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Healthy lifestyle key to more years There is a strong relationship between healthy lifestyles and many chronic diseases. Lack of exercise, poor diet, and tobacco use contribute to a huge number of 1.6 million preventable deaths a year in the United States.   The percent of deaths that can be prevented through healthier lifestyles are as follows: colon cancer, 71 percent; stroke, 70 percent; heart disease, 82 percent; and diabetes, 91 percent.   The purpose of Health 1st, MUSC’s Employee Wellness Program, is to promote healthier lifestyles. The program focuses on activities that promote increased physical activity, better eating habits, smoking cessation and stress reduction.   Some activities include: Screenings, workshops and classes Wellness teams (team members are receiving Healthy Habits Log books, T-shirts, and pedometers) Smoking cessation information Walking trails Wellness Wednesdays and The Catalyst Health 1st column Web site (http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/health1st) Fit for Work, Fit for Play Upcoming Health 1st events: June 27, caregivers seminar; July 18, Hollings Cancer Center mammography van; July 19, worksite screening; July 27, stress management class.   For information about the classes, or forming  or joining a Wellness Team, call 792-1245 or visit http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/health1st. Weekly tips from the Healthy S.C. Challenge Healthy S.C. Challenge is a results-oriented initiative created by Gov. Mark Sanford and first lady Jenny Sanford to motivate people to start making choices that can improve health and well-being. Visit http://www.healthysc.gov. Nutrition Don’t let yourself get hungry. It takes fewer calories to keep hunger at bay than to deal with it if you let it fully develop. Always have three meals a day and snacks between meals as necessary to maintain a comfortable level of satiety. —Anne Kulze, MD, nationally recognized nutrition and wellness expert Editor's note: The preceding column was brought to you on behalf of Health 1st. Striving to bring various topics and representing numerous employee wellness organizations and committees on campus, this weekly column seeks to provide MUSC, MUHA and UMA employees with current and helpful information concerning all aspects of health.     Friday, June 22, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.