Thursday, December 20, 2007

Choose The Right Weight Loss Program

For some people a formal weight loss program isn't necessary. They can summon the willpower, do the research and carry out the needed actions all on their own. Others will benefit from support, guidance and a helping hand.

When seeking out that weight loss program there are a number of important questions the second type will want answered.

The most essential, and therefore the first question are: What are the facts about diet, exercise and weight loss? There are dozens of food diets, special exercise regimens and all manner of junk science surrounding the subject.

Anyone with common sense and some persistence can fairly quickly find one or more sources of reliable information. Scientific studies don't stand in isolation; they either support or contradict others. Similarly, it is also helpful to find knowledgeable and experienced people at fitness and nutritional centers. Most people can distinguish between those who are trying to give wise counsel and those who just want to sell something that may or may not have any value. People deserve to be paid for their services, but offering something worthwhile is fundamental.

Once find a gym or nutritionist that can offer a good guidance and moral support, people can get added benefits. Such people can help remind, when the going gets tough, of why chose to make the effort in the first place. It's difficult to adhere to a long term program when the progress is slow.

Any wise diet and exercise program needs be oriented toward lifestyle changes that will help lose the weight and keep it off, and keep healthy and fit. One thing that can help to take the first step towards a true lifestyle change is a clean, toxin-free body. Counseling provided by fitness and nutrition professionals can also help to stick to a nutritional program. Nutritional counselors can help unlearn bad habits and learn better ones.
There is a need to monitor the progress, and need to ask where and what are the tests and tools to do that. There is a for need food charts for measuring calories and types of nutrients. Also need a BMI calculator and other tools.

Some of those tools are as simple and inexpensive as a scale, a flexible tape measure and a mirror. Others may be a heart rate or pulse monitor, a device that measures body fat percentage and other things that often accompany a treadmill.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Brisk Walk 20 minutes Everyday

Walking is literally the best exercise you can do. For a normal person with no great aspiration of athletic greatness, brisk walking is the best. It will lower your stress, help you to maintain or lower your weight and will make you feel just great! Walking is also a gentle exercise that won’t torment you too much if you hate exercise. Even if you start out with a gentle walk and work up to brisk walking, the walk itself will energize and uplift you. It will help lower your stress and give you a clearer mind to conquer the difficulties you encounter.

A great pedometer will significantly enhance your walking experience. The pedometer will give you some measurement that will cause you to walk more and try harder in order to get more steps or use more calories. Just wearing a pedometer will help increase your everyday movement without any extra effort on your part. Everyone can find 30 minutes in their day to do a good healthy walk. If the weather is an issue, either too hot or too cold, you can use a treadmill indoors. Make the time. Make yourself a priority. You will find that these three improvements to your daily routine will pay huge dividends in how much better you feel and how much better you can cope with the stresses in your life.

Exercise in moderation is necessary to live a really healthy life. If you don't like exercise, a brisk walk isn't really too difficult to learn to cope with. Everyone has the time for a 30 minute daily walk, so make it a priority and it will give you so much more energy to make the rest of your day superb.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Duration of exercise

The Art of Healthy Lifestyles
The duration of exercise, is refers to the time people spend exercising. If in cardiovascular session, not including the warm-up and cool-down, should vary from 20-60 minutes to gain significant cardio-respiratory and fat burning-benefits. Each time people do cardiovascular exercise, at least try to do 20minutes or more. Of course, the longer go, the more calories and fat being burn and the better condition of cardiovascular system.

It is important to gradually increase before increase the intensity, that is when beginning a walking exercise , to be more concern with increasing numbers ofminutes of the exercise before increase the intensity, by increase speed, by walking hilly train.
The Art of Healthy Lifestyles

Monday, April 16, 2007

Walking Not Enough

The Art of Healthy Lifestyle
Walking is a popular form of exercise, but may not be enough to experience significant health benefits.

Generally, low-intensity activity such as walking alone is not likely going to give anybody marked health benefits compared to programs that occasionally elevate the intensity.

Researchers were concerned that while people with health issues are encouraged to increase their volume of activity such as walking, there didn't seem to be much focus on the effort that needed to go into the activity.

The University of Alberta study put the popularized pedometer-friendly 10,000-step exercise program to the test against a traditional fitness program which incorporated cardio-based activities on equipment such as treadmills and stationary bicycles. The traditional group was asked to complete exercise at a moderate intensity, a level allowing for one or two sentences of conversation with ease. Intensity was not set for the walking group; they completed their daily exercise at a self-selected pace.

When researcher matched the two programs for energy expenditure, they found that the traditional fitness program improved aerobic fitness and reduced systolic blood pressure, more than the 10,000-step lifestyle program. Of the 128 sedentary men and women who completed the six-month research program, those who took part in a more active traditional fitness regimen increased their peak oxygen uptake, an indicator of aerobic fitness, by 10 per cent. Those who took part in the walking program experienced a four per cent increase. Systolic blood pressure also dropped by 10 per cent for the traditional fitness group, compared to four per cent for the group who just walked.

