Active Lifestyle

Active Lifestyle
One way is to set aside a special time for a formal exercise program, involving such planned activities as walking, jogging, swimming, tennis, aerobic dance, exercise to an exercise videotape, and so on.

But don’t underestimate the value and importance of just being more physically active throughout the day as you carry out your unusual activities. Both can be helpful.

The formal programs are usually more visible and get more attention. But being more physical in everyday life can also pay off. Consider taking the stairs a floor or two instead of waiting impatiently for a slow elevator.

Park and walk several blocks to work or to the store instead of circling the parking lot looking for the perfect, up close parking space.

Mow the lawn, work in the garden or just get once in a while and walk around the house.

These types of daily activities often not view as “exercise,” can add up to significant health benefits.

Recent studies show that even small amounts of daily activity can raise fitness levels, decrease heart disease risk, and boost mood and the activities can be pleasurable, enjoyable ones. Playing with children, dancing, gardening, bowling, and golf….all these enjoyable activities can make a biog difference.
Active Lifestyle

Breakfast: The most Important Meal

Breakfast: The most Important Meal
You will notice marked improvements in mood and energy, with fewer cravings for junkfood, when you eat a breakfast that is high in water, protein, good carbs (loaded with antioxidants) and healthy fats.

But many people who struggle with their weight often skip breakfast altogether or have a light breakfast consisting of something like a glass of juice with bagel, a piece of toast or a bowl of cornflakes.

The typical American breakfast is essentially pure carbohydrate that is quickly absorbed and leads to a spike in blood sugar followed by a compensatory spike in insulin. This stimulates a steep fall in blood sugar, leaving you famished and sluggish by mid morning and susceptible to cravings for doughnuts, pastries, cookies, and junk foods and sugary drinks from the vending machines that are ubiquitous in the workplace.

This eating style is a vicious cycle that forces you to mindlessly consume excess calories leading t0 obesity, aging and disease. Instead, have a forever young breakfast with protein (eggs, whey protein, fish, or meat) and high nutrient, fiber rich foods (fruits, nuts, berries or veggies), and wash it down with tea, water, soymilk, or nonfat milk.

The rest of the morning you will walk straight by the box of doughnuts at work feeling compelled to indulge your self.

There was a study found that the breakfast bunch received four important benefits:

• Lower BMI (average body weight)
• Reduced risks of diabetes, metabolic problems and obesity
• Better long term weight loss maintenance
• Improved mental alertness throughput the day
  

Breakfast jumpstart your system when you roll out of bed in the morning by increasing your metabolic rate about 25 percent. This revs your energy up and improves your ability to perform both physically and mentally.

On the other hand, people skip breakfasts are stick in the hibernation mode and often plagued with the consequences of a slow metabolism like obesity, constant fatigue or sluggishness and chronically feeling cold.

Snacks eaten before bedtime are more likely to be converted to body fat while you sleep. In contrast, breakfast calories can be burned throughout the day supplying you with the energy you need to perform your best.
Breakfast: The most Important Meal

Healthy Lifestyles

Healthy Lifestyles
Doing regular physical activity is a healthy lifestyle that health experts feel is among the most important. Not only does it help you prevent many of the major illness and enhance your physical fitness and health, but also it can contribute to good health in other areas as well.

Their list includes some of healthy lifestyles that you can adopt to promote good fitness, health and wellness. These lifestyles are only of benefit if you choose to do them. The choices you make have much to do with your fitness, health and wellness.

• Be Physically Active

• Adopt Good Personal Health Habits

• Eat Properly

• Manage Stress

• Avoid Destructive Habits

• Adopt Good Safety Practices

• Seek and Follow Appropriate Medical Advice

• Practice Other Healthy Lifestyles

Healthy Lifestyles

Exercise for Your Health

Exercise for Your Health
Exercise can have many additional benefits, beyond helping you lose weight and keep it off and being an important part of building a healthy, strong, flexible body that will serve you well for years to come.

Exercise can safeguard your mental health. Studies show that being physically active increases your self-esteem, improves your body image, and decreases your risk pf serious depression. Exercise also helps prevent or reduce anxiety. It can be a great stress reducer and mood enhancer.

Exercise can prevent catastrophic disease. It not only protects your heart and lungs, but also can be a factor in preventing certain forms of cancer. For example, studies have found that women who are physically active as teens and young adults significantly reduce their lifetime risk of breast cancer (as well as osteoporosis, the painful and debilitating loss of bones that cripples many women in their later years).
Exercise for Your Health

Eating Vegetables and Fruits for Longevity

Eating Vegetables and Fruits for Longevity
Vegetables and fruits do so much for longevity quest in so many different ways. Fruits and vegetables are energy foods. For most part, they’re fiber rich carbohydrates, ideal for optimal energy flow. Fruit, in particular, may be the perfect workout food. While other sugars will give a quick burst of energy, fruit sugars deliver a steady stream of carbohydrate energy over a few hours.

