In today's world, we are working longer hours, have no time for breaks, grab food on the run, are too busy to exercise, get broken sleep, and are walking around exhausted.   Is modern work-life slowly killing us? Many of the diseases that we die from are NOT due to bugs or viruses that we 'catch', but due to lifestyle choices and work-style habits that we 'choose'. Heart disease causes about one third of ALL deaths in Australia, and the key causes are 'lifestyle choices', such as eating too much fat, stress, not exercising and being over weight. Stroke affects 48,000 Australians each year and is the third biggest killer.  Risk factors include: smoking, heavy drinking, high fat diet, obesity, and lack of exercise. More than 1.4 million Australians have diabetes (a recent article in the Melbourne Herald-Sun newspaper - Monday 23rd October, 2006 - estimated that "one third of all children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes").  Risk factors include: being overweight, not exercising, unhealthy eating habits, smoking, and high blood pressure.                  These are not diseases that we catch - but conditions                        that we create because of bad lifestyle choices. Stress is also often the result of poor choices we make - not because of the events that happen to us.  To control stress, you need to make better choices over the things you can control. Here are some options of better choices we can make: 1. BETTER FOOD CHOICES: The next generation has been dubbed 'Generation O' for Obese.  It is the first generation, on record, that potentially has a lower life expectancy than their parents.  Sixty percent of Adult Australians (over the age of 25) are overweight.  Forty-five percent of teenage meals are fast food. Choice A: Eat within your calorie budget.  A calorie is a measure of how much energy is in your food.  An average adult needs between 2000-3000 calories per day (depending on their age, weight and activity).  You can find out your daily calorie needs from: http://www.annecollins.com/calories/index.htm and use their calorie counter. For example, I am a 34 year old male, 5ft 11, about 80kg.  I need about 2800 calories (equivalent to 11,200 Kilojoules). A fast food meal of a burger, fries and sundae easily tips 1100 calories - this is 40% of my calorie budget for the day).  * An average chocolate bar contains about 300 calories.  * A small pizza contains about 850 calories.  * A Sushi pack contains about 330 calories.  * A minestrone soup contains about 250 calories. If you eat more calories than you need, you put on weight. If you eat the same amount as you need, you keep your weight level. If you eat less than you need, you lose weight. If you find yourself snacking on a chocolate bar at morning tea, eating a burger and soft drink for lunch and then having some ice-cream for dessert at night, then chances are you are putting in more calories than you need - which puts on weight and increases you chances of developing heart disease, stroke or diabetes. You can get all the calories (kilojoule) information about almost all your food from a calorie/kilojoule counting book from your newsagency. Lower calorie food, which contains good nutrition, include:  Tuna & salad sandwiches (on wholemeal bread), Sushi, soups, Subway salad subs. FOOD RESOURCE: There is an interesting e-book titled 'Fat Loss Tools' which has information on controlling your calories.  The book contains information on Meal Calorie Planner, Goal Weight & Progress Chart, Bmr, Fat Burning Zone, and Exercise Log Worksheets. Click here to get all the details from their website    2. BETTER EXERCISE CHOICES: Seventeen percent of Australians do no exercise at all. Doing even a low amount of exercise increases the amount of oxygen in your body, which gives you more energy and makes you feel good. Exercise also burns calories - which helps you lose weight. To lose one pound of fat requires burning 3,500 calories (one pound of fat is about 0.45 kg ~ just under a half kilo).  To lose that one pound of fat in a week would require burning 500 calories a day.  To lose it in 2 weeks, requires you to burn 250 calories a day. Thirty minutes of exercise a day, at 70 percent of your maximum rate (which is exercising at rate where you are puffing, but able to hold a conversation), is what is required to stay fit and lose weight.  You can even break the 30 minutes down to three 10 minute blocks if you wish. Here is a list of how many calories you burn in 10 minutes of different activities:  Exercise    Number of Calories burnt in 10 minutes Walking (slowly) 40 Calories Walking (quickly)    60 Calories  Stair Climbing   110 Calories  Jogging     80 Calories  Cleaning the house    40 Calories  Circuit training     85 Calories  Dancing (disco)    65 Calories  Shopping     40 Calories   Choice B: You can do your exercise in one block of 30 minutes or three blocks of ten minutes during your breaks or before/after work.  For example, even if you drive or catch public transport to work, taking a 10 minute walk before work, a 10 minute walk in one of your breaks, and perhaps a 10 minute walk after work burns about 150 calories.  It is a great way of fitting in your exercise needs and burning calories. It is a choice to do it or not. EXERCISE RESOURCE: Mike Westerdal has compiled the e-book 'Dumbbell Routines & Exercises: Workouts you can do in your own home'.  Click here to get all the details from Mike's website 3. ELIMINATE THE CHOICE OF EXCUSES "I am just too busy to stop" "I don't have the time" "I have simply too much to do to and cannot fit another thing into my day" "I am too old to start now - there is no point" "I can't be bothered" Whatever your excuse is, realise that excuses are also a choice. Excuses are the handcuffs that stop you from taking action.  You may have been wearing the handcuffs for years and are so familiar with not taking time for yourself to exercise, or living on fast, high calorie, food each day that you now assume that 'this is just who I am'. Well, that is RUBBISH!  It is our excuses that determine how much we achieve, how much weight we lose, how much we try....however, they also determine where we fail, give up and stagnate.   Choice C: Realise that the biggest barriers that stops you from taking action are your habits, laziness and fear.  All of which can be changed by simply taking a little action each day.  Replace your excuses with taking action. EXCUSE RESOURCE: I run a coaching program that pushes you past excuses.  It is not soft, kind or subtle - the program is direct and pushes you out of your comfort zone to become a stronger person.  You can read all the details on my website at: http://www.bouncebackfast.com/coaching_life_skills.html Michael Licenblat B.Sc.(Psych) is a Resilience Expert who helps people in business bounce back fast from pressure, stress and burnout in their work and life. He is a professional speaker, coach and author of three books.   To download your free special report on the ‘Seven ways to prevent yourself becoming Over-Worked, Stressed-Out, and Run-Down’, visit: http://www.BounceBackFast.com Please Note: You are welcome to use my articles in your ezine, newsletter, journal, publication, etc., on the condition that you do not change the content or the article, and that you include my contact name and website details (as written in the table/box above).