You are what you eat. If you eat junk, it will be reflected in your health. If you don't exercise, you will lose muscle mass and calcium density in your bones. The top 10 causes of illness and death in the U.S. have a nutrition component and many have a lack of exercise component as well. Controlling your weight is one of the best ways to reduce your risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. If you want to live a healthier life, eat healthy foods and exercise to maintain a healthy body weight.
Antioxidants
You need a variety of vegetables and fruits daily because they each contain different protective nutrients.
The best advice is for your daily consumption of food to consist of:
* At least 3 servings of dark-green, yellow, or orange vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes; * At least 2 servings of fruit; and * Six to eleven servings of whole-grain breads and cereals.
To reduce your cancer risk, follow an overall dietary pattern that includes:
* A proportion of plant foods (fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans), * Limited amount of meat, dairy, and other high-fat foods, and * A balance of caloric intake and physical activity.
How Much to Drink?
You may have heard that you need at least 8 glasses of water per day. This quantity won't hurt a healthy adult, but such a one-size-fits-all answer fails to tell the whole story about the body's necessary balance of fluid intake and loss. We normally lose about 10 cups (2.4 liters) of fluid a day in sweat, urine, exhaled air, and bowel movements. What is lost must be replaced with water. Food contains water as well. Your thirst is generally a good guide for when you need to replace fluids, and water is generally the best choice. If you are normal and have a normal set of kidneys and lungs, the maximum amount of water tolerated is huge and the minimum is at least 8 eight-ounce glasses a day. Caffeinated and alcoholic beverages are actually dehydrating because they increase urine output, so don't count on those to replenish fluid loss. Studies have shown that during vigorous exercise, an important amount of fluid reserve may be lost before you are aware of thirst. Make sure you are sufficiently hydrated before, during, and after exercise. During exercise it's recommended to replenish fluids at least every twenty minutes.
Fat Intake
There is no Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for fat. As little as 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil a day provides our needs for essential fatty acids. Too much fat provides excess calories, can aggravate weight, and increase risk for heart disease and some cancers. Health experts recommend getting no more than 30% of our calories from fat - with no more than 10% from saturated.
Getting a handle on your diet is just the first step toward losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle. In order to tame the weight loss beast, you MUST change your physical habits as well as your eating habits. You don’t necessarily have to exert yourself as if you were training for the Olympics, but you definitely need to learn how to burn off more calories than you consume. Once you have accomplished that, you can step in to a regimen to maintain your ideal weight.
Individual activity goals depend upon each person’s health and weight goals and issues. Begin by checking with your medical advisor or healthcare physician to get a green light on which activities would be suitable for you, what your target weight range should be and a strategic plan to improve your health.
In a nutshell, during activities, calories are burned, pounds are shed in the long run. And the number of calories burned depends upon the duration and intensity or the activity. Slow and steady is the rule of thumb. And note daily progress. For those who have never been very active at all, it may be advisable to begin slow like with walking 10 minutes each day, gradually building up time and distance with increased “brisk" pacing. Turn everyday activity into exercise. Even if you can’t get out to walk, bike or swim, take stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Clean your house (changing bedding is great exercise!). Clean your car. Wash windows. Wash your dog. Check out exercise videos, cassettes and workout books from the public library and put some of their ideas into action. Check out your local fitness centers, YMCA, community center, too, for ideas. Partner up with a neighbour to walk or join a community volleyball team. There are unlimited ways to be active and enjoy life at the same time without using painful weight loss strategies.
Here are some more tips.
* Hide your remote control and get up and down to change the channels. * Try balancing on one foot without support while putting on your shoes and socks. * Instead of sitting in the stands while watching your kids play at a ballgame, try pacing the field instead. * Take a brisk ten minute walk each morning, afternoon and evening. * Plant a vegetable garden. You’ll have all that terrific food to eat and exercise in the process! * Walk your dog and keep pace. * Take a Frisbee along and play in the park with your dog. * Park in the furthest parking space. * Take a brisk ten minute walk each morning, afternoon and evening. * Learn a new dance.
Starting today . . . right now . . . this very minute, make a conscious decision that you no longer accept ownership of excess weight. You are not what you weigh. You are a unique human being and entitled to all the gifts that this life has to offer.
Both Gavelseo & Michael Fortomas are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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