s not essential,&amp;quot; says Ansel. She suggests buying organic milk if possible, since there may be a link between hormones in cow&amp;#039;s milk and early-onset puberty in girls. Organic, grass-fed beef may also be worth it, since it has more omega-3s than grain-fed beef and is less likely to harbor E. coli bacteria. You Hear: Working out for an hour a day is a must for a healthy heart and a slim waistline.  Good Enough: Sneak at least 30 minutes of activity into your everyday life. The American Heart Association says that exercising for 30 minutes a day can reduce your risk of heart disease. And it doesn&amp;#039;t have to be all at once. &amp;quot;Walking your kids to school, using the stairs instead of the escalator or taking a stroll with friends all add up and make a difference,&amp;quot; says Dr. Schmidt. In fact, exercising in three chunks of 10 minutes is just as beneficial for good health as doing one 30-minute workout, according to a government report. Other studies have shown that you don&amp;#039;t need to be sweating buckets, either; people who regularly take brisk walks tend to have slimmer waistlines, lower blood pressure, and fewer chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those who are relatively sedentary. And while strength training is important because it helps preserve muscle and prevent bone loss, you don&amp;#039;t need to log hours on high-tech machines to get it in. There&amp;#039;s no hard number on this, but some studies indicate that you can see results with as little as 6 minutes a day, provided that the individual reps are challenging (use heavier weights and do fewer reps). You Hear: Steer clear of carbs.  Good Enough: Keep processed and refined carbs to a minimum. These not-so-healthy carbohydrates\u2014including white bread, white pasta, candy and sugary beverages\u2014are low in nutrients and tend to get absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. This can cause your blood sugar to spike and then drop, and you could be hungry again soon, says Stephanie Middleberg, RD, a New York City\u2013based nutritionist. This is part of why these carbs can lead to weight gain and have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and possibly cancer. Complex carbs, on the other hand, are nutrient-rich and absorbed into the bloodstream much more slowly. As a result, they keep you full longer, control blood sugar and help lower cholesterol. These &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; carbs are found in whole-grain breads, whole-wheat pasta and brown rice, beans, nuts, seeds, and fruits and vegetables. That said, an occasional slice of white bread\u2014or even a doughnut\u2014isn&amp;#039;t going to kill you. &amp;quot;You can make room in a healthy diet for foods you love,&amp;quot; says Middleberg. &amp;quot;The key is moderation and portion control.&amp;quot; Every time you order something like pasta, try halving it. You Hear: Avoid fat\u2014it&amp;#039;ll clog your arteries and make you gain weight.  Good Enough: Choose the right kinds of fat. Eating fat does not directly translate to getting fat, says Middleberg. (And a little fat helps you absorb nutrients.) Calories matter most\u2014though fat does contain more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates. That said, some fats are better than others. Healthy monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats (like fish oil, avocados, nuts and olive oil) are good for your heart and can increase metabolism, as well as reduce symptoms of hypertension, depression and arthritis. Saturated fats from animal products aren&amp;#039;t so healthy, but it&amp;#039;s fine to include a small amount of these in your diet. Going meatless one day a week is an easy way to make sure you&amp;#039;re not getting too much (doing this can cut your weekly saturated fat intake by 15 percent). The one type of fat to avoid completely: trans fats (a.k.a. partially hydrogenated oil), which are processed fats. Try to eliminate them from your diet\u2014but understand that they&amp;#039;re far from poison. If you happen to eat a little here and there and the rest of your diet is healthy, you&amp;#039;ll be absolutely fine. You Hear: Brush after every meal.  Good Enough: Brush once in the morning and once before bed. It&amp;#039;s fine to brush after meals, but it&amp;#039;s not essential for good oral health. Instead, simply chew on some sugar-free gum or drink water (sparkling works best) and swish it around a bit to rinse away residual food and bacteria. Or finish your meal with a crunchy fruit or vegetable, like an apple or celery sticks, which are high in cellulose, a compound that helps scrub away food and bacteria. The real problem is that many of us aren&amp;#039;t flossing. According to a recent American Dental Association survey, fewer than 50 percent of people floss daily and 10 percent never floss at all. &amp;quot;Because cavities often happen between teeth, not on the surfaces, flossing is really the most important step,&amp;quot; says Jeffrey Golub-Evans, DDS, a New York dentist and past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. (Twice a day is ideal, but if that just isn&amp;#039;t going to happen, at least do it at night before bed.) Finishing up with mouthwash can provide extra protection against cavity- and odor-causing bacteria (go for the alcohol-free variety, since alcohol can dry out your mouth). You Hear: Eat 9 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday.  Good Enough: Stop counting and just eat fruits as veggies as often as possible. More is better when it comes to produce, but don&amp;#039;t obsess over the numbers: The bare minimum advised by the Centers for Disease Control is actually only four servings a day. And a serving isn&amp;#039;t as much as you&amp;#039;d think\u2014it&amp;#039;s just half a cup. (A medium apple is actually two servings, or one cup.) But the smartest (and easiest) plan is simply to eat fruits and vegetables as often as possible. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s no research proving that we need to eat a set number of servings per day,&amp;quot; says Dr. Domar. &amp;quot;What has been shown is that the people who eat the most tend to be healthier than those who eat the least.&amp;quot;  She also recommends variety. A good rule of thumb is to aim to fill your plate with a range of colors, since each hue is associated with unique benefits. &amp;quot;The deeper the color, the greater the benefit,&amp;quot; Dr. Domar says. Dark fruits like blueberries, pomegranates and cherries tend to have especially high levels of antioxidants. As for veggies, dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale pack the strongest punch. Cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower are also powerful picks. Photos: Thinkstock "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a2557/the-good-enough-guide-to-staying-healthy-119345/>