Ironman Triathlon with Type 1 diabetes
March 17, 2010
Filed under Triathlon Videos
Intro video for Jay Hewitt, Ironman Triathlete with Type 1 diabetes, motivational speaker, www.finishlinevision.com.
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Yeast Infection, Candida, Diabetes and the Raw Food Diet
January 25, 2010
Filed under Diet And Nutrition
The reason that tied candidiasis, fungal infections and diabetes with raw food is that all three of these things can be cured with raw food. And Type 2 – diabetes. Do not believe me? Do a quick search on Google "first" for 30 days, and diabetes. "People with diabetes are more prone to candida too.
Candida is the cause of fungal infections, to cure your candida, you automatically get a yeast infection, and release. Candida, the symbol of candidiasis, is caused by hypertrophy of Candida albicans in the body. Sugar, stress, stress, antibiotics, the pill is the reason that the peak of the population and can cause problems for your body. The sugar is what fuels, ie people who eat a diet high in sugar, probably. People with diabetes, probably a history of high consumption of sugar, so a risk to the risk to others.
In any case, try to wait for the consumption of raw materials for 30 days and life changing results. Raw food has been introduced to Tyra Banks Show, and even material Woody Harrison Foodista – bet you did not know, you must complete an incredible amount of energy, lose a few kilos and detoxify all at once. With the first I do not want raw meat or dairy products. The media, including raw foods such as pineapple, young coconut, avocado, pomegranate, melon, tomato, etc. There are more nutrients in cooked foods and has much less sugar. If you do not know what to eat stir the mixture with fresh fruit. Or in a salad with nuts, fruits and vegetables.
A conscientious diner
While the first step in a diet is the best way to make a conscious diner. It's not only food in my mouth. Avoid highly processed foods like white flour with nothing inside. Junk food with lots of sugar, fruit juice, cola drinks, fried foods. At Coca-Cola, a drink of water. Participation of more and more fruits and vegetables in your diet changed completely into you. Be sure to eat enough calories.
Ft Myers Running Club
October 21, 2009
Filed under Running
The Joy of Running
Running is a popular sport that attracts a variety of people of all ages. While everyone has different reasons for running, the health benefits of running are the enjoyed by everyone who participates. Here are the Top 10:
1. Weight Loss
Running is an awesome calorie burning workoutand when combined with good eating habitscan assist with fat loss and weight control. The key is to burn more calories than you consume.
Running also increases lean muscle which increases metabolic rate.
2. Maintain Bone Density
Weight bearing exercises such as running, help to reduce the loss of bone density, aidingin the prevention of osteoporosis.
3. Prevention of Diabetes
Running is a great cardiovascular workout and as such can help to prevent the onset of diabetes and lessen the symptoms of diabetes if you currently have the condition.
4. Strengthens Cardiovascular System
Your heart is a muscle and will receive great benefit from exercise that elevates your heart rate for extended periods Running can help to prevent heart attacks and also benefit your arteries. When you run, your heart pumps harder to keep up with the increase oxygen needs of the body. This increases the pressure flowing through your arteries and clears of the plaquewhich might otherwise block arteries.
5. Stress Reduction / Relief
A good run can help to release stress along with sweat and toxins. The intense physical activity encourages better relaxation and also enhances sleep.
6. Increases Lung Function
Regular running increases the number of capillaries that supply oxygen to your lungs. Whenyour lungs become more efficient your respiratory system improves over time.
7. Promotes a Sense of Well Being
Running promotes a better quality of life in numerous waysways. If you are leaner and more healthy you just naturally feel better. When you are less stressed and more relaxed you feel better. Running also releases endorphins and can produce what is known as a runner's high.
8.
Running is inexpensive and doesn't require any special equipment. Other activities may also require access to specific locations. This is not the case with running. It only requires a good pair of running shoes, comfortable clothing, and a safe environment
9. Spend Time Outdoors
Running is a sport that permits you to spend time enjoying the great outdoors. You can get your daily dose of Vitamin D and enjoychange of scenery at the same time.
