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Prominent Bostonians share secrets on staying healthy

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December 26, 2011|By Karen Weintraub

Attorney General Martha Coakley takes the stairs in her One Ashburton Place… (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff )

We all know that sleeping well, exercising regularly, eating a sensible diet, limiting stress, and not smoking are good for our health — but nearly all of us struggle to keep up the balancing act. The Globe asked prominent Bostonians to reveal a few of their personal health tricks. Their answers range from dog-walking to breakfasting on cucumbers. None admitted to smoking. Governor Deval Patrick’s secret is healthy cooking. ‘‘I’m a foodie. I love to cook,’’ he said via e-mail. ‘‘We try to use fresh, local ingredients and lots of fruits and vegetables.’’ Here is a range of suggestions from health officials, politicians, arts leaders, scientists, and others.

ON EXERCISING

Robert Langer, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and well-known inventor, exercises two to three hours a day, working while he rides a recumbent bike, or uses an elliptical trainer or treadmill (at a lowspeed and very high incline). ‘‘I also get on the scale each day and if my weight goes up, I try to eat less that day.’’

Ross Lilley, head of Acces- SportAmerica, a nonprofit that provides athletic challenges for people with disabilities, exercises in the morning—‘‘I don’t like a workout hanging over me all day’’—but he splits it up. ‘‘I do side planks, back extensions, and then resistance exercises each morning. Because it’s every day, it doesn’t take more than a half hour, doing upper body and lower on alternate days. After that I can squeeze in a half hour of conditioning later and it’s not such a daunting prospect. The deal is to mix it up, and even in the conditioning/ running, to challenge the heart with intervals.’’

Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr., president and chief executive of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, walks 6 miles a day in the summer to train for the annual Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. The rest of the year he walks to the T and sometimes gets off a stop early. ‘‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’’ is his favorite motto. ‘‘Living that saying helps keep stress in balance.’’

Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, is known as the ‘‘barefoot scientist’’ for his research into the physiological benefits of running barefoot —which he does regularly. (He wears minimalist shoes this time of year so his feet don’t freeze.) ‘‘When I feel disinclined to exercise, I remind myself . . . I have never gone for a run and then felt afterward that it wasn’t worth it.’’