The Good Life!(Vicki Woods starts the year with a healthy lifestyle)

Byline: Photographed by Raymond Meier

Vicki Woods renounces her vicesalcohol, cigarettes, salty foodsand spends 30 days following the twelve habits of the healthiest people in the world.

Why do the health-police keep trying to come between me and my Calvins? I cannot open a newspaper, watch the Today show, drop by the gym, or (in New York City, where calorie counts are now mandatory) grab a snack without being told that I'm risking death, depression, or diabetes (and that's only the d s). Some days, I accept the need for a slap around the head. "Bad girl! That lemon slice is 645 calories!" Other days, I get riled by this tsunami of unasked-for advice from lawmakers, Big Pharma, the medical establishment, and TV doctors. Eat less, jump around more, finish that Sudoku, flossoh, quit acting like my nagging parent!

I have spent my adult life, like Bridget Jones and most other women, in an uneducated effort to keep (a) my weight at 136 pounds and (b) my waist under 31 inches. If either goes bust, I just stop eating until the target's hit. But healthy living is not the same as weight maintenance. Healthy people do not binge and starve: They take in the requisite amount of essential nutrients in a disciplined fashion. Healthy people radiate energy; their skin and eyes shine. I open a sluggish eye each morning, thinking, What fresh hell is this? I brighten up only after the second latte. Do healthy people do that? No. They bounce from bed and shout, "Yes, I can!" or "Bring it on!"

But it's time for change, people! It'll be 2009 about five minutes from now, and my preNew Year's resolution is to take all the health advice that is raining down and check it out for myself. I start researching .gov and .org and .edu Web sites, beginning with the most obvious and basic (what to eat and how much to exercise) and working through some very heavy initializations about all aspects of women's health (CDC, NIH, AAD, USDA, the Department of HHS). I end up with Twelve Steps to a Totally Healthy Me, which is pleasingly neat. I vow to spend a whole month following every step in the hopes thatcome Inauguration Day, sayI will leap tall buildings with my eyes shining.

Rule one is eat a balanced dietcribbed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's guidelines (foreword written by Laura Bushhey, that'll be a task for the new First Lady). It is kindergarten advice we all should know: two cups fruit and two-and-a-half cups vegetables a day; three cups non- or low-fat milk or other dairy product, five-and-a-half ounces of meat or beans, blah-blah. But as I fill in my personal stats on MyPyramid.gov, it seems like it would require a lot of additional math: Fat intake should be 20 to 35 percent of my recommended 1,800 calories a day; do I use a cup or a calculator? At least half my grains should be whole grains: Do I weigh 'em out or trust the labeling?

Rule two is boot camp. I don't need the Department of Health & Human Services to remind me about aerobic activity (30 minutes a day to maintain weight, more to drop pounds), but I do need a refresher on osteoporosis: weights, woman, weights! At least fifteen minutes of strength conditioning three times weekly. Plus regular yoga or Pilates for flexibility. Plus hey, this is getting busyendurance training.