10. Meet New People
Running is a good group activity. It's a great way to meet other runners and share in group workouts.
Join A Running Club
If you would like to meet others, share workouts, and socialize then you may want to join a running club. The 3D Running Club is a Fort Myers, FL running club that promotes running among athletes of all abilities and ages, to train and run all the year around with the help and support of others.
The 3D philosophy is one of dedication, discipline, and desire. If you would like to share the benefits of running with others, then 3D Running Club may be the club for you.
Click here to check out the Fort Myers Running Club.
Here's another site worth checking out Top 10 Reasons To Run
Debby Wier is an internet marketing specialist who also blogs and writes articles on a wide variety of topics.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/track-and-field-articles/ft-myers-running-club-1146225.html
Health & Fitness – 15 Tips and Benefits to Get the Best of You
August 20, 2009
Filed under Diet And Nutrition
Exercise, workouts, wellness some of those words are familiar for you.
But how many times have you heard or said these:
- I've no time!
- I live in a hurry every day!
- I'm too busy to exercise!
- I don't know where to start!
- Tomorrow I begin!…often never
No excuse is valid; it isn't necessary to make big trainings or running marathons to have the best health possible…if you're a foodie (like me too), there're so many temptations..sometimes is a bit tricky.. but certainly you can achieve it
With small changes in your home or office you can beat your sedentary lifestyle!
Lets talk clear: foodies prefer to eat than to make exercise …but you know I'm an amateur-personal trainer (for my friends, relatives and occasionally people I don't know…) and some of the no-phrases said before were also in my mouth as a food lover
I don't give the example of a friend that we begun to train together various years ago, she was with an overweight of more than 55 pounds (25 kgs).
The nutritionist told her that in 1 year you can download doing exercise and eating healthy…in only in 3 months got a normal weight, she was less tired and guess what.. eating more but in a balance way!
In a series of articles on health, nutrition and sports I'm going to expose some health guides, tips & tricks from a foodie point of view -beginning from less to more- you'll see significant progress, actually you'll be astonished
With Regular Physical Activity, Good Hydration & Eating Reasonably You Win:
1.-Prevent heart diseases
2.-Control and improve your blood pressure
3.-Preventing and combating diabetes (potential problem of sweet lovers)
4.-Lose weight – a delicious bonus that always come very good! Practically it's an epidemic disease in the developed world, in both adults and children
5.-Help to fight depression, anxiety, improving your mood (for the natural endorphins, substances secreted by the body during exercise)
6.-Prevent lumbar and lower back injuries; in hands and feet too (typical of runners with potential falls & sprains…I ate some, but with exercise I've minimized them)
7.-Prevention of brain problems (more oxygen in your brain is always good)
8.-Improve your self-esteem and you'll lower your stress also
9.-Improves your sleep
And the list could go on and on!!
If you aren't accustomed to have an exercise plan, you can start adding a little more movement into your daily life:
10.-In the morning or when you can, stretch your muscles.
11.-In buildings why you don't use the stairways instead of the elevator (if you aren’t hurried) for example stop the elevator 1 floor before reaching your destination. Quick and easy…
12.-Walk for 10 minutes at least 3 times a day (Read your favorite food blogs and later walk
13.-When shopping or doing some tasks, park your car a few blocks before your destiny and walk.
14.-If you use public transport, pick it some blocks before or get off a few blocks to your destiny (if the day is nice there is no excuse)
15.-Dance! While you listen music dance, it's an excellent aerobic exercise (if you're at your office take care… unless you're a super dancer
After you've passed certain sedentary habits, I'll be increasing the types and classes of exercises, explain different appropriated healthy foods and useful tips…I assure you from my personal experience, you won't believe it!
