May 29th, 2009 -- Posted in Ideal Weight |
regardless of how young or old a person is. A popular perception is that losing weight when you’re over 50 years old is a greater challenge. Remember that the dietary routines and exercise regimen apply equally to people of all ages. The fundamentals remain unchanged and the goals are the same. Effective weight loss is possible through a diverse range of exercises and habits.
Buy a Pedometer
A great way to exercise without having to join to gym or buy specialized equipment is to use the stairs. A 3000-step routine practiced on a daily basis is an effective route to burn flab and lose weight. A pedometer comes in handy as it tells you how many steps you’ve taken. A pedometer is a simple electronic gadget that detects the motion of you hips to keep a count of the number of steps you take. However, it is important to buy a quality device that provides accurate information.
It is advisable to not fall for the cheap pedometers available off the street. Reliability, accuracy and durability are questionable with such devices.
Watch Your Calories
When you set yourself a daily calorie intake limit, include a bit of cushion in your calculations by adding an imaginary 10-calorie quantity to the stated calorific content of the food you eat. For example, when you set your calorie consumption limit to 1600 calories, you should be able tell what food contributes exactly how much. Assuming the label of a food packet indicates that the food contains 150 calories, it is useful to add 10 calories to the figure and eat appropriately. More often than not, you are likely to be more accurate than the label.
Under normal circumstances, you’d eat three regular meals on an average – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A weight loss routine requires you to overcome hunger pangs and unscheduled eating in between meals. Another problem with in-between eating is that you tend to consume fatty food rather than healthy ones for snacks. A good idea would be to regularly eat six times a day, all six meals being very light. This habituates your body to a regular eating schedule and ensures that you avoid junk food and unhealthy snacks.
Keep Walking
Maintain a regular routine of simple cardio exercises everyday. Cardio exercises are a reliable and healthy way to lose weight gradual. Enough has already been said about the benefits of walking, walking being the simplest of effective cardio routines. A forty five minute walking session helps burn approximately 600 calories. No wonder they say you should walk everyday.
Buy Smaller Pants
Setting a goal and committing yourself to it is important. If you have the jump over the fence, try throwing your hat over the fence so you eliminate failure as an option. Buy a pair of expensive pants two or three sizes smaller than your current size. That’ll provide extra motivation to reach your goal if you don’t want to regret having lost only money instead of losing weight.
When you do finally manage to reach your targeted waistline, be sure to throw out all those old clothes that remind you of your previous shape. Replace your wardrobe with an entirely new set of clothes that fit your current measurements so you know there’s no turning back. It also alerts you if you’re relapsing to your old state. Weight loss when you’re over 30 is entirely possible. The only requirements are a good dose of patience and persistence.
May 17th, 2009 -- Posted in Diabetes Melitus |
Diabetes is a growing health problem in the world today. Did you know that approximately 20.8 million children and adults are diagnosed with diabetes in the United States alone? These numbers are growing every day. The exact cause of diabetes is not clear, however, lack of exercise and obesity are huge factors in the development of diabetes. This article will give some general information about diabetes.
Glucose is considered the body’s fuel. We get glucose from the foods that we eat. It is not just sugar alone that is converted into glucose, but also starches and carbohydrates are chemically broken down into glucose. Without glucose your body would not function. All muscles and major organs in your body need glucose. But how does the glucose get to the proper destinations?
Insulin is the hormone that distributes the glucose to the liver, fat cells and muscles. A diabetic does not produce enough insulin or for some reason, his body is not able to process it effectively. When this happens the glucose stays in the blood and produces high blood sugar.
Diabetes can be classified into the following three types:
Type 1 Diabetes
In type 1 diabetes the body produces little or no insulin and daily injections of insulin are necessary to sustain life. This type is usually present from childhood and is also called insulin dependent diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes
It is the more common type of diabetes and usually develops in adulthood. With type 2 diabetes, the body is unable to effectively use the insulin produced. Most type 2 diabetics are managed by diet and oral medications.
Gestational Diabetes.
This type develops during pregnancy and usually goes away after the birth of the baby.
It is important to know the risks factor of diabetes. One of the biggest risks factors is a family history. If you have a parent or sibling with diabetes, your chances of developing diabetes are very good. Also being over 45 years of age, being obese, having poor eating habits or being of African American or Native American descent can increase your chance of becoming a diabetic.
If you have any of the above risk factors, be aware of the warning signs of diabetes. Contact you doctor if you have any of these signs and symptoms:
Increased appetite
- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Slow healing cuts or infections
- Increased amount of infections
- Blurry vision
If you are diagnosed with diabetes, treatment will usually involve diet changes and oral medications. In more severe cases, insulin injections may be prescribed.
Diabetes is manageable if the proper treatment regimen is followed. Talk with your doctor and a good diabetic educator. Have your doctor set you up an appointment with a registered dietician. She can show you what you can and cannot eat on a diabetic diet. Check your blood sugar levels frequently. Educate yourself about all the treatment options out there. Lose weight and become more active. Getting a diagnosis of diabetes is no reason to stop living.
May 3rd, 2009 -- Posted in Ideal Weight |
If you have posture problems, curvatures or bendings in body parts caused by weak muscles or bad habits, these can often be helped for by strengthening the muscles that flex the body parts in the opposite direction. If however, the bending is due to scoliosis or some other disease under progression, the problem need professional treatment.
In day two you do exercises that enhance your general condition, like jogging, swimming, playing ball, and cycling. Choose something that you find funny, and you can also vary between different activities. It is also good to invite some friends to exercise together with you on this day.
In day three you do no hard activities, but stretch out and do exercises to improve your body’s flexibility in all natural directions. Yoga exercises are very good to enhance your flexibility and improve your general health. It is also advisable to set out some time for meditation in day three.
The diet is important for achieving and maintaining a good body shape. You must eat 3-5 good meals each day, but do not over-eat.
You need enough proteins. Every meal must have some protein-rich food sources, like: Fish, seafood, lean meat, lean cheese, foul or mushrooms. Also nuts, almonds and sunflower seeds contain protein. These are good food sources, but because of the content of fat, you should not consume too much of them. Eggs are a good protein source, but eat it in moderate amounts to avoid getting too much cholesterol.
In each meal you need some fat from natural sources and you need some carbohydrates. You should however control your consume of fat and sugar. You must not add very much fat or sugar to your food, and you must not eat too much of food with a high content of fat and sugar.
Also vary between different natural fat sources to get all the essential fatty acids you need: Fat fish, nuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, olive oil, rape oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, marine oils, nut oils and sunflower oil. Do not use only soy oil or corn oil as many people do. Neither use much butter. Do not consume chemically altered fat.
As sources of carbohydrates use mostly full corn bread or cereals, peas, lenses or beans, but also add some sweet fruit.
In order to get enough fiber, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, every meal must have some fruit or vegetables in a natural condition. Supplements of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants and special nutrients can be of help.
A training program as depicted combined with a good diet, will often make you loose fat over time. However, if you are heavily over-weight, a more specific slimming regime can be necessary.