The Key to Health and Fitness
C Lynn Beebe asked:
The key to achieving good health is really quite simple. About now youre undoubtedly thinking, if it is so simple, why is the health level of the overall population declining at a record pace?
Of course the key to how one becomes healthy and maintains health is not difficult. In fact you may already know several of the things you should be doing to improve your health. It becomes complicated when we are faced with choices that are less than healthful and they cloud our judgment. These distractions compete for our attention with more healthful alternatives that may not seem quite as exciting.
We must allow ourselves to become focused by gaining an understanding of what is required in order to get the big prize – a healthy life. Basically there are three parts we need to master including proper nutrition, fitness, and finally the motivation to keep on track with both.
Proper nutrition, or healthy eating, is probably the most basic and easiest to understand principle of good health. Virtually everyone is aware when they are eating something that is healthful versus a food that is void of nutritional value.
Many times the simplest method of including a majority of healthful foods in the diet is to focus on good foods to eat rather than on bad foods that should not be eaten. As with most things in life, focusing on the positive usually produces the best results. Try to include as many fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains as possible in each days meal plan. By including a large amount of good foods each day, you will find that theres little room left for the not-so-good foods. Proper nutrition will be nearly automatic.
Unlike nutrition, fitness is a bit more difficult to incorporate into daily life. The primary reason for this is that everyone must eat in order to live. Achieving proper nutrition simply means making the right choices for something you are going to do anyway. Activity, however, is not something we must do every day. Even though we should move every day, we wont suffer major consequences immediately if we dont. Instead, the price will be paid years down the road.
The key to increasing ones fitness is to build upon the activities already in place. For example, walking is an activity that most people perform every day. To get the most of this daily activity, expand the amount of walking you do. For example, park in the back of a parking lot to increase the number of steps it takes to reach your destination. Once inside a multi-level building, take the stairs to move from floor to floor rather than the elevator. Start with small changes and build from there.
Once you have increased your natural activity level it is time to focus on developing a fitness routine. Start slowly with just a short period of time devoted to your program each day. Even ten minutes is a good start. The key is to start a program and stick with it.
Sticking with it is where the motivation factor comes in. Motivation is tricky and its different for everyone. Many people are motivated by doing something routinely and building on it. If youre one of those people, consider yourself lucky and just get started with your health plans. The rest will take care of itself.
For the rest of us it is important to find what motivates us. Maybe its buying a new workout outfit or trying a new healthful recipe. Many people like to read fitness magazines and search online for new tips and exercise techniques. Others read inspiring stories and quotes.
Whatever it is for you, find it as soon as possible and hold on to it. Getting motivated is the number one key to achieving your health and fitness goals.
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The key to achieving good health is really quite simple. About now youre undoubtedly thinking, if it is so simple, why is the health level of the overall population declining at a record pace?
Of course the key to how one becomes healthy and maintains health is not difficult. In fact you may already know several of the things you should be doing to improve your health. It becomes complicated when we are faced with choices that are less than healthful and they cloud our judgment. These distractions compete for our attention with more healthful alternatives that may not seem quite as exciting.
We must allow ourselves to become focused by gaining an understanding of what is required in order to get the big prize – a healthy life. Basically there are three parts we need to master including proper nutrition, fitness, and finally the motivation to keep on track with both.
Proper nutrition, or healthy eating, is probably the most basic and easiest to understand principle of good health. Virtually everyone is aware when they are eating something that is healthful versus a food that is void of nutritional value.
Many times the simplest method of including a majority of healthful foods in the diet is to focus on good foods to eat rather than on bad foods that should not be eaten. As with most things in life, focusing on the positive usually produces the best results. Try to include as many fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains as possible in each days meal plan. By including a large amount of good foods each day, you will find that theres little room left for the not-so-good foods. Proper nutrition will be nearly automatic.
Unlike nutrition, fitness is a bit more difficult to incorporate into daily life. The primary reason for this is that everyone must eat in order to live. Achieving proper nutrition simply means making the right choices for something you are going to do anyway. Activity, however, is not something we must do every day. Even though we should move every day, we wont suffer major consequences immediately if we dont. Instead, the price will be paid years down the road.
The key to increasing ones fitness is to build upon the activities already in place. For example, walking is an activity that most people perform every day. To get the most of this daily activity, expand the amount of walking you do. For example, park in the back of a parking lot to increase the number of steps it takes to reach your destination. Once inside a multi-level building, take the stairs to move from floor to floor rather than the elevator. Start with small changes and build from there.
Once you have increased your natural activity level it is time to focus on developing a fitness routine. Start slowly with just a short period of time devoted to your program each day. Even ten minutes is a good start. The key is to start a program and stick with it.
