četvrtak, rujna 27, 2007

Physical Exercising

Exercise Program Information:

Get Started with Your Exercise Program
Aerobic Exercise
Strength Training
Flexibility
Special Recommendations
(Children, Older Adults, Pregnancy, Obesity)
Stay With It!
Be More Physically Active
Nutrition
Body Composition
Topics of Special Interest:
"Do You Have to Burn Fat to Lose Fat?"
"Exercise and Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness"
"Post-pregnancy Exercise"
"Massage and Recovery from Endurance Exercise"
"Lifestyle Modifications for Reducing Hypercholesterolemia"


If you don't know that regular exercise can help you live longer and reduce your risks for a host of diseases, then chances are you've been living under a rock. Come out from under!

Recent studies show:

  • Leisure-time physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of premature death, even after genetic disorders are taken into account (Journal of the American Medical Association).


  • Improving fitness appears to help men live longer following a heart attack (The National Exercise and Heart Disease Project).


  • Lifestyle physical activity, such as taking the stairs, gardening, and walking instead of driving, is as effective as structured gym workouts in improving fitness (Journal of the American Medical Association).


  • Even infrequent exercise helps postmenopausal women live longer (Journal of the American Medical Association).

Want to know where to begin? For starters, just think about opportunities to increase your physical activity when you go about your daily business. Instead of putting off the trip upstairs until you have more than one reason to go up there, go up any time an opportunity presents itself. In stores or at work, pretend the elevator doesn't exist. And why on earth wait for the "best" available parking space when you could park away from the crowds and take a few extra steps to the building? If you think you don't have time for these changes, think again. Not taking a few extra minutes now may actually shave off years from your life.

Exercise is so important for a number of reasons. For one, your body was designed to be used. Like any fine tool or instrument, it can get rusty or off-key if it just sits around, but when it's regularly tuned up, it gives you optimal performance. Fitness helps you to look and feel good. And let's face it. When you are not fit, it's near impossible to feel good about yourself.

How do you know whether or not you're fit? That depends on lots of things, such as your age, overall health, family history, exercise routines and eating habits. Granted, you can't change all of these influences, but you'll find if you work on the ones you can do something about, your overall health is bound to improve.

What is fitness?

Fitness can be described as a condition that helps us look, feel and do our best. That means being able to rely on your body to perform when you need it to, whether it be doing daily household tasks, enjoying a brisk walk on a beautiful fall day, running a race or bench pressing your own body weight. Only you can set your fitness goals. Your present fitness level, age, health, skills, interest and convenience are among the factors you should consider. If you start out slowly, you may find that a simple success spurs you on to take it to the next level.

The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports outlines the following five basic components to physical fitness:

  • Cardiorespiratory endurance - The ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues and to remove wastes throughout sustained periods of time. Long runs and swims are among the methods employed in measuring this component.
  • Muscular strength - The ability of a muscle to exert force for a brief period of time. Upper-body strength, for example, can be measured by various weight-lifting exercises.
  • Muscular endurance - The ability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object. Push-ups are often used to test endurance of arm and shoulder muscles.
  • Flexibility - The ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. The sit-and-reach test is a good measure of flexibility of the lower back and backs of the upper legs.
  • Body composition - Often considered a component of fitness. It refers to the makeup of the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs) and fat mass. A particular ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness, and the right types of exercise will help you decrease body fat and increase or maintain muscle mass.

Your exercise program should include something to improve each of these five basic fitness components. Each workout should begin with a warm-up and end with a cool-down. A warm-up generally consists of five to 10 minutes of low intensity movements, such as walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, arm circles or trunk rotations. A cool-down consists of a minimum of five to 10 minutes of slow walking, low-level exercise, combined with stretching. As a general rule, you should try to get moderate intensity exercise, like brisk walking, most days of the week.

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating



Good nutrition and a balanced diet will help your child grow up healthy. Whether your kid is a toddler or a teen, you can take steps to improve nutrition and encourage smart eating habits. Five of the best strategies are:

  1. Have regular family meals.
  2. Serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks.
  3. Be a role model by eating healthy yourself.
  4. Avoid battles over food.
  5. Involve kids in the process.

But it's not easy to take these steps when everyone is juggling busy schedules and convenience food, such as fast food, is so readily available. Here are some suggestions to help you incorporate all five strategies into your routine:

Family Meals

Family meals are a comforting ritual for both parents and kids. Children like the predictability of family meals and parents get a chance to catch up with their kids. Kids who take part in regular family meals are also:

  • more likely to eat fruits, vegetables, and grains
  • less likely to snack on unhealthy foods
  • less likely to smoke, use marijuana, or drink alcohol

In addition, family meals offer the chance to introduce your child to new foods and find out which foods your child likes and which ones he or she doesn't.

Teens may turn up their noses at the prospect of a family meal - not surprising because they're trying to establish independence. Yet studies find that teens still want their parents' advice and counsel, so use mealtime as a chance to reconnect. Also, consider trying these strategies:

  • Allow your teen to invite a friend to dinner.
  • Involve your teen in meal planning and preparation.
  • Keep mealtime calm and congenial - no lectures or arguing.

What counts as a family meal? Any time you and your family eat together - whether it's takeout food or a home-cooked meal with all the trimmings. Strive for nutritious food and a time when everyone can be there. This may mean eating dinner a little later to accommodate a child who's at sports practice. It can also mean setting aside time on the weekends, such as Sunday brunch, when it may be more convenient to gather as a group.

Stocking Up on Healthy Foods

Kids, especially younger ones, will eat mostly what's available at home. That's why it's important to control the supply lines - the foods that you serve for meals and have on hand for snacks. Follow these basic guidelines:

  • Work fruits and vegetables into the daily routine, aiming for the goal of 5 servings a day.
  • Make it easy for your child to choose healthy snacks by keeping fruits and vegetables on hand and ready to eat. Other good snacks include yogurt, peanut butter and celery, or whole-grain crackers and cheese.
  • Serve lean meats and other good sources of protein, such as eggs and nuts.
  • Choose whole-grain breads and cereals so your child gets more fiber.
  • Limit fat intake by avoiding deep-fried foods and choosing healthier cooking methods, such as broiling, grilling, roasting, and steaming.
  • Limit fast food and other low-nutrient snacks, such as chips and candy. But don't completely ban favorite snacks from your home. Instead, make them "once-in-a-while" foods, so your child doesn't feel deprived.
  • Limit sugary drinks, such as soda and fruit-flavored drinks. Serve water and milk instead.

By drinking milk, kids also boost their intake of calcium, which is important for healthy bones. That means 800 milligrams (mg) a day for kids ages 6 to 8 and 1,300 mg a day after age 9. To reach the 1,300-mg goal, your child could have:

  • 1 cup (237 milliliters) of milk (300 mg of calcium)
  • 1 cup (237 milliliters) of calcium-fortified orange juice (300 mg of calcium)
  • 2 ounces (57 grams) of cheese (300 mg of calcium)
  • 1 cup (237 milliliters) of yogurt (315 mg of calcium)
  • 1/2 cup (118 milliliters) of cooked white beans (120 mg of calcium)