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Healthy Life

Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight: Answers to Help You Achieve and Maintain the Weight Thats Right for You (Mayo Clinic on Health)Happy Feet, Healthy Food: Your Child's First Journal of Exercise and Healthy EatingHealthy Eating
Healthy Recipes
Healthy Lifestyle
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Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy EatingDare to Lose: Four Simple Steps to Achieve a Better Body
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Exercise: Why YOU Should Do It

By Aaron Potts

Hundreds of Thousands of Americans spend millions of dollars each year on diet pills, "magical" exercise devices, and misrepresented health and fitness products, when in all actuality a good set of dumbbells and a brisk walk may be all you need to get in better shape than you've ever been in.

What can you do with nothing but a set of dumbbells, you ask? Provide resistance to your body's movements - also known as weight lifting. That's all weight lifting is - resistance. The terms "weight lifting" and "resistance training" have become one in the same because they are describing the same activity - moving your body under more resistance than it normally has to handle.

In fact, you've just stumbled upon the basic secret of exercise in general! Whether you are talking about resistance training, Pilates, Yoga, cardiovascular activities, or any other form of exercise, all of these programs have one thing in common - performing more activity than you would get sitting on the couch. WHY should you exercise, though?

How about defying the aging process for starters? Do you know that the primary reason why elderly people end up in nursing homes is because they lose the ability to think and move on their own? Do you also know that the entire process of thinking and moving on our own happens because we do it every day? Until we retire, that is. Once we don't have to go to work anymore, or deal with scheduling and lifestyle issues, suddenly the only thing that we have to think about is whether to watch game shows or soap operas all day long, and the only exercise we get is deftly flying our fingers over the remote control.

Mush. That's what our brains and bodies turn into when we stop using them. Think you are still sharp as a tack, and at the height of your game? Try to say the alphabet backwards in 30 seconds or less.

Yes…. sharp indeed.

What about physically? Think that you can still hold your own even though you don't really exercise much? Stop reading this article and drop down on the floor for some correct-form push-ups. Did you do at least 30 if you are female, or at least 40 if you are male? No? How about 20 or 25? 15? Unless you pulled off 30 or 40, you are probably at less than the 50 percentile mark for your gender - health conditions notwithstanding.

Okay, so you've determined that you aren't exactly Olympic athlete material. So what? You don't even like sports, let alone being very good at them. That's fine, and there is nothing wrong with that. So what about fat? Do you like bodyfat? Do you find it physically appealing? Do you think it's healthy? If so, we're done speaking. Go on about your business, and thanks for reading this far.

For everyone else, here is a newsflash: In America today - the year 2004 - obesity related health conditions account for more deaths in the United States each year than all known forms of cancer COMBINED. Heart Disease alone is the number one killer of American adults, and it is a PREVENTABLE CONDITION!

How about self-esteem? 64% of Americans are overweight. That is almost two-thirds of the population. If you think that a figure like that and the skyrocketing sales of prescription anti-depressants aren't related, you now have a second opportunity to stop reading this article and continue on with your day.

Here is the bottom line, folks: Exercise and a reasonable nutrition program are necessary for ALL people, for their ENTIRE lives. Note, however, that I said "exercise", and that I also said "reasonable nutrition program". At no point did I say anything about spending 2 hours per day at the gym, or about eating nothing but carrots and celery for the rest of your life. Why? Those practices are just as ineffective at long-term weight loss as diet pills and late night infomercial products. Here is what DOES work:

1) Weight/Resistance Training - Weight training for both men and women has the same effect - it makes your muscles more metabolically active. In simpler terms, it means your muscles will burn more calories - even when you are sleeping. Muscle is the only site on your body where bodyfat is broken down. Weak muscles = weak metabolism. Weak metabolism = slow calorie burning.