Sticking with it is where the motivation factor comes in. Motivation is tricky and its different for everyone. Many people are motivated by doing something routinely and building on it. If youre one of those people, consider yourself lucky and just get started with your health plans. The rest will take care of itself.
For the rest of us it is important to find what motivates us. Maybe its buying a new workout outfit or trying a new healthful recipe. Many people like to read fitness magazines and search online for new tips and exercise techniques. Others read inspiring stories and quotes.
Whatever it is for you, find it as soon as possible and hold on to it. Getting motivated is the number one key to achieving your health and fitness goals.
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My Pyramid To Health And Fitness
Tracie Johanson asked:
Remember the old Food Pyramid that we were all taught in school? You know, the one that told us to eat more ‘grains and carbohydrates’ than anything else? Last January the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a new symbol and interactive food guidance system called “MyPyramid”. This picture, which replaces the Food Guide Pyramid introduced in 1992, is part of an overall system that emphasizes the need for a more individualized approach to improving diet and lifestyle. The system embodies the recommendations of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advise how proper dietary habits can promote health and reduce the risk of major chronic diseases for people two years of age and older.
True health and fitness professionals are not huge fans of ‘one size fits all’ nutritional programs. As a matter of fact, the reasons most diets fail is that they try to fit you (an individual) into a program designed for everyone. Honestly, did we ever believe that one dietary recommendation (the old Food Guide Pyramid) was valid for everyone in the USA?
This strong aversion to the ‘one size fits all’ dietary guideline is exactly why we like the new MyPyramid so much. Take for example this quote copied directly from the MyPyramid website: “One size doesn’t fit all. MyPyramid Plan can help you choose the foods and amounts that are right for you. For a quick estimate of what and how much you need to eat, enter your age, sex, and activity level in the MyPyramid Plan box. For a detailed assessment of your food intake and physical activity level, click on MyPyramid Tracker.” (Source: mypyramid.gov)
What We Like About The New Guidelines:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has done a fine job of updating the Food Guide Pyramid and adding specifics that we find helpful. For example:
1) MyPyramid make a distinction between ‘grains’ and ‘whole grains’, which is critical for life-long health and fitness.
2) Rather than just suggesting we ‘eat fruits and vegetables’ (which may prompt some to drink fruit juice and think they’re being healthy), MyPyramid encourages the consumption of a broad range of fresh fruits and vegetables while at the same time discouraging fruit juices (which are often lacking in nutrition and full of empty calories).
3) MyPyramid suggests that we consume low-fat dairy products, rather than just dairy products. Some milk, and most cheeses, are FULL of saturated fat and may be harmful. The new recommendations take this into account and prompt us to look for healthy dairy choices.
4) Just like it does with the dairy category, MyPyramid tells us to search out low-fat protein choices like fish and nuts. The new guidelines even teach us about healthy oils vs. harmful fats.
5) Finally, and most importantly, MyPyramid actually discusses exercise. Finally! The guidelines demonstrate the difference between moderate and vigorous activity, and provide broad recommendations targeted towards the average American.
What We Don’t Like About The New Guidelines:
1) The MyPyramid website (mypyramid.gov) has a section called ‘My Pyramid Plan’ that estimates BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). In other words, this site estimates how many calories we should consume each day. The problem is that they (the USDA) use only our age, *** and physical activity level to determine our caloric goal. No mention is made of height differences or the amount of lean muscle mass we have on our frame. Lean muscle mass is a huge factor in determining caloric needs, so we were disappointed to see that it’s not included in these calculations. Broad generalizations like this fail to take into account individual differences, and thus are almost always sure to be inaccurate for many of us.
2) The ‘Physical Activity’ section of MyPyramid fails miserably in that it doesn’t provide the exercise education we need in order to be successful. No mention is made of the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, or the role of resistance exercise in a healthy lifestyle.
While the new USDA guidelines are certainly much better than the old Food Guide Pyramid, we were still discouraged to see that MyPyramid does not fully address exercise. Until we as a nation understand the basic facts about exercise, we will continue to struggle with fat and weight issues.
Create a video blog…instantly.
Remember the old Food Pyramid that we were all taught in school? You know, the one that told us to eat more ‘grains and carbohydrates’ than anything else? Last January the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a new symbol and interactive food guidance system called “MyPyramid”. This picture, which replaces the Food Guide Pyramid introduced in 1992, is part of an overall system that emphasizes the need for a more individualized approach to improving diet and lifestyle. The system embodies the recommendations of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advise how proper dietary habits can promote health and reduce the risk of major chronic diseases for people two years of age and older.
True health and fitness professionals are not huge fans of ‘one size fits all’ nutritional programs. As a matter of fact, the reasons most diets fail is that they try to fit you (an individual) into a program designed for everyone. Honestly, did we ever believe that one dietary recommendation (the old Food Guide Pyramid) was valid for everyone in the USA?