Note: Before start to do some "exercise" is a must to get a visit to your doctor! Yes, I'm pretty sure that you already knew it
I'm very interested to hear your opinions and comments about this health theme.
Runners who don’t train well can have marathon of miseries
Today, as an estimated 20,000 runners begin their mad dash from Hopkinton to Boston, Dr. Malissa Wood, a cardiologist, four-time marathoner, and codirector of the Massachusetts General Hospital Women's Cardiovascular Health Center, will be setting up shop in the corner of the medical tent at the finish line.
As soon as they're finished, about 25 amateur runners will stroll or hobble over to Wood's corner to let her take a sample of their blood. They will also get a noninvasive test to see how well their hearts are working after the stress of running for about four hours. And, as they have done every year since 2003, Wood and her Mass. General colleagues will compare these postrace test results to the prerace exams done two weeks earlier.
The Mass. General findings on Boston marathoners — three published papers to date and two pending — are sobering and lend support to the idea that while moderate exercise is perhaps the most important thing a person can do for health, taking it to extremes, like a marathon, may be dangerous.
Among marathon runners, the biggest cardiac risk seems to arise in people who train the least. People who worked up to a marathon by running at least 45 miles a week for at least three to four months ''were golden. They didn't get into any trouble at all," said Wood. ''If they trained less than 35 miles a week, they were in big trouble."
Translated for the rest of us, this means that for people who are not in peak shape ''sudden, strenuous activity can trigger a heart attack," said Dr. Arthur Siegel, a 20-time marathoner and director of internal medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital in Belmont.
Roughly 450,000 Americans run in marathons every year. And 325,000 do triathlons, which involves swimming, biking, and running, according to USA Triathlon, the sport's organizing body. Many of these are not well-trained athletes but newcomers who race to raise money for charities. That means, said Siegel, that in many such events, participants ''are getting older and slower. That's where the cardiac risk comes in, especially for middle-aged men with previously silent heart disease."
Moderation is the key, said Dr. Harvey Simon, an avid runner, former marathoner, Mass. General internist, and author of ''The No Sweat Exercise Plan," which advocates very moderate exercise — even as moderate as gardening and housework — instead of extreme exertion like marathoning.
''The greatest hazard of exercise is not doing it," said Simon.
''I used to preach 'No pain, no gain,' but now I say, ''No pain, big gain,' " he said. The whole ''aerobics doctrine" that a person needs a lot of strenuous exercise ''inspired the few but discouraged the many," he said. Even walking at the extremely leisurely pace of half an hour per mile has benefits.
Study after study has shown that moderate, regular exercise can indeed reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hip fracture, and some kinds of cancer.
But exercising moderately takes patience and persistence. If you have not been exercising regularly, you should work up over several weeks to walking 45 minutes a day at least five days a week, said exercise physiologist Kerry Stewart at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
At first you may have to stop every few minutes and rest, he said. That's fine — just start up again. If you get chest pains or severe shortness of breath, of course, stop and call your doctor. If you have heart disease or have had a heart attack, check with your doctor before starting or substantially increasing your workouts.
You shouldn't underdo exercise, but you shouldn't overdo it, either. Chronic fatigue, trouble sleeping, muscle tiredness, nagging congestion or sore throat, persistent aches and pains, and depression are common signs that you may be working out too hard, said Siegel. To avoid this, try not to increase your exercise duration or intensity by more than 10 percent over any two-week period.
The easiest way to gauge whether you're working hard enough is to use the ''sing/talk test": Work hard enough that you can't sing but can talk.
Experienced athletes ''know how delicate the balance is between training to obtain optimal performance and overtraining to the point where muscle function begins to deteriorate," said Dr. Christopher Cooper, an exercise physiologist at UCLA. But for amateurs, finding that balance point can be hard.
