Becoming healthy and fit through a balanced diet

February 26, 2011 by  
Filed under Health and fitness

Because of so many illnesses and chronic diseases that occur among people through the years, more and more individuals are playing attention to their health and fitness because these would help them combat certain medical conditions. Today, one of the major reasons why people are overweight or suffer from minor and major health risks is that they don?t practice having a healthy diet.

Effective formula for a healthy diet

Healthy diet?which include eating balanced amount of food from all food groups?along with exercise or regular physical activity can lessen people?s inclination to health problems. Doctors say that though basic principle of healthy diet is simple, there are those people who are having a hard time sticking to it. The major reasons behind this include a super busy lifestyle, work that causes a lot of stress or even an environment that is not conducive to having a healthy diet. Despite hectic schedules and busy lifestyles, people can start and maintain a healthy diet if they really want to. Experts say that nothing is impossible to formulating and effective diets plan if one really wants to achieve a healthy mind and body.

For starters, experts advise a mix up food choices from each food group. Eating a large variety of foods and veggies can also serve as a warm up in avoiding the foods that contribute to drastic weight gain. Having a balanced intake of calcium-rich foods, whole grains, and protein-rich products will also keep you in track. To be able to maintain eating a healthy diet, you must also know your restrictions of fats, salt and sugars levels, and intakes. Lastly, you must monitor your body weight regularly for you to determine if your body is absorbing all the nutrients that it needs.

When do you know if your diet is healthy?

Being free from any illness or medical condition is the major determinant that a person is healthy. For those who are having a hard time identifying what is healthy on their diet and which are now, here are some tips for you. Experts say that a diet is healthy if it is: - based on starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta, and potatoes because they are a good source of energy?not to mention being the main source of a range of nutrients of a person?s diet like fiber, calcium, iron, and vitamin B;

- loaded up a lot of fruits and veggies such as orange, apples, celery, broccoli, carrots, beans and peas because eating at least 5 portions of any variety can provide the vitamins the body needs and it also satisfies hunger without having to worry about fats and excess carbohydrates;

- filled with fish dishes that have high amounts of fish oil because it can provide protein, vitamins, and minerals that are not available to other food groups;

- low on saturated fats and excess sugars such as meat pies, sausages, hard cheese, butter and lard, pastry, cake, biscuits, cream and the others because they are high in complex calories stored in the muscles and sugars that can cause tooth decay.

- less in salt content because experts believe that goods that are high in salt or meals that uses too much salt can raise the person's blood pressure which can lead to more complicated diseases especially those related to coronary illnesses; and

- high in water content because experts believe that for a person to achieve optimum health and fitness, he or she should take in lots and lots of water and foods that are high in fluid content to keep the body well-hydrated.

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Why is it important to have good physical fitness?

February 17, 2011 by  
Filed under Fitness

One of the simplest and most effective ways to bring down blood glucose levels, cut the risk of cardiovascular disease, and improve overall health and well-being is physical fitness and exercise. Yet, in our increasingly sedentary world, where almost every essential task can be performed online, from the driver?s seat, or with a phone call, exercising and being physically fit can be tough case to sell. In reality, everyone should exercise, yet survey shows that only 30% of the United States adult population gets the recommended thirty minutes of daily physical activity, and 25% are not active at all.

Inactivity is thought to be one of the key reasons for the surge of type 2 diabetes in America, because inactivity and obesity promote insulin resistance and other factors that trigger other kinds of diseases.

The good news is that it is never too late to get moving, and exercise is one of the easiest ways to start controlling the onset of any kinds of diseases. For people who are already candidates for some serious diseases like diabetes and heart failure, exercise and physical fitness can improve the condition of some parts of the body like insulin sensitivity, lower the risk of heart disease, and promote weight loss. In 2003, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism had published an issue regarding the result of their study and found out that lack of exercise and physical fitness were the key factors behind obesity and other serious diseases like diabetes.

Hence, it is extremely important for a person to stay healthy and be physically fit in order to avoid such illnesses.

Getting Started

The first order of business with any exercise plan, especially if you are a ?dyed-in-the-wool? couch potato, is to consult with your health care provider.

If you have cardiac factors, your doctor may want to perform a stress test to establish a safe level of exercise for you.

Certain complications of some diseases will also dictate what type of exercise program you can take on. Activities like weightlifting, jogging, or high-impact aerobics can possibly pose a risk for people with diabetic retinopathy due to the risk for further blood vessel damage and possible ?retinal detachment.? Health experts also contend that patients with sever peripheral neuropathy or PN should avoid foot-intensive weight-bearing exercises such as long-distance walking, jogging, or step aerobics and opt instead for low-impact activities like swimming, biking, and rowing.