2) Cardiovascular Training - Contrary to popular belief, this type of training is meant to help your cardio-respiratory system function more effectively, and ultimately to last longer. Does it burn a lot of calories? Sure it does. However, if you don't combine it with resistance training and supportive nutrition, you'll likely just burn off water weight and the muscle tissue that you worked so hard for up in step number 1.

3) Reasonable Nutrition Program - Quality sources of complex and fibrous carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and lean sources of protein. Eat those nutrients in reasonable proportions frequently throughout your day, and your metabolism (refer again to #1) will crank up to high, and you'll be burning more calories on a day to day basis than you ever have before in your life.

So far we have seen that not only can exercise keep us out of a nursing home, but it can also keep off excess levels of bodyfat which will - literally - keep us alive. We haven't even touched on sports performance, recreational activities, improved energy levels, ability to focus, or many of the other benefits of a regular exercise program.

Personally, I'd be happy with just staying out of a nursing home, and staying alive long enough to look good in a bathing suit. What about you?

Aaron Potts is the owner and creator of Fitness Destinations. Aaron's experience in the health and fitness industry includes one on one personal training in many different environments, maintenance of several health-related websites, and authoring of many fitness-related products for consumers and fitness professionals. http://www.fitnessdestinations.com

 
Link to this page

Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover : An Accelerated Program of Exercise and Nutrition for Maximum Results in Minimum Time
Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover : An Accelerated Program of Exercise and Nutrition for Maximum Results in Minimum Time
Bob Greene
Fitness is a lifetime commitment, but you can accelerate results and transform your body in 12 weeks, says Bob Greene, best known as Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer. Also includes helpful advice on how to avoid regaining the weight you've lost, and how to maintain healthy exercise and eating habits for life.

 

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Trim Kids(TM) : The Proven 12-Week Plan That Has Helped Thousands of Children Achieve a Healthier Weight
Trim Kids(TM) : The Proven 12-Week Plan That Has Helped Thousands of Children Achieve a Healthier Weight
Melinda S. Sothern
Today, one in four kids are overweight, putting them not only at risk for adult obesity and type II diabetes, but also for low self-esteem and depression. Here, children will learn kid-specific exercises especially designed for their weight levels, and the family will enjoy dozens of menu plans with tasty, nutritious, kid-tested recipes. The Trim Kids approach has been featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, and 48 Hours and in USA Today, Ladies' Home Journal, and elsewhere.
 
The American Dietetic Association Guide to Healthy Eating for Kids : How Your Children Can Eat Smart from Five to Twelve
The American Dietetic Association Guide to Healthy Eating for Kids : How Your Children Can Eat Smart from Five to Twelve
Jodie Shield
Practical, real-world solutions for busy parents on how to train their kids to eat healthy.
 
American Heart Association Low-Fat & Luscious Desserts : Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and Other Temptations
American Heart Association Low-Fat & Luscious Desserts : Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and Other Temptations
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association proves that you can enjoy desserts and still keep your heart healthy and your waistline trim. These sweet treats are light on saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. Here are more than 100 mouthwatering recipes, including of course, chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Every one of which can fit into a healthful eating plan.
 
Prescription for Nutritional Healing: The A-to-Z Guide to Supplements
Prescription for Nutritional Healing: The A-to-Z Guide to Supplements
James F. Balch
This book offers authoritative information about some three hundred fifty of the most important supplements available today. It covers how these supplements work, how to use them, and what to look for when choosing supplement products. Here is a straightforward, easty-to-understand guide to vitamins, minerals, herbs, phytochemicals, antioxidants, enzymes, amino acids, and more.
 
Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength
Bill Phillips
This is a great motivational book. It will encourage you to believe that you too can get in the best shape of your life. It provides the details of the challenge that has helped thousands develop healthy habits, and obtain a lean, happy body.
 

COPYRIGHT. 2007 fore royal, llc ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The information on the website is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the authors. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Statements made pertaining to the properties or functions of nutritional supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. If you have a medical problem or symptoms, consult your physician. Always consult your physician before starting a new diet or exercise regiment.
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