10 ways you’re not as healthy as you thought

Not making primary prevention a priority

All too often, we only pay attention to our health when we have a problem, but it’s far better to make preventive health a priority rather than operate from a reactive perspective. Primary prevention means looking after your total health in advance, before you develop a problem. Make sure you are not focusing on one or two healthy behaviours while ignoring other poor lifestyle choices. For example, exercising regularly but eating sodium-laden foods can still result in problems that that are more difficult to treat down the road.

Not making primary prevention a priority

All too often, we only pay attention to our health when we have a problem, but it’s far better to make preventive health a priority rather than operate from a reactive perspective. Primary prevention means looking after your total health in advance, before you develop a problem. Make sure you are not focusing on one or two healthy behaviours while ignoring other poor lifestyle choices. For example, exercising regularly but eating sodium-laden foods can still result in problems that that are more difficult to treat down the road.

Staying up late on weekends

Staying up late on Friday and Saturday nights and sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday mornings is frequently the gift we give ourselves on weekends after a hard week at work. Yet that little gift-small as it is-is enough to screw up our biological clocks. Even if you get to bed early on Sunday night, you will not be ready to sleep, and it will make for a tough day at the office on Monday.

Not stretching appropriately

Most people stretch before hitting the weights, trail or court thinking that it will reduce their chance of injury and boost performance. There is actually no evidence that long pre-exercise stretching can reduce the likelihood of injury. In fact, excessive pre-exercise stretching may cause a reduction in muscle force and power. “For optimal muscle power there is an optimal number of cross bridges that must be established between the actin and myosin muscle fibres,” says Gerard Recio, a physical trainer at Twist Conditioning in Vancouver. “When you stretch you decrease the interaction.”

Static stretching, where you hold a stretch for a pre-determined amount of time, is best left till after your weight routine. At Twist Conditioning, Recio encourages dynamic stretching before exercise. “Dynamic movement takes the muscle through various ranges of motion, and various speeds of movement:’ says Recio. This type of sport-specific stretching prepares the mind and muscles for the upcoming activity.

Exercising at a low intensity to burn fat

Exercises performed at lower intensities do burn a higher percentage of calories from fat than carbohydrates as carbohydrates are spared for higher intensity activities. However, this is no reason to barely work up a sweat. More important than the type of fuel used during exercise is the total calories burned and without question the higher the intensity the more calories will be used. In addition, high-intensity exercise also burns more calories (mostly from fat) after exercise, resulting from a higher metabolic rate. So ignore those fat-burning zones on your elliptical machine and kick it into gear.

Using antibacterial dish soap

Plain soaps and detergents work just fine for washing dishes and clothes, cleaning your house or washing your hands. Antibacterial agents in soaps and detergents can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bugs in the environment, which can then cause hard-to-treat infections.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, adapted from Soap and Water & Common Sense, courtesy House of Anansi Press

Thinking that raw is always healthier

The theory that cooking foods makes them less nutritious is a bit half-baked. Raw food advocates note that heat destroys enzymes in foods that make them more easily digested. While that’s true, cooking also breaks down fiber, making it easier for your body to process. Subsisting primarily on raw fruit and vegetables could even backfire if your goal is to get healthier.

Scientists have discovered in recent years that cooking actually boosts levels of important compounds in some fruits and vegetables. For instance, ketchup contains five to six times more of the antioxidant lycopene than raw tomatoes do, making it much more useful against diseases such as prostate cancer.

Skipping canned and frozen fruits and veggies

Fresh fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than the frozen and canned variety-at the instant they are picked. However, the foods you find in the produce section have often had a long journey from the moment they were packed in crates. During shipping and storage, natural enzymes are released in fresh fruit and vegetables that cause them to lose nutrients.

By contrast, food processors quick-freeze fresh-picked produce, which preserves much of its vitamin and mineral content. A University of Illinois study found, for instance, that frozen beans retained twice as much vitamin C as fresh beans purchased in a grocery store. Contrary to common belief, canning does not deplete fruit and vegetables of significant amounts of nutrients either. While heat processing may reduce levels of some vitamins, certain canned foods-such as spinach and pumpkin-actually have higher levels of vitamin A than fresh versions.

Thinking muscle weighs more than fat

Trainers often comfort their clients who are concerned about what the scale is saying by telling them that they’re not losing a lot of overall weight because muscle weighs more than fat. Not exactly true. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat. So does one pound of anything. The confusion lies not in the weight of the substance, but in its density. Muscle is much denser than fat so it takes up less room, meaning the more muscle you have, the smaller and sleeker you will look. So keep hitting those weights.

Exercising right before bed

While it’s true that fitting a good sweat session into your day can help you sleep better when bedtime rolls around, working out too late at night can actually leave you feeling tired the next day. Make sure you schedule your workout at least three hours before bedtime and give yourself a chance to rest and relax-whether it’s with meditation or some gentle pre-bed yoga-before you hit the hay.

Drinking eight glasses of water a day

There is no scientific basis for this common recommendation. According to the Institute of Medicine, a man needs about 4 litres (15 to 16 cups) of water daily, while a woman requires 2.7 litres (a little over 11 cups). That amount is easily gotten from a normal diet, since all beverages and many foods contain water. To stay well hydrated, simply drink when you’re thirsty.

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