Prevention 101: Your commitment to a healthy lifestyle and why it matters

Years and years of an American lifestyle that may include drinking, overeating and remaining mostly sedentary can really take a toll on one’s health. Sadly, many individuals don’t realize the compounding effects of their lifestyle choices until it’s too late. That is why it is important to not only stay educated about your health and wellbeing, but to also take preventative action now, so that you can stay committed and enjoy all of life’s pleasures for a long time to come.

Education

Lifestyle changes start with education. In fact, education is the foundation of the Pritikin Program. After taking a step back and recognizing that you want to make a serious change, you first need to understand just what constitutes a healthy lifestyle.
Starting from day one, the educators at Pritikin are here to help you do just that.

Through cooking demonstrations, fitness classes, health workshops and counseling sessions, the team of scientists, nutritionists, physicians and trainers don't just teach you how to change your lifestyle, but they also teach you why those changes are beneficial. Understanding the science and reason behind a new way of living – such as eliminating sugar from your diet or altering your exercise regimen – makes it that much easier to digest the information and, in turn, make those necessary changes.

Prevention

According to the CDC, more than 117 million people – close to half of all adults in the U.S. – had experienced one or more chronic health complications as of 2012. The top four risk factors related to these types of conditions include a lack of physical activity, tobacco use, poor nutrition and excess alcohol consumption. 

By making eliminating certain risk factors, a number of these chronic diseases could have been avoided. However, avoiding the unhealthy culture of fast food, packaged snacks, television consumption, binge drinking and over-indulgence is easier said than done. In a society constantly pushing back against your fight for a healthy lifestyle, making these changes is no easy feat. But a retreat at Pritikin offers you a breath of fresh air from the consumer-driven world we live in. It gives you the opportunity to stand up and fight back against risk factors.

Named the Best Overall Healthy Living Program, the Pritikin Center boasts successful programs for reversing many of these modern health concerns, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. The Pritikin Program of Diet and Exercise not only promotes extremely healthy eating and weight loss, but it has also been found to prevent and control common chronic conditions such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. If you're concerned with the lifestyle you're leading, now is the time to call and book a stay at the Pritikin Longevity Center.

Commitment

Above all, making such a huge lifestyle change and committing to a new way of living takes just that – commitment. You can be as educated on weight loss and nutrition as you'd like, but unless you make a lifelong commitment to remaining healthy, you won't be able to accomplish your goals and reach your optimal health.

In an article published by Psychology Today titled 'What do we mean by commitment?' Mel Schwartz, licensed clinical social worker, explores this word that displays such strong intention. While his analysis is as it relates to romantic relationships, the commitment to another human being can easily be compared to one's commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

He writes that proposed outcomes – a verbal commitment to love, fidelity and marriage – often disregard the lifelong journey that it takes to reach that goal. The same can be said about a commitment to weight loss, health and nutrition. You can state that you are committed to eating healthy, exercising regularly and avoiding risk factors, yet if you do not stay true to that outcome day in and day out, that commitment will fall flat. According to Shwartz, you can decide to look at the outcome in one of two ways. The outcome can be seen as a singular result, or as a lifelong process.

“If we learn to commit fully to the process then the outcomes will be what they should be. But, if we commit merely to the outcome and ignore the process, we've sabotaged both,” Schwartz writes.

Here at Pritikin, we help you commit to your outcome as a lifelong process in addition to providing you with the practical education that prevents chronic health problems and leads to a healthy life for years to come. Best of all, we're here to support you every step of the way.