As for marathoners, Wood and her Mass. General colleagues have found that running 26.2 miles can lead to clear signs of cardiac stress. They have found that cardiac troponin, a chemical that shows up in blood tests only when heart muscle is damaged, rises in 60 percent of runners, and in some, it rises so high that ''if you had just looked at these scores, these people would have been admitted to the hospital for heart attacks," Wood said.
They've found that another chemical, BNP, or brain natriuretic peptide, another red flag for cardiac dysfunction, goes up after a marathon in 60 percent of runners. Platelets also become activated and more likely to form the clots that can trigger heart attacks, according to a just-published paper by Siegel and Alexander Kratz, director of the hematology lab at Mass. General. And, as shown on echocardiograms, the heart's ability to relax after each beat remains impaired for at least several weeks in most marathoners.
Bottom line? You don't have to run a marathon to get into good shape. Just put on comfortable shoes, get out, and walk. Moderately. And consistently.
A balanced diet for runners
August 9, 2009
Filed under Diet And Nutrition, Running
.jpg "A balanced diet for runners")
Top nutrition tips to get you started in running
Getting fit and active through a running training programme is a great way of keeping your body and mind fit and healthy. However, a balanced run training plan also requires a balanced diet, to ensure you have the right energy intake to suit your body's running workouts. Here's the realbuzz introduction to running nutrition, guiding you on the best things to eat if you're looking to build those all-important running energy reserves.
We are all becoming more aware of the physiological and psychological rewards of being physically active, notably through running. If you need to lose weight or want to avoid becoming overweight, then the best way is to increase your physical activity levels, and to reduce your dietary fat intake, which can be achieved by decreasing your intake of starchy and sugary carbohydrates.
Even if you didn’t lose weight, but became fitter, it would help you avoid the many health complications of being overweight and so increase your life quality and expectancy. Furthermore, taking part in regular running exercise or other sports also helps reduce your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and certain forms of cancer. And, not forgetting the important role that physical activity plays in your mental well-being.
So, the recommendation that everyone should accumulate 30 minutes or more of physical activity over the course of most days of the week is thoroughly justified. But how do we go about becoming more active? If you’re pretty sedentary at the moment, then what you need to do is to modify your lifestyle to build in more running or other physical activities.
So start by becoming less sedentary, for example decreasing the time you spend watching television, surfing the net or playing computer games. Next try to be more active, take the stairs instead of the lift, park further away from the supermarket, or get off the bus one stop earlier and walk the rest of the way. Then gradually add some sustained exercise to your daily routine, such as brisk walking, cycling or swimming.
Yes, the aim is to be doing at least 30 minutes of continuous exercise five days per week, but gradual is the key, so try three lots of ten minutes to start with, and take it from there. The next question is – how do we fuel these bursts of running and other physical energy?
Dietary considerations for runners
The dietary considerations for fuelling a healthy, active lifestyle can be found in more detail in the following sections, but here are the basics.
As we know, a healthy balanced diet is essential for good health. The key to making our diet healthy and balanced is simply everything in moderation, plus extra carbohydrates if you’re running or exercising.
But why the emphasis on carbohydrates? Well, no matter what type of exercise or running you do, your body will always use some glucose for energy. Glucose is formed from the breakdown of carbohydrates – the sugars and starches in your diet – and is stored as glycogen. However, the body can only store a limited amount of glycogen, so the stores need to be kept topped-up to avoid fatigue. If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, but continue to exercise you will soon become sluggish and dizzy and your exercise goals will go right out the window!
The more physical activity you do, the more glucose your body uses, the more carbohydrates you need to consume to replenish your stores. Therefore, physically active people need to consume a diet where more than half of it comes from carbohydrate foods. The bulk of your carbohydrate intake should come from the starchy sources such as bread, rice, potatoes and pasta and the remaining from more sugary sources such as sugar, fruit and juices.