If you have conditions that make exercise and physical fitness a challenge, your provider may refer you to an exercise physiologist who can design a fitness program for your specific needs. If you are already active in sports or work out regularly, it will still benefit you to discuss your regular routine with your doctor.

The bottom line is that physical fitness and exercise should not have to be a rigid activity and should not come off strong. Your exercise routine can be as simple as a brisk nightly neighborhood walk, walking the dog, or simply taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The important thing is that you keep on moving. Every little bit really helps a lot. In the end, you will realize that the many things that good food can bring you are equally the same as what physical fitness can do for you.

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Why Home Fitness Equipment?

February 11, 2011 by  
Filed under Home Fitness

If you wish to stay healthy even if you are in the prime of your age, the secret is having a great physical condition by eating the right, healthy food and undergoing cardio exercise. Having a sedentary lifestyle is never good to adult individuals, and even to younger ones. Aside from never allowing your body to function properly, you age faster than those working out to stay physically fit. For many people who can no longer manage the rigorous training exercise and rigid workouts in a gym find home fitness program better choice in a bid to stay healthy and physically good.

Why You Should Have Fitness Equipment at Home

One of the good reasons why you have to maintain your physical fitness and healthy body is to avoid tripping frequently to the doctor's office and paying expensive medical bills. It also makes you active in anything you do and especially to your work. A healthy and physically fit body makes you look more confident and smarter. Having fitness equipment at home will help you maintain that condition without the inconveniences of going outside to do the same exercise.

With fitness equipment designed to be operated and used at homes, you no longer have maintain membership fee at a gym, which could be quite relatively expensive. You might look at some fitness equipment as costly too; however, most are cheaper and affordable now. Besides that, even if it is still quite expensive as compared to how much you can afford, you will find having one at home is a lot cheaper if you think how much you save compared to a yearly cost on the gym's membership.

The fitness industry has undergone transition in the past years, and gone are the days when you get bounded by limited time and use because the gym doesn't operate 24 hours a day. With the handy exercisers, you can work out any time, any place, and at all weather conditions. Most home fitness equipments are lightweight, handy, portable, and sometimes trendy so you can actually bring one when you travel or to your office so you can still use at your spare time.

There are choices when it comes to home fitness equipments. Exercise bikes, elliptical trainer, exercise balls, sit-up machine, and tummy exerciser are just some to name a few. These are generally affordable and help you exercise with convenience at home. The good thing about most of these equipments is that there is typically no need to have different types as one machine is usually enough to workout the muscles of many parts of your body and to target your cardio fitness needs. Another advantage is these machines only require you to exert lesser rigorous fitness exercise.

But Fitness Equipment is not Enough

Although you might think about the goodness of having home fitness equipment, you must remember that the key to staying healthy and fit is to engage in a consistent and regular exercise. Not sticking to a regular exercise is not a good idea. If you want a sure way to getting slim and healthy, it is best to plan for a daily target. In addition, eating the right food and getting enough sleep will complete the need to accomplish your physical fitness goal.

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What is the craze with fitness magazines

February 10, 2011 by  
Filed under Fitness

With the concept of staying fit and healthy dominating the society today, how hard you should be pushing yourself depends on your level of fitness and your health history. You can kick off with your doctor?s recommendation regarding optimal heart rate target for working out based on these factors. On the other hand, you may start reading fitness magazines in order to entice you to start toning those thighs and biceps and have beautiful abs that can be very amusing to the others.

Since the advent of the printing technology, printing has been a crucial factor in progressive development of a person as well as a nation. Through prints, you now have some fitness magazines that do not only offer colorful graphics and superb layout but also helpful and useful tips and advices that people can use. Fitness magazines are specifically designed to provide people with facts and information to come up with an improved body and a healthier life.

The best thing about most fitness magazines is that they do not ?beat around the bush.? Most fitness magazines provide you with straightforward, no hype or shortcuts, just detailed and reliable information and feasible tips about fitness, health, and ideas on how to life a quality life. Fitness magazines only provide relevant pieces of information that matter most to you and your family.

Each article written in fitness magazines are classified according to the topics they possess. The categories may range from basic information about foods to the sports and fitness advices from health and fitness experts. Consequently, one of the known benefits of having fitness magazine in the market is based on the premise that people need ageless realities bounded by true-to-life testimonials of other people. The articles written in fitness magazines are based on unfussy, systematic approach specifically made to answer timely issues about health and fitness.