Other markers of overall health, such as fasting plasma glucose levels, response to a two-hour glucose tolerance test and various blood lipids were unaffected by either exercise program.

Most concern is that people might think what matters most is the total number of daily steps accumulated, and not pay much attention to the pace or effort invested in taking those steps.

The 10,000-step or pedometer-based walking programs are great for people--they are motivating, and provide an excellent starting point for beginning an activity program, but to increase the effectiveness, one must add some intensity or "huff and puff" to their exercise. Across your day, while you are achieving those 10,000 steps, take 200 to 400 of them at a brisker pace.

People got to do more than light exercise and move towards the inclusion of regular moderate activity, and not shy to interject an occasional period of time at the vigorous level.
The Art of Healthy Lifestyles

Friday, March 2, 2007

Taking Care of Your Health

The Art of Healthy Lifestyle
What about your health & exercise; your fitness; or your current lifestyle? We watch TV on average 3-4 hours a day, many of us sit at computers all day, take cars or public transport to work and dine out. This is often all excused as a 'modern way of living'. So why not change the way you live? Better health, more exercise and increased fitness can be the key to a more confident, fitter and less stressed you...not too mention opening up new possibilities for your lifestyle.
Why should I exercise?
The benefits are almost endless. That said, you should always take care when exercising, especially if it's a long time since you last exercised. When exercising, it is essential to warm up your muscles for at least ten minutes before you start exercising warming-up. e.g. moderate walking or a gentle jog followed by a stretch.
Nutrition and exercise
Physical exercise is only part of getting fit. Boost your athletic performance and train more effectively and harder by sorting out your nutrition. From drinking enough water, to working out just how many calories you need when exercising, it's all very important stuff.
Walking back to health
Did you know that walking two miles a day most days can reduce your chances of a heart attack by 28 percent? Walking is an excellent way to improve your health, and it's easy to fit into most lifestyles.
Strength training
As you develop aerobic fitness, you can start introducing elements of strength training into your exercise programme. Good muscle strength can have a marked effect on appearance as it improves the tone and shape of muscles, improves posture and helps prevent lower back problems.
The Art of Healthy Lifestyle

Monday, January 29, 2007

Tips To Slowdown Your Aging Skin

The Art of Healthy Lifestyles
Here are some things you can do to slow down the aging skin.
* Use sunscreen every day - You can slow down wrinkle formation and even prevent it, if you use sunscreen early in your life. Use sunscreen that contains Zinc Oxide. It is better then those that have Titanium Dioxide. Daily, use a broadband SPF 15 and for heavy out door sun activities use SPF 30. If you wear makeup, put your sunscreen on first.

* On hot days and even when it is overcast use your sunscreen and a hat. Stay in the shade when possible.

* Keep away from highly polluted areas and don't smoke. Smoking changes the elasticity of the skin fibers leading to rough and wrinkled skin.

* Get enough sleep. Your skin repairs itself when you sleep.

* When you sleep, don't sleep with you face into the pillow.

* Drink plenty of water. Your skin loses water during hot days and needs plenty of water to keep hydrated. Water is found in raw fruits and vegetables. Sodas, sugar drinks, tea, (except herbal teas) coffee, or milk are not water. Rotate between buying and drinking Reverse Osmosis and Distilled water.

* Minimize drinking alcohol. Alcohol can lead to spider veins and broken capillaries. It also causes your skin to become dehydrated.

* Eat more fruits and vegetables. They provide plenty of antioxidants, which protect you from sun and pollution damage.

* Take an antioxidant supplement, which should include up to 2000 mg of vitamin C. You may have to take the Vitamin C separate.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Healthy Snacks


The art of healthy lifestyle
In today's hectic life style it probably feels like there is no time for healthy eating, or you simply can not find recipes that are both healthy and quick to make. As a result it is tempting to reach for the quick and easy snacks such as potato chips or candy.

Do you ever run out of healthy recipes for snacks, or find them to time consuming? Snacking is a major part of our lives, especially when it comes to kids. This article looks at why healthy snacks are important for all the family and will provide you with some straightforward and interesting recipes.

Foods with natural colours are on the whole good for you, like red apples, yellow bananas or orange carrots. Possibly the most important thing to remember is variety, a balanced diet will keep you healthy and fit as well as feeling good.

First of all I am going to give you some snacking tips.

Always make your snacks interesting
A rice cake is better than a packet of potato chips but is probably considered boring, so why not spread peanut butter and raisins on the top, or find some quick recipes for a salsa.

Prepare snacks in advance.
When you have some time chop up carrots, celery sticks, cucumber portions and other vegetables, place them in a sealed container in the fridge so as soon as you feel like snacking you can reach for the healthier option.

Keep snacks with you.
To save yourself getting caught out needing a snack when you are out keep snacks with you in your bag. Again the easiest and quickest are fruit and vegetables.

Swap food
When shopping always think of a healthier alternative to what you pick up.

Instead of potato chips go for low fat crackers or rice cakes. If you want biscuits chose one that contains fruit alternatively make your own (see recipes to follow)

Buying packed or ready made food and snacks usually means it will be less healthy than making your own.
The art of healthy lifestyle