The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle
Editorial Note: University of North Dakota alumnus and Grand Forks native, James H. O’Keefe, Jr., M.D., and his wife, Joan, developed a program they say allows families to live active lives, eat nutritious and delicious foods and get back to the natural way of living. O’Keefe, a nationally recognized cardiologist, discussed his program at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences in February.
The below is an excerpt from their book, “The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle.”
Rethinking Your Priorities
Bringing balance back to your life is a real key to health and happiness. Living in the twenty-first-century American culture seems to promote an unbalanced life: too much work and not enough play, excessive calories and not enough natural fresh foods, too much stress and not enough fun, and too much TV and too little exercise, too much rushing around—insufficient restful sleep, too much materialism and too little spirituality. As Dr. Phil would ask, “Is it workin’ for ya?” We can tell you that it doesn’t work for us. One of the best ways to avoid getting swept away in the tide of the often self-defeating modern lifestyle is to live by the mantra: “Good Things First.”
“Your life is the product of your choices, actions, thoughts and words. When you integrate meaningful positive habits into your day-to-day routine, you will flourish and thrive. Believe in yourself, make a plan, and begin.”
from
The Forever Young
Diet & Lifestyle
by James O’Keefe, MD, and Joan O’Keefe, RD
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Get in the habit of prioritizing the things that will make your life better in the long run: exercise, eating breakfast each morning, good food and healthy beverages, time to play, plenty of rest and relaxation, and a chance to make meaningful connections. When you make it a priority to eat and drink all the good first things first, you will find that you aren’t constantly hungry. This makes it easier to resist the junk food temptations that surround you each day.
When you sit down in front of the TV you need to ask yourself, “Have I gotten my exercise today?” If the answer is no, get up and go. At first this may seem uncomfortable, but soon you will feel your energy level improve dramatically, and after a few weeks of daily exercise you will find yourself raring to go. A routine of thirty to sixty minutes of exercise daily will turbo-charge your energy level like nothing else can.
Changing a long-standing habit can be a difficult task. Sometimes a health problem such as a diagnosis of diabetes or high blood pressure, or even a heart attack can be a wake-up call. A reminder of your vulnerability can spur you to make changes in your life that can dramatically improve your future health and longevity. Instead of wasting your precious time and energy worrying about the future or ruminating about the past, focus on what you can do to make you life better today. You can be truly alive in only one instant—the present moment. The future has not yet arrived, the past is already history. The surest way to take care of the future is to take care of the present and make each moment count.
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