Top doctors list best ways to stay healthy for the new year or any year

Organic tomatoes at the new Whole Foods Market in Closter.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

AARP has been far from consistent on just what people 50 and older should do to stay healthy.

But the AARP Bulletin sent to members this month lists leading health professionals' guidance on nutrition, fitness and making smart everyday choices.

You'll find "Best Advice from Top Docs" on Pages 24-25 of the December 2016 bulletin.

Daily living

The everyday lifestyle adjustments most important for general health:

• Take a daily 30-minute walk (the only choice selected by every doctor surveyed).
• Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.
• Spend time each day with a friend or loved one.
• Reduce your consumption of junk food, such as cookies and chips.
• Cut back on refined carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, white rice).

100% organic whole wheat spaghetti, available at ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's, is a healthy alternative to regular pasta and other refined carbohydrates.

 Eating habits

Change these harmful eating habits to improve your long-term health:

• Drinking soda at most meals and for snacks.
• Eating several fast-food restaurant meals each week, eating two or fewer servings of vegetables each day; and bingeing on pizza, hot wings, nachos or other 'social foods' a few times per week.
• Eating ice cream, cake, doughnuts or other sweets every day.

Lifestyle choices

Lifestyle habits or patterns most harmful to a person's long-term health:

• Smoking cigarettes.
• Not exercising
• Feeling perpetually lonely or socially isolated
• Ignoring health problems or symptoms.
• Taking painkillers every day; and being angry, worried or stressed more often than feeling happy.

A survey of some of the nation's leading health professionals is published on Pages 24-25 of the AARP Bulletin, a sister publication of AARP The Magazine.

"I would argue for 'Eat less meat and more plants,'" says Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.

Ignore 'Eat This/Not That!'

An example of AARP's bad advice on nutrition was published in the non-profit group's April/May 2016 issue of AARP The Magazine.

"Eat This/Not That!" listed only fast-food and chain restaurants that serve low-quality meat and poultry raised with big doses of harmful antibiotics, and recommended unhealthy meals with lots of unwanted sugar, cholesterol or saturated fat.

AARP is the former American Association of Retired Persons.

Sugar or worse in bottled pasta sauce, great products you can't eat

Bottled pasta sauces with added sugar are bad enough, but these jars of Colonna Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce at ShopRite in Paramus list high fructose corn syrup as the second ingredient. Colonna has the nerve to label them, "Classic Italian Taste."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I add a lot of things to bottled pasta sauce -- red wine, extra-virgin olive oil, anchovies, garlic powder, dried herbs -- but never start with one containing added sugar.

Still, more manufacturers seem to be adding sweeteners to pasta sauce, giving the resulting product an off taste.

Pasta sauces from Victoria and Kirkland Signature, the house brand at Costco Wholesale, are never sweetened with sugar.

Two of these ShopRite Imported Pasta Sauces, Puttanesca and Arrabbiata, which are made in Italy, contain added sugar.

Colonna's Vodka Sauce lists artery clogging heavy cream as the second ingredient. Victoria's Vodka Sauce contains no cream at all.

A GREAT PRODUCT YOU CAN'T EAT: Michelin Defender tires come with an astounding 90,000 mile warranty. I bought four 185/65R 15 tires for a 2007 Toyota Prius for $113.99 each at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Tires, 3-in-1 for shower

You'll find a great product you can't eat in the tire store at Costco Wholesale.

The Michelin Defender tire comes with an unusually long 90,000 mile warranty.

I bought a set for our 2010 Toyota Prius a few months ago, and a second set for a 2007 Toyota Prius we are selling.

The Michelin tires give both cars a firm footprint and sharp handling. 

The first set replaced the original tires on the 2010 Prius, and we bought the second after a disappointing experience with Bridgestone Ecopia 422 tires, which didn't last anywhere near the 70,000 miles covered by the warranty.

We had to replace two of the Bridgestone tires on the '07 Prius prematurely because the Toyota dealer in Hackensack repaired them improperly.

Trader Joe's Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash.

At Trader Joe's in Paramus, I picked up Formula No. 3, an all-in-one shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

A 32-ounce bottle with a pump seemed pricey at $7.99, but it's a good value, if you normally buy two or three products for the shower.

Trader Joe's combo lathers well, but doesn't have much of a scent.

Update

I've tried increasing the amount of Trader Joe's Formula No. 3 I use, and found the resulting lather and scent more to my liking.

I use two pumps for my hair and two to three pumps for my body.