However, as most carbohydrate foods, for example pasta or sugars, are eventually broken down into glucose, one type is not necessarily better than the other. But, if you’re running regularly, you need to eat a lot of carbohydrates, and there is only so much bread and pasta you can eat, so this is where sugary snacks and drinks have a useful role to play, both in providing you with energy before you exercise, and in helping you restock your glucose stores after exercise, ready for your next bout of physical activity or your next big run.
Although you need to allow two to three hours after a large meal before exercising, a high carbohydrate snack within 30 minutes of training has several benefits. Eating 25-50g of rapidly absorbed carbohydrate just before exercise will not only improve performance, but will also help maintain your blood sugar levels and so prevent you feeling light-headed. There are plenty of portable high carbohydrate snacks to choose from – bagels, honey or jam sandwiches, cereal bars, bananas, watermelon, dried fruit, jelly beans, juice or a sports drink – so find something you fancy.
Top 10 Disease-Fighting Foods
August 8, 2009
Filed under Diet And Nutrition
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 “Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food.” When Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote those words more than 2,400 years ago, he was hundreds of years ahead of his time. Today, thousands of studies around the world confirm Hippocrates’ advice: What you eat has a powerful effect on your health. Functional Foods
The buzz today is about “functional foods” that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Researchers say a diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and cold-water fish can make your immune system stronger and reduce your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and age-related vision and mental problems. Supplements vs. Food
Studies say that taking supplements instead of eating whole foods doesn’t provide the same benefits and may actually increase your risk of disease. Researchers think that the combination of natural chemicals found in whole foods work together to promote health. 10 Important Disease-Fighting Foods
Enjoy the benefits of these top food choices, found on your grocery store’s shelves: Spinach
May prevent age-related vision problems; provides folate, a vitamin critical for reducing birth defects; reduces blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that increases heart disease risk; may protect the brain from aging Broccoli
High in sulforaphane, a naturally occurring compound that may help destroy tumor-causing chemicals; provides indole-3-carbinol, a phytochemical (nutrient that comes from plants) that may protect against estrogen-related cancers Salmon
One of the best sources for omega-3 fatty acid, a type of fat that may reduce the risk of blood clots and cardiovascular disease; has anti-inflammatory effect; may reduce risk of diseases such as diabetes, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, some cancers and mental decline Nuts
Loaded with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acid and vitamin E; helps reduce total blood cholesterol Tomatoes
Rich in lycopene, a phytochemical that seems to play a role in preventing certain cancers Berries
High in cancer-fighting phytochemicals; appear to have brain-protective properties that may help prevent, and possibly reverse, age-related declines in memory and learning ability Beans / Legumes
Excellent source of protein, heart-healthy fiber, folate and antioxidants; may help reduce cholesterol levels Oats
Rich in a type of fiber that’s effective in reducing total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol; effective in regulating blood sugar levels Purple Grape Juice, Red or Purple Grapes, Red Wine
High in a cancer-fighting compound that may also help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease Coffee and Tea
Coffee: Appears to reduce risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and age-related cognitive decline |
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20 Most Surprising Health Benefits of Coffee
August 8, 2009
Filed under Diet And Nutrition
By Sarah Irani
Although coffee gets a bad rap, it’s actually a medicinal food. In fact, this stimulating bean isn’t nearly so bad as we’ve all been taught. Although I’m skeptical about grande latte supplementation in the long run (it’s a drug, after all), I found myself surprised by much of the science on coffee. Poor Ponce de Leon; all this time he should have been searching for the espresso machine.
Step aside, acai. Here are 20 surprising health benefits of coffee.
Apparently, coffee and alcohol really do go together. Believe it or not, alcohol drinkers who also drink coffee regularly have a lower chance of developing cirrhosis of the liver. That’s not to say it’s a healthy lifestyle – obviously, lowering your alcohol consumption is better. But…science says…
Caffeine reduces risk of skin cancer. Sorry, venti quaffers, this prevention method is topical. Lotions containing caffeine (both from coffee and green tea) have been shown to prevent the occurrence of cancerous tumors on the skin – in murine trials, anyway.
