"Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast."

That's the advice Harry Truman gave on his 80th birthday when asked how to live to be 80.

I love that quote. It always springs to mind when someone trundles out "I don't have the time" as a feeble reason for not exercising, especially for not walking. C'mon, you'll have to better than that.

I'll grant you that we do lead busy lives as we try to balance home, work, family and community. The United States leads the world in productivity for good reason. I'll admit that I'm just as guilty of letting days go by without exertion because it just seems like I can't get away from the computer or phone.

Then I think of Harry Truman, our 33rd president, an "incurable pedestrian," and, incidentally, a fellow Missourian.

From 1944-1953, Harry was busy ending World War II, containing communism, radically changing American foreign policy, creating NATO, overseeing the Berlin airlift, integrating the armed forces, recognizing Israel, pulling off the biggest election upset in presidential history, dealing with Korea and answering about 600 pieces of correspondence a day. I don't believe any of us have more on our plates than Harry Truman had during his presidency, and still he managed to walk every day, sometimes up to five miles when he could sneak away from the Secret Service.

We all have the same 24 hours allotted to us; it's just a matter of what we choose to make a priority. That brings us to another famous Trumanism: The Buck Stops Here.

When it comes to our health, we are our ultimate caregiver and the buck stops with us. We choose to give our bodies adequate levels of each component of the health trinity: motion, nutritious food and rest, or we choose not to.

We can decide to get up and take a walk instead of rolling over for another half-hour, or we can skip the coffee break danish for a few flights of stairs. We can teach our children that family time means tossing a real football in the park, instead of a virtual one on a monitor. We can stop considering chips as a food group and view them for the sludge they really are, regardless of that satisfying salty crunch and clever commercials. While we're at it, let's drop that, "but they taste so good!" rationale. To a dog, antifreeze tastes like sugar, but it's just as deadly.

We can also choose to give our very busy productive selves the down time our bodies require. Far too many of us get far too little sleep. Turn off the TV and go to bed. In the morning, your body will feel better, you'll think more clearly and you'll be in a better mood. I've yet to see any talk show line-up or rerun that is worth losing sleep.

Shelve the excuses and take care of yourselves. Move, to make your blood pump and relieve inevitable stress. Consume healthy foods, so your body can function at its best. Rest, so your mind and body can rejuvenate. The health buck stops with you. It worked for Harry Truman for 88 years.

Brenda Berstler is the founder of the Walking Example Group (WE-GO) a non-profit organization encouraging walking and walkable communities. Visit their website at www.we-go.org.