This strong aversion to the ‘one size fits all’ dietary guideline is exactly why we like the new MyPyramid so much. Take for example this quote copied directly from the MyPyramid website: “One size doesn’t fit all. MyPyramid Plan can help you choose the foods and amounts that are right for you. For a quick estimate of what and how much you need to eat, enter your age, sex, and activity level in the MyPyramid Plan box. For a detailed assessment of your food intake and physical activity level, click on MyPyramid Tracker.” (Source: mypyramid.gov)
What We Like About The New Guidelines:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has done a fine job of updating the Food Guide Pyramid and adding specifics that we find helpful. For example:
1) MyPyramid make a distinction between ‘grains’ and ‘whole grains’, which is critical for life-long health and fitness.
2) Rather than just suggesting we ‘eat fruits and vegetables’ (which may prompt some to drink fruit juice and think they’re being healthy), MyPyramid encourages the consumption of a broad range of fresh fruits and vegetables while at the same time discouraging fruit juices (which are often lacking in nutrition and full of empty calories).
3) MyPyramid suggests that we consume low-fat dairy products, rather than just dairy products. Some milk, and most cheeses, are FULL of saturated fat and may be harmful. The new recommendations take this into account and prompt us to look for healthy dairy choices.
4) Just like it does with the dairy category, MyPyramid tells us to search out low-fat protein choices like fish and nuts. The new guidelines even teach us about healthy oils vs. harmful fats.
5) Finally, and most importantly, MyPyramid actually discusses exercise. Finally! The guidelines demonstrate the difference between moderate and vigorous activity, and provide broad recommendations targeted towards the average American.
What We Don’t Like About The New Guidelines:
1) The MyPyramid website (mypyramid.gov) has a section called ‘My Pyramid Plan’ that estimates BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). In other words, this site estimates how many calories we should consume each day. The problem is that they (the USDA) use only our age, *** and physical activity level to determine our caloric goal. No mention is made of height differences or the amount of lean muscle mass we have on our frame. Lean muscle mass is a huge factor in determining caloric needs, so we were disappointed to see that it’s not included in these calculations. Broad generalizations like this fail to take into account individual differences, and thus are almost always sure to be inaccurate for many of us.
2) The ‘Physical Activity’ section of MyPyramid fails miserably in that it doesn’t provide the exercise education we need in order to be successful. No mention is made of the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, or the role of resistance exercise in a healthy lifestyle.
While the new USDA guidelines are certainly much better than the old Food Guide Pyramid, we were still discouraged to see that MyPyramid does not fully address exercise. Until we as a nation understand the basic facts about exercise, we will continue to struggle with fat and weight issues.
Create a video blog…instantly.
Top 10 Health And Fitness Tips – Get In The Best Shape Of Your Life
Ryan Cote asked:
Below are our top 10 health and fitness tips, in no particular order. From healthy eating habits to exercise programs, these health and fitness tips will help you get smarter about weight loss, wellness and healthy living overall.
1. Drink more water. You hear this all the time and there’s a reason for that – because it’s important! Drinking water curbs your hunger, hydrates your body and nourishes you from the inside out, including your skin. Aim for half your body weight in ounces per day. i.e. if you weigh 150 lbs, you would aim to drink 75 ounces of water per day.
2. For faster fat loss and a stronger heart, try sprint interval training. The basic format of sprint interval training is sprint/walk/sprint/walk, etc. Pick a stretch of road that is flat for 50 yards – sprint the 50 yards, walk back slowly, repeat – do this 10 times. Make sure you’re warmed up before you start sprinting and that you warm down when you’re done. Sprint interval training boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete.
3. Stay away from sugar! When you consume sugar, it causes your body to release insulin – and insulin causes your body to store fat. That’s why those fat-free cookies with extra sugar are actually causing you to gain weight. Read the ingredients label and stay away from products heavy in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. “Healthy” breakfast cereals and bars are notorious for being high in these two ingredients.
4. Add more of the following foods to your diet: whole grains, olive oil, eggs, natural peanut butter, fish, poultry, berries, apples, almonds, protein powder and water. These foods will help you burn more fat, stay in shape and better your health.
5. Add weight training to your exercise routine. Adding muscle to your body increases your life span, makes you stronger and burns fat. If you’re looking to tone up, use a weight that you can lift 8-12 times; if you’re looking to add bulk, use a weight you can lift 4-6 times. Weight train 2-3 times per week and keep your weight training sessions to 45 minutes max.
