Lifestyle professor Mai-Lis Hellénius’ best tips for a long and healthy life.
More and more people are becoming aware of the vital role food and lifestyle plays in health. At the same time it is hard to be sure what is truly important, and to distinguish between facts and opinions. Lifestyle has become big business. The advice is plentiful, often contradictory and misleading. To help put an end to this Mai-Lis Hellénius, chief physician and a professor of lifestyle issues at Karolinska Institutet, has written a book that assembles all the current research on the impact of activities, food, stress and lifestyle on our health.
The book consists of sections that focus on different aspects of a healthy lifestyle. The lethal sedentary lifestyle and the importance of everyday activities and exercise is dealt with, as is meals and food. The stressful aspects of our lives and sleep deprivation are also covered. Everything is connected. The reader also gets tips and inspiration on how he or she can find new healthy alternatives in life and most importantly how to maintain these new routines.
Vitally important! also contains 30 recipes, all specially selected to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Mai-Lis Hellénius is a professor at Karolinska Institutet and chief physician at the Lifestyle clinic of the coronary care unit, Karolinska University Hospital. Besides her work with patients and research she sees it as her life’s task to help people change their lifestyle. To exercise and eat well. For over 35 years the common thread in her work has been lifestyle issues and she was one of the first in the world, already in 1987, to administer physical exercise on prescription. Mai-Lis lectures constantly, both in Sweden and internationally and she has contributed to several books.

Foreword 11
Lifestyle means more than we thought 15
Made for movement 23
Stress and lack of sleep 45
Food for health and pleasure 61
The significance of heredity 77
Old habits can be changed 85
The healthy meeting 95
Nutrition science in mini format 105
Welcome to my kitchen 115
Index of recipes 189
Heartfelt thanks 191

FOREWORD
Knowledge of the significance of lifestyle for our health has increased dramatically over the last
decade. Despite this, many people feel it is difficult to know what is right. We face contradictory
advice, and it can be difficult to learn what is fact-based and what is opinion. I
would like to make the most of the strong interest that exists today concerning health and
lifestyle.
In this book, I talk about what collected research says about being sedentary, daily movement,
and exercise. I talk about the best food for well-being, health, and a long life.
Stress in our lives and lack of sleep are also discussed. Everything connects.
I have had the pleasure and trust of working as a doctor and researcher for many years,
and I would like to share what I have learned. It is my hope, now, that it will be presented in
this book in a pleasurable and easily accessible manner. There is no contradiction between a
healthy lifestyle, and pleasure and joy.
This book contains different sections with a focus on the most recent research discoveries
concerning a healthy lifestyle. The life-threatening danger of being sedentary, and the benefit
of daily movement and of exercise and training are dealt with, as are meals and food. There
are sections on food shopping and keeping a smart larder. Moreover, around 30 recipes from
my own kitchen are presented. Mental health, stress, and sleep are also touched on. This book
contains tips and inspiration for how to finding healthier paths in life more easily, and how to
maintain that new lifestyle.
I am writing this book for those of you who are thinking about lifestyle, those who are
trying to help others to change lifestyles, and those of you who perhaps are responsible for the
health of employees. Everyone can be a winner when we invest in our health. But this must of
course be done in a sustainable and scientifically grounded manner.
A healthy lifestyle is also best for the environment.