As she hit her 50s, Carol Mithers couldn't help but notice how her body was changing. She had less energy, more aches and pains, and was retaining weight where she didn't want it -- her belly.
Even though she had a relatively healthful lifestyle already, she decided to, for a month, follow all the USDA guidelines for diet and exercise and see how they made her feel. Diet-wise, this meant 2,000 calories a day, no more than 67 grams of fat (just 22 from saturated fat), and no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium. And she made sure she got the government minimum of at least 30 minutes of "moderate intensity" exercise most days of the week.
She flossed daily, used sunscreen, took the RDA of vitamins and minerals, and committed to at least 7 hours of sleep a night. And then she wrote about it all for Oprah.
How did she fare? Did she struggle? What were the ultimate results?
Read her story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/16/oprah.habit.month/index.html