Have a smile with your morning brew! If you’re a caffephile, you don’t need this Johns Hopkins study to tell you that a cup or two a day increases your sense of well-being and happiness. You can thank dopamine for that, which also contributes to coffee’s addictive nature. But be aware, the study also noted that more than 2 cups daily increases the risk of anxiety and panic attacks. Some people respond more readily than others – if you find yourself feeling jittery or nervous, ease up on the joe.
Caffeine may reduce chance of Parkinson’s Disease. A 30-year study has shown that non-coffee drinkers have a higher chance of developing Parkinson’s Disease than their coffee-drinking counterparts.
Most Americans get their antioxidants from coffee. That doesn’t mean it’s the best source of antioxidants, just that it’s the most consumed. But, it’s true, coffee is very high in antioxidants. As for me, I’ll stick to fruit.
Black gold. After petroleum, coffee is the second most valuable economic product in the world. Imagine the financial potential of running our cars on coffee grounds.
Coffee may cut colon cancer in women. A 12-year study on Japanese women found that drinking 3 or more cups of coffee per day may actually halve the risk of developing colon cancer. They found no beneficial effect from green tea on the colon – in this case, it was strictly a coffee thing.
Coffee and diabetes, that’s a tricky one. Even though a Finnish study shows that drinking large amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of developing Type-2 Diabetes, coffee drinkers who already have diabetes have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels.
Coffee reduces muscle pain. After a hard workout, a cup or two of coffee has been shown to reduce muscle soreness (in women, anyway) more effectively than naproxen, aspirin and ibuprofen. (But don’t replace your water thermos with coffee.)
Coffee will detox your liver in surprising ways. This remedy is not one for drinking: we’re talking about the coffee enema. Some people swear by it – using a tube to introduce coffee into the rectum and colon in order to stimulate the liver to remove toxins. Definitely not for the squeamish.
Coffee may reduce chance of death from heart disease. Studies show that drinking 4-5 cups of coffee a day can make you less likely to die from heart disease. The researchers think it may have something to do with coffee’s anti-inflammatory effects.
The devil is in the grounds. When coffee, which originated in Ethiopia and became popular in the Arab world, was first introduced to Western culture, Christian priests denounced it as the devil’s drink, given to the Muslims as a substitute for the wine (Christ’s blood) they weren’t allowed to consume. The belief at the time was that any coffee-drinking Christian risked burning in hell forever. Hooray, progress!
Coffee may help with short term memory. It’s probably because of caffeine’s stimulant effects, but an Austrian study showed that volunteers given caffeinated coffee had better reaction times and short-term memory function than those who were given the cup of decaf.
For women, caffeine may prevent long term memory loss. Because caffeine is a psychostimulant, older women who drink 3 or more
cups of coffee or tea a day have less memory loss and cognitive decline than their counterparts who drink less or none. Unfortunately, caffeine consumption doesn’t seem to have any preventative effect against dementia.
Caffeine won’t cause hypertension. Some of the studies can be contradictory and confusing. What we do know is that for non-habitual coffee drinkers, those first few cups will cause a temporary rise in blood pressure, but for regular drinkers, a tolerance develops and won’t cause any long term, permanent increase.
The injustice of cheap coffee. No, it’s not just an injustice to your connoisseur taste buds; conventional coffee farming exploits workers and destroys communities in third world countries. On average, 5% of the profits actually make it back to the farmers, who are hungry, underpaid and treated badly. Why do they work on coffee plantations at all? Because in many cases, the plantations own the most fertile land (which was most often acquired unscrupulously) and the local people won’t survive from subsistence farming alone. How can you avoid supporting the cycle of poverty, corruption and injustice? Only buy Fair Trade certified coffee.
