How to Live Longer and Better: The 4 Golden Rules

If you want to slash your risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke and cancer by as much as 78 percent, here are the four golden rules, according to an important new study.

- Engage in regular physical activity (at least 3.5 hours per week)
- Eat a healthy diet (lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains and not much red meat)
- Don't smoke
- Avoid becoming obese (body mass index below 30)

Sounds straightforward, but it turns out that only nine percent of us actually live this way, according to a multi-year study of 23,153 people published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Around four percent of us practice none of these healthy habits.

If you follow all four practices, you're at far lower risk compared with people who follow none.  The study found that the four magic bullets produce a 93% lower risk for diabetes, 81% for heart attack, 50% for stroke and 36% for cancer.

If you only plan on picking two of the healthy practices, here's a tip: People who never smoke and avoid obesity have a 72 percent reduction in the risk of chronic disease, the biggest effect of any dual combination of healthy habits.

For more information on surviving and thriving, please visit The Survivors Club Health Support Center.