The 30-minutes-a-day plan: getting started

The 30-Minutes-a-Day Plan is not a rigid program. Instead, it is a guide — aiming to take no more than 30 minutes each day to integrate the small changes into your life that will help to give you a strong, well-protected heart.

The secret to success with the 30-Minutes-a-Day Plan is slowly and steadily to exchange unhealthy habits and practices with heart-healthy ones. Consider the following list of suggested changes:

• Eat a healthier breakfast
• Eat a healthier lunch
• Eat a healthier dinner
• Consume more vegetables with your meals
• Eat healthier carbohydrates (whole-grain bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes)
• Eat more fish
• Eat healthier, less-processed snacks
• Reduce your intake of sugar
• Drink more water
• Drink fewer soft drinks
• Eat less junk food (chips, candy, ice cream, cookies)
• Stop eating out of habit, boredom or stress
• Plan your meals in advance
• Shop from a shopping list
• Eat less from fast-food outlets

• Start each morning with a stretching routine
• Do five minutes of strength exercises a day
• Take a long, vigorous walk every day
• Fit in more short walks throughout the day
• Give a light form of exercise like yoga or tai chi a try
• Agree to stay on your feet longer during the day
• Resume or take up an active hobby like gardening, rowing or cycling

• Try to control your temper
• Work at managing stress more effectively
• Find ways to laugh more
• Be more forgiving to yourself and others
• Be more loving to friends and family
• Reinvigorate "spirituality" or focus on some unselfish, higher purpose in life
• Lose a destructive behaviour, such as smoking or excessive drinking
• Get more sleep each night
• Change to less toxic cleaning methods
• Begin a more thorough daily oral health routine that includes flossing
• Wash hands more often and be more aware of keeping germs at bay

• What do you need to buy to get started?
• How will you adjust your routine to get started?
• How will you reward yourself for successes?
• What is your next set of changes?
• What are your three-month goals?
• How will you reward yourself for complete success?
• How will you reward yourself for partial success?
• How will you re-motivate yourself if you only achieve limited success?

Most importantly, how will you make sure you embark on these new changes? Try writing them on your calendar, using the start of each month or perhaps the arrival of a monthly magazine as a time for reassessment, asking a loved one to remind you, or using holidays or the seasons to trigger some new goal.

Follow these health tips and assessment advice and you'll be on your way to starting a 30-minutes-a-day plan that will help you to live a healthier life.