By Team Best Life

Bigger isn’t always better. In fact, when it comes to weight loss, it’s often the small changes that end up tallying up to greater rewards. No wonder the idea of small victories is one of the hallmarks of the Best Life plan. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking small.

Say a word—or two.

Flexing your small-talk muscle can actually aid in maintaining your overall health. Social interactions have a lot of positives, including an elevated mood and reduced stress-hormone levels, that can keep you both emotionally and physically healthy, studies say. Not to mention, chatting it up can be an effective distraction from the buffet table or bar at most parties.
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After a nasty split with Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart is apparently not doing well. The Hollywood actress is subsisting primarily on Red Bull and cigarettes while keeping as low a profile as possible.

A source close to her also said Stewart is looking pale and worn-out. Stewart and Pattinson’s relationship lasted nearly four years and ended when Stewart admitted to an affair with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.

The insider said, “Kristen is a nervous wreck and existing on a diet of cigarettes, sugar-free Red Bull and the occasional bag of potato chips…Whenever anyone tries to push her to eat even a small bowl of soup, she either claims that she’s just had something, which isn’t true, or that she’s nauseous and there’s no chance of keeping anything down.”
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For those in their 20s and 30s, consider this a wake up call: Research now suggests that baby boomers may not live longer than their parents, as a collection of studies surrounding those born between 1946 and 1964 suggests their health is on the decline.

S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been studying the longevity of baby boomers under a MacArthur Foundation Grant. And based on his findings thus far, he predicts noticeable drops in this generation’s lifespan.

“If you look at the health status of the baby boom versus the generation that just preceded them, they are in worse shape,” Olshanksy told Reuters in a recent interview. He added that health experts are seeing greater frailty, increased risk for cardiovascular disease and declining cognitive function among this generation.

With improvements in healthcare, innovative drugs, and increasing life expectancies among most age groups, it’s been an assumption that baby boomers would easily outlive their parents’ generation. However, because of factors like obesity and cancer, their lifespans may be cut short.
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A recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report about cigarette use gives us cause for celebration. However, upon reading the entire report, we realize it’s a small, temporary celebration.

The research regarding cigarette use was released in the August issue of Morbidity and Mortality Report. The report states that Americans have decreased their cigarette use by 32.8 percent over the last 12 years. This news is fantastic as the numbers show a constant decline in smoking, giving hope that people are finally letting go of such a harmful habit.

The celebration is cut short, though, when all of the facts regarding tobacco are revealed. While cigarette smoking has decreased, a constant increase in other forms of combustible tobacco use has taken place. During the same 12-year period, the use of pipe tobacco and cigars have seen a 96.9 percent increase.

It seems fair to assume that tax laws were the reason for this shift. The taxes on pipe tobacco and cigars are lower than the rates on cigarettes. It doesn’t seem like anyone really quit smoking, they just switched their products to save money.
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If you think smoking is bad for your health, you should consider being a couch potato just as dangerous.

A new study published in the journal Lancet found that one-third of adults aren’t getting enough exercise, and that inactivity is now causing just as many deaths per year as smoking – approximately 5.3 million worldwide. It also estimated that one in 10 deaths caused by heart disease, diabetes, and breast and bowel cancer are the result of inactivity.

Co-author of the study, Dr. I-Min Lee, reported that being inactive can increase your risk of many serious diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. “If you are physically inactive, your risk of premature mortality is probably comparable to that of smoking,” she told BBC News in a recent interview. 
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