Pesticides in your brew. Because almost all coffee is grown in third world countries with less stringent laws than Europe or the United States, your non-organic cuppa is probably laden with chemicals. That’s not just bad for you, it’s bad for the farmers and the tropical ecosystems in which the coffee is grown. Go organic, will ya?
Pick your poison – literally. Caffeine is an alkaloid, which is a type of poisonous, bitter substance found in plants. Other alkaloids include strychnine, nicotine, morphine, mescaline, and emetine (the deadly ingredient in hemlock). Fortunately, in small quantities the bean is harmless, but it’s worth thinking about if you choose to use other drugs (both pharmaceutical and recreational).
The FDA has approved caffeine for babies. This doesn’t mean you can wake up your sleepy infant with a bottle of latte. Caffeine injections have been used medicinally since 1999 in the United States to stimulate breathing in infants who are experiencing apnea. It’s still recommended that pregnant and breastfeeding women keep their caffeine intake to a minimum, but a modest amount is safe.
Coffee can fight cavities. Just avoid all the sugar and milk! Actually, roasted coffee has some antibacterial properties, particularly against Streptococcus mutans, one of the major causes of cavities. By the way, these properties have nothing to do with caffeine, so decaf drinkers will get the same protection.
Despite the positive health studies, it’s best not to intentionally pick up the caffeine habit if you’re not already a regular coffee drinker. Even though some of the studies suggest drinking 3 or more daily cups to get the benefits, everyone is different. If it makes you jittery and sick to your stomach, stick to a milder pick-me-up like green tea or yerba mate. But if that morning cup makes you feel awake, alive and eager to greet the day, you might as well indulge (in moderation) in the world’s most well-loved drink.
Why Is Exercise Important?
August 2, 2009
Filed under Fitness
We all know we are supposed to exercise but we make excuses not to do it. However, why is exercise so important? Well exercising helps prevent diseases. It reduces the risk for heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes. It can even improve your stamina and delay the aging process. That is good news for us women. We never want to age! Exercising makes, your heart and lungs work better so that daily activities become easier. Things like carrying those heavy groceries, playing with your kids and more. Not to mention regular exercise makes you feel better about yourself. I used to exercise everyday and I did indeed feel good and had more energy. There are three types of exercise Aerobic, Anaerobic, Stretching.
You do not have to do anything too strenuous at first. Take a walk; use the stairs instead of the escalator. Even these small steps can make a big difference. If you are trying to lose weight start small and make sure you eat a well balanced diet. Try cooking at home instead of those fat filled take out dinners. Exercise can also benefit your sleep patterns and make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Also making sure you drink plenty of water can actually help you lose weight. I know from experience that this works. I drink a lot of water and a few years ago, it helped me to feel full and lose weight faster. Make sure to drink plenty of water when exercising to avoid dehydration.
Everyone should exercise including children, adults and the elderly. Children need to exercise to grow and develop strong bones. Far too many children are obese. As well, there are adults who are obese. This can lead to horrible health conditions. People need to realize that exercise is the fastest way to lose that weight. You should do some form of exercise a few times a week. Just do whatever you like, swimming, running, walking etc. It will make your body stronger, fitter and more flexible. Just remember to warm up with stretching exercises and then have a cooling down period the same way. Otherwise, you could end up with an injury. No one wants an injury when you are exercising.
Exercise also removes toxins and waste from the body. Without exercise they are stored as fat in the body. That is where water comes in to help flush these toxins from your body. In fact, for optimal health you should be expelling waste a few times a day. However, how many of us actually go to the washroom that often? No wonder we have problems! In this world of immediate satisfaction, we are told to reward ourselves with food. This is the wrong message for some people who are battling weight issues. We all need to get up from our seats, stretch, and move and buy something other then those sweet treats! Wouldn’t you rather be muscle toned, slim, and fit into those jeans then overweight and tired and flabby and have nothing to wear?