These articles are specifically generated to motivate people to cope up and succeed in spite of the many adversities in life.

Best of all, fitness magazines are also great sources of advertisements that focus more on health products such as vitamins and minerals food supplements and other necessary equipments needed to keep your body at its optimum peak of health. Alternatively, with the advent of information technology, fitness magazines are now available in the Internet. Like its printed replica, electronic forms of fitness magazines likewise provide pertinent information about health and fitness.

The only edge they have with their printed counterparts is that they can be easily accessed anytime, anywhere. You can even download some articles free of charge. There is also a wide array of tips and advices regarding some frequently asked questions of fitness buffs. Moreover, fitness magazines on the Internet also provide some healthy gourmet recipes that fitness aficionados can use. These recipes do not just offer alternative way to stay fit but also provides sumptuous treat to the palate.

Best of all, virtual fitness magazines offers readily available hyperlinks to web sites that offer fitness products and equipments, and with the convenience of online shopping, you can readily purchase these products with just one click. Indeed, there could be no better way to acquire the right information and facts about health and fitness like what fitness magazines can provide. It is definitely your one-stop health journal in a snap.

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Vital Home Fitness and Diet Program Tips For You

February 7, 2011 by  
Filed under Home Fitness

Many people engage in a new diet or exercise program in hopes of slimming down and getting a healthy body. However, not all stick to it and most find themselves falling off the program and getting back to the old way. This is common to individuals who engage in home fitness programs or those who have a self-planned diet program. But the problem is not where the diet or fitness program is attempted. The trouble is the fact that most of these people do not have the right and proper program being followed.

You Need a Plan for a Fitness or Diet Program

No matter what endeavor one is taking, a well-designed plan is the key to achieving it. If you don't have any strict guide to give you the right steps, it is difficult to accomplish anything. Attempting a new health diet and fitness program will never succeed if there is no strict plan, as without it, there is neither direction nor accountability to everything that you are doing. And it applies regardless of whether it is done at a gym center, at home, or even at the office.

Therefore, most of your actions, and results, if there is any, are unfocused and random. It results to an element of vagueness, where instead of being confident that you are doing the right thing you are simply guessing at what you should do and what achievement you will get. Another disadvantage is there is always a high tendency to expect high results. This is particularly true to people who embark on a new fitness and diet program. Fast results are often anticipated that it becomes unrealistic, which of course, end up only to disappointment and frustration.

Design a Long-Term Goal

If you are a home fitness fan, you simply don't buy exercise equipment. You simply don't use it to burn your calories and maintain your body in tip top shape only to find out afterwards you are gaining and becoming unhealthy again because you got bored with your routine and thus had stopped. You don't eat whatever it is that your stomach and mouth are craving. The food intake works hand in hand with your workout plan to give you realistic results. You also don't simply shove the equipment at a corner of your house whenever you don't feel like working out.

It is important to remember that even though a home fitness program has more advantages than enrolling in a health and gym center, a carefully planned guide and discipline is a must to achieve results. If your goal is short-term, you are never going to live a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle. Therefore, making use of a home fitness program should not just be a short-term but a long-term goal that focuses on your overall health and well-being. The plan must be included with what food you should intake and how much rest you should have.

The time when you workout must be regular and has a routine, whether daily or several times a week. Keeping a checklist with you will help what direction you are going and how much accomplishment is received. To define your goal, you need to set straight what is it that you want and if you can stick to a specific home fitness and diet program for a long time without giving it up if you got bored. By knowing what you want, it will be easier for you to define the elements needed in attaining lifelong fitness and health.

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Buying a treadmill for use at home

Buying a home exercise and training treadmill can be such as an investment for some people. But it also offers its own set of benefits. Having a treadmill at home first and foremost can help make your fitness regimen more convenient. This is especially very helpful for some people who find it hard juggling their work schedule with following a cardiovascular fitness regimen. A home treadmill can be a necessity for a people who do not have the time for the gym or go out for even a brief jog outside. A busy lifestyle is the most common excuse that can prevent people from getting the right exercise and fitness regimen to maintain health. Having a home treadmill can keep a person fit without the need to go into a gym to do so. It can even be a convenient way to keep fit since a home treadmill can be used at home. With it, one can exercise in absolute privacy. Not being able to go out for a run just because it's raining will no longer be an excuse. For people leading a busy life, it pays to have a home treadmill handy. But buying one would require understanding the features and the types available out there.

