In your Valentine’s Day afterglow of flowers and chocolate, it is worth thinking about how to show that you care every other day of the year. There is no greater gift between partners and friends than the gift of mutual good health. Doing what it takes to promote your own good health and that of those you care for is the gift that keeps on giving.

Here are some tips on how to give the ultimate gift 365 days of the year:

» Make a pact to promote each other’s health. Start with some easy changes that you can both make and maintain. Be supportive of your partner and avoid "preaching." Everyone has their own capacity and pace for making changes and establishing new habits.

» Go slow and steady rather than making radical changes likely to die a quick death. This goes for everything, but especially for physical activity. Small changes that lead to daily habits can have great long-term impact.

» Create enjoyable opportunities to be physically active. Activities that can be shared are great, but ultimately, staying fit for yourself and your partner is the goal. Sometimes this can mean doing your own thing and other times enjoying activities together — whatever it takes to get and stay in shape for yourself and your loved one.

» Spend more time on your feet. Simply standing up burns about twice as many calories as lying on the couch. Consequently, finding even a half-hour daily to do something with your partner that keeps you on your feet can add up to a good deal of extra calories burned that add up over time.

» Set a regular "walk and talk" time to "learn and burn." By that, we mean to learn about your partner’s day, make plans and just be together while burning some calories. Even 15 to 30 minutes a day can make a big difference over a year.

» Make meals fun and special. "Variety is the spice of life." This is especially true when it comes to good nutrition. By including a wide variety of food from all the major food groups, eating can be more of an adventure and can increase the odds of getting all the nutrients needed to maintain good health.

» Add variety to your food shopping. Consider going to a farmers market at least once a month. Shop at Chinatown for those special foods you can’t find anywhere else. Explore and experiment!

» Enjoy eating well together. Active people can eat more food due to their higher calorie needs. By being able to eat a greater amount of a wide variety of food, it is easier to meet nutrient needs and support good health.

» Enjoy the food treats you like — just don’t overdo them. Get that dessert you love, but share half of it with your partner. What really counts is what you do most of the time, not some of the time. So, make those treats special and feel good about it when you have them.

» If you are dieting to lose weight, think "slow and steady." Extreme diets typically lead to both rapid loss and regain of body weight. When cutting calories to lose fat, focus mostly on reducing high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods. Don’t cut down on high-protein foods needed to prevent the loss of lean muscle tissue.

In our busy lives, we need to enrich them rather than just add another task. If it isn’t fun or at least interesting, the activity is likely to become a thing of the past sooner, rather than later. To keep things in perspective, consider the saying, "Moderation in all things, including moderation."

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Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S., are nutritionists in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii-Manoa. Dobbs also works with University Health Services.