The Myth of Moderate Exercise
July 30, 2009
Filed under Diet & Fitness
By Laura Blue
.jpg "The Myth of Moderate Exercise")
Obesity experts agree that daily exercise is essential for good health, but whether it can successfully lead to long-term weight loss is a question of much debate. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the conventionally accepted advice — 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week — is probably insufficient to spur any real change in a person’s body weight. A study published July 28 in the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to the burgeoning scientific consensus: when it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It suggests that obese people would have to exercise at least an hour at a time to see any significant difference in their weight.
The study, led by John Jakicic at the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 200 overweight or obese women ages 21 to 45 through a two-year weight-loss program. The women were given free treadmills to use at home, regular group meetings and telephone pep talks to help keep them on track. Participants were also asked to restrict their food intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, and were randomized to one of four physical activity intervention groups based on energy expenditure (either 1,000 calories or 2,000 calories burned per week) and exercise intensity (high vs. moderate). By the end of the 24-month intervention, the women who managed to lose at least 10% of their starting body weight (which was, on average, about 193 lbs.) — and keep it off — were exercising twice as long as health authorities typically recommend and expending more than twice as many calories through exercise as women who had no change in body weight. The biggest weight losers were active a full 68 minutes a day, five days a week (about 55 minutes a day more than they had been before the trial began), burning an extra 1,848 calories a week.
Jakicic and his colleagues originally designed their study to measure whether weight loss could really be achieved and maintained through moderate-intensity exercise, akin to "walking when you’re late for a meeting," he says, or whether it was preferable to engage in shorter bursts of more vigorous-intensity activity, "like, when you’re late for the bus, chasing it down." The problem was that not enough of the women stuck with their assigned exercise categories for the researchers to gather enough meaningful data. Within a few months, most of the participants had resorted to exercising as much as they chose to. That left researchers with a slightly different data set than they had planned for, but they were still able to associate women’s reported physical activity with their weight loss. Indeed, exercise was more strongly associated with weight loss than any other factor, including diet. Overall, the more the women exercised, the more weight they lost.
More than half of the study participants managed to lose at least 10% of their body weight within the first six months. At the half-year mark, however, most of those women relapsed and started gaining the weight back — a discouragingly common phenomenon. "The major outcome of this paper is the maintenance issue," Jakicic says. Once a patient hits her target weight, he says, it’s imperative that she stick with her exercise and diet regimen to maintain her new weight.
Still, the underlying question remains: are diet and exercise a reliable cure for obesity? Modern-day obesity researchers are skeptical — achieving thinness, they say, is not simply a matter of willpower. Research suggests that weight may largely be regulated by biology, which helps determine the body’s "set point," a weight range of about 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. that the body tries hard to defend. The further you push you weight beyond your set point — either up or down the scale — some researchers say, the more your body struggles to return to it. That might help to explain why none of the women in Jakicic’s study managed to lose much more than 10% of their body weight. After two years on a calorie-restricted diet, keeping up more than an hour of physical activity five days a week on average, most were still clinically overweight (though much less so than before). But what Jakicic and other obesity researchers stress is that a 10% reduction in body weight represents a tremendous boon for overall well-being, lowering blood pressure, improving heart health and reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes. For the obese, the end goal should not be thinness, but health and self-acceptance, which are more realistic and beneficial objectives. "The women’s health was absolutely improved," Jakicic says.
Jakicic, in fact, seems heartened by his findings. "I think the beauty of this study is that we now have a target" — a better idea of how much exercise is needed for weight maintenance. There is, of course, some variation in how people respond. Some of the study participants fared well with less exercise than the additional 275 minutes per week (about 55 minutes per day, five days a week) that the study’s author now recommends for weight maintenance. Others needed more. But the keys to success, according to Jakicic, were embracing the weight-loss program fully, and finding a way around the daily obstacles to exercising — that’s something he says many of his participants were able to achieve, regardless of their socioeconomic group. So, if you’re aiming to lose weight and keep it off, his message is clear: don’t slack off.
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