6. At a minimum, add a quality multivitamin to your diet and fish oil softgels (omega-3 fatty acids). Most people don’t get a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals from foods alone so it’s important you compliment your healthy eating habits with a strong multi. The fish oil softgels are important because most people’s diets are severely lacking in omega-3 fatty acids and this is suspected to be a contributing factor to many health diseases, including obesity. Fish oil softgels are the easiest way to add omega-3’s to your diet – consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of omega-3’s per day.
7. Add more Wild Alaskan salmon to your diet. It’s extremely high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, and low in fat – an incredibly healthy combination. And Wild Alaskan salmon is very low in mercury, the one problem with regular salmon.
8. Stay away from foods that contain hydrogenated oils and processed foods altogether. Hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, wreck havoc on your body and some states are even banning them. Read the ingredients of the food you are eating – it will indicate if it contains hydrogenated oils – and if it does, toss it! Processed foods are the chemically-altered, packaged foods like many of the foods targeted towards kids nowadays. Usually you can tell a food is processed if the ingredients show a list of chemicals a mile long.
9. A simple way to keep your weight under control is stop eating before you’re full. Portion control is an easy way to make sure you don’t over eat and gain weight. If you continuously eat until your uncomfortably full, you’ll consume too many calories and stretch your stomach out, causing you to eat more often.
10. Give yoga a try because you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes when your body is limber and flexible, plus it will help reduce your chances of injury. Yoga consists of 15-20 minutes of deep stretching and usually meditation. Your body will feel younger and you’ll have less stress – combine this with cardio, weight training and a healthy diet, and in 12 weeks you’ll be in the best shape of your life.
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Below are our top 10 health and fitness tips, in no particular order. From healthy eating habits to exercise programs, these health and fitness tips will help you get smarter about weight loss, wellness and healthy living overall.
1. Drink more water. You hear this all the time and there’s a reason for that – because it’s important! Drinking water curbs your hunger, hydrates your body and nourishes you from the inside out, including your skin. Aim for half your body weight in ounces per day. i.e. if you weigh 150 lbs, you would aim to drink 75 ounces of water per day.
2. For faster fat loss and a stronger heart, try sprint interval training. The basic format of sprint interval training is sprint/walk/sprint/walk, etc. Pick a stretch of road that is flat for 50 yards – sprint the 50 yards, walk back slowly, repeat – do this 10 times. Make sure you’re warmed up before you start sprinting and that you warm down when you’re done. Sprint interval training boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete.
3. Stay away from sugar! When you consume sugar, it causes your body to release insulin – and insulin causes your body to store fat. That’s why those fat-free cookies with extra sugar are actually causing you to gain weight. Read the ingredients label and stay away from products heavy in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. “Healthy” breakfast cereals and bars are notorious for being high in these two ingredients.
4. Add more of the following foods to your diet: whole grains, olive oil, eggs, natural peanut butter, fish, poultry, berries, apples, almonds, protein powder and water. These foods will help you burn more fat, stay in shape and better your health.
5. Add weight training to your exercise routine. Adding muscle to your body increases your life span, makes you stronger and burns fat. If you’re looking to tone up, use a weight that you can lift 8-12 times; if you’re looking to add bulk, use a weight you can lift 4-6 times. Weight train 2-3 times per week and keep your weight training sessions to 45 minutes max.
6. At a minimum, add a quality multivitamin to your diet and fish oil softgels (omega-3 fatty acids). Most people don’t get a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals from foods alone so it’s important you compliment your healthy eating habits with a strong multi. The fish oil softgels are important because most people’s diets are severely lacking in omega-3 fatty acids and this is suspected to be a contributing factor to many health diseases, including obesity. Fish oil softgels are the easiest way to add omega-3’s to your diet – consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of omega-3’s per day.
7. Add more Wild Alaskan salmon to your diet. It’s extremely high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, and low in fat – an incredibly healthy combination. And Wild Alaskan salmon is very low in mercury, the one problem with regular salmon.
8. Stay away from foods that contain hydrogenated oils and processed foods altogether. Hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, wreck havoc on your body and some states are even banning them. Read the ingredients of the food you are eating – it will indicate if it contains hydrogenated oils – and if it does, toss it! Processed foods are the chemically-altered, packaged foods like many of the foods targeted towards kids nowadays. Usually you can tell a food is processed if the ingredients show a list of chemicals a mile long.
9. A simple way to keep your weight under control is stop eating before you’re full. Portion control is an easy way to make sure you don’t over eat and gain weight. If you continuously eat until your uncomfortably full, you’ll consume too many calories and stretch your stomach out, causing you to eat more often.
10. Give yoga a try because you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes when your body is limber and flexible, plus it will help reduce your chances of injury. Yoga consists of 15-20 minutes of deep stretching and usually meditation. Your body will feel younger and you’ll have less stress – combine this with cardio, weight training and a healthy diet, and in 12 weeks you’ll be in the best shape of your life.
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