Features Treadmills are generally made up of a wide rubber traction belt covering a platform bed of two or more rollers. This is where the user stands and so must be sturdy enough to handle a person's weight. The rollers then move to stimulate motion that would keep a person running even while stationary. Treadmills can either be powered by its own motor or just by the running motion of the user. The rollers move the rubber belt as the user keeps running over it. Motor-powered treadmills, on the other hand, allow its users to enjoy some added features. It can be adjusted to regulate the running speed of the equipment according to their preferred fitness activity of the user. Treadmills are generally differentiated according to quality and their features. They can either be for residential or commercial use. Home treadmills are considered for residential use and are differentiated from gym treadmills by their size and features. Gym or club treadmills are usually made bigger while the home treadmill is its smaller counterpart to make it more able to occupy limited space such as in small rooms. Gym treadmills are made to become more able to withstand the strain of regular daily use and usually and so have bigger and longer lasting motors. Home treadmills can be made using only a smaller motor enough to handle a certain load for a certain time.

Price Range Buying a home treadmill can sometimes be a challenge since there various models of such equipment available in the market. And the price range can be very different for different treadmills. There are treadmills that can range from the simplest down to the most advanced models. And their prices can range from the acceptable down to the outrageous. In this case, choosing the right home treadmill will ultimately depend on one's budget and how one may be able to afford buying one. The price range for a home treadmill can range from the basic one in the hundred dollar area to the most advanced models that range somewhere around thousands. The price of certain treadmills may depend on its features, performance quality as well as durability.

Added Tips One of the most important things to consider when buying a home exercise and training treadmill is to make sure that the platform area where the user runs is most ideal for one's height and weight. This can be known by the how wide the treadmill's belt is. The common and more popular belt width is twenty inches for normal folks. Not only is the belt width important, its length is also considered another important point to consider. This will help determine if the person may have a sufficient running area. The taller a person is, the longer the belt should be. Normally, the length should not be less than 50 inches long. Treadmill belts should be around 55 to 60 inches for bigger and taller runners.

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Quick and Simple Home Fitness Ideas For Moms

February 2, 2011 by  
Filed under Home Fitness

One of the setbacks when you workout at home using exercise equipment is the difficulty to schedule a proper and regular fitness routine. This is particularly true to work or stay at home moms who have to juggle their time between doing home chores, taking care of the kids and the spouse, and running errands. Sometimes, the extra-curricular activities add to the tightness of schedule that all these occupations leave the home fitness equipment just lying and collecting dust at one corner of the home.

If you are one of these individuals who cannot easily find time to stick to a proper fitness routine, you can still workout even without employing any fitness equipment. Here are some quick and simple ideas how to keep that body healthy and fit all year round.

Work and Exercise with your Kids

If you have kids and a baby, take this as an advantage rather than a disadvantage to your workout routine. Put your baby in his pushchair and together with the other kids, have a little trip at the park or just around the block. Brisk walking is a good cardio exercise, which keeps you feeling refreshed and relaxed afterwards. Plus, it is good for the kids too.

Also, you can get everybody moving by tidying the kitchen, the living room, and the bedrooms at least for five minutes daily. Have fun by setting a timer, putting music on, and get everybody, including you, picking up the clatters, books, toys, clothes, shoes, and so on and so forth. It is good as little cardio exercise for you and your kids. There are many things you can do with your kids that will keep you up and running. And in the process, you keep your physical aspect fit and healthy with those little physical exercises.

If the kids go to school, you can use this again to keep your fitness routine by walking them to and fro. Besides exercising, you are spending quality time with them. Plus, you make them feel great and in excellent mood before entering the school. Never use the car for this spoils your goal of keeping fitness routine. Unless, of course, if the school has a long distance. In this case, what you can do is to park the car a little far and walk the rest of the distance.

Use your Time Alone

When you are alone at home, make your list of 5-minute activities which will keep you occupied and exerting physical effort. It can be as simple as climbing the stairs up and down, stretching, running to and fro the house, gardening, watering the plants, laundering the clothes, washing the dishes, and a lot, lot more activities. You can go to the park and just walk around and catch fresh air. There are endless activities you can do. The good thing is it does not only achieve your goal of burning calories daily but it allows you to accomplish the household chores at the same time.

Of course, you need to take rest as well. It will help a lot if you get a good amount of sleep hours so your body and mind are refreshed daily. Plus, you must bear in mind that eating healthy foods is the key to completing your goal of keeping fit and healthy. Be sure that the food is both good for you and your kids too.

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