All those vegetables and fruit will keep body weight down too. With some notable exceptions like coconuts and avocadoes, most fruits and vegetables have little or no fat and not much in the way of protein either. They still have calories, of course, but filling up on their fiber will push fat and excess calories out of body system.

By eating lots of fruits and vegetables, it will reduce cancer risk in at least two ways. The fiber they provide pushes digested food through body gut faster, giving potential carcinogens less times to damage cells in digestive tract. But also, the antioxidants that are so abundant in fruits and vegetables destroy cell damaging free radicals. They may also actually reverse existing cell damage before it leads to cancer.

Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables at any age has been shown to slow down, brake or even reverse many if the unpleasant developments associated with the aging process. Heart disease and cancer are just two such problems that antioxidants combat.

They also help keen body mind sharp, body becomes strong, eyesight keen and body immune system powerful enough to fight off infections and other illnesses.

There’s even some promising evidence that the phytochemicals and other good things in fruits and vegetables retard the aging process itself at the cellular levels.

In other words, if antioxidant intake is high from eating lots of fruits and vegetables, people may be biologically “younger” than others age who have low antioxidants intakes.
Eating Vegetables and Fruits for Longevity

Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Healthy Eating Lifestyle
Eat for variety
Foods from all food groups are important. Eat foods from all the food groups every day and choose a variety of foods within each food group. For optimum nutrition, eat more foods from the grain, fruits, and vegetables.

Eat fruits and vegetables at every meal and snack
Fruit and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants; plus they provide fiber to help keep our bowels regular. We should get at least five servings of fruit and vegetables combined each day. Fruits and vegetable that are deep green or orange or red pack the most vitamin and minerals. It is important to select fruits and vegetables of different colors to get all of their beneficial nutrients.

Go for whole grains
Whole grains contain more nutrients and fiber than processed or refined grains because the milling process removes the nutritional part of the grain. Aim to make half of all the grain foods that you eat the whole grain.

Limit foods and beverages with added sugar
Sweet drinks such as soda, fruit punch, lemonade, iced tea, and sport drinks have a lot of sugar but no vitamins or minerals. Consuming too much sweet drinks makes it hard to get all of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs. Soft drinks and sweets such as candy, cake, cookies and donuts can cause dental cavities, and they add to calorie intake, which makes it hard to keep a healthy weight.

Choose foods with healthy fat
The fat on our bodies serves several purposes: it protects our organs, keeps us warm, and stores our energy. Fat in food provides a feeling of fullness and it adds flavor. Some fat – namely unsaturated fat – is healthy for the heart, but other fat – the saturated fat – can damage arteries and lead to heart disease over time. Trans fat does the most damage and should be avoided.
Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Exercise for Fun and Fitness

Exercise for Fun and Fitness
Regular exercise and physical activity are vital to your physical emotional health and can bring you fun and fitness at the same time. Having chronic illness and growing older can maker an active lifestyle seem far away. Some people have never been active and others have given up leisure activities because of illness.

Unfortunately, long periods of inactivity in anyone can lead to weakness, stiffness, fatigue, poor appetite, high blood pressure, obesity osteoporosis, constipation, and increased sensitivity to pain, anxiety and depression. These problems occur from chronic illness as well. So, it can be difficult to tell whether it is the illness, inactivity or combination of the two that is responsible for these problems. Although we don’t have cures for many of these illnesses, yet, we do know the cure for inactivity – exercise.

Most people have a sense that exercising and being active is healthier and more satisfying than being inactive, but often have a hard time finding information and support to get started on a more active way of life.

Regular exercise benefits everyone, especially people with chronic health problems. Regular exercise improves levels of strength, energy, and self confidence and less anxiety and depression. Exercise can help maintain a good weight, which takes stress off weight- bearing joints and improves blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fat levels. There is evidence that regular exercise can help to “thin” the blood, or prevent blood clots, which is one of the reasons exercise can be particular benefit to people with heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease.

In addition, strong muscles can help people with arthritis to protect their joints by improving stability and absorbing shock. Regular exercise also can help nourish joints and keep cartilage and bone healthy. Regular exercise has been shown to help people with chronic lung disease, improve endurance, and reduce shortness of breath. Many people with claudication (leg pain from severe arthrosclerosis blockages in the arteries of the lower extremities) can walk farther without leg pain after undertaking a regular exercise program. It also suggested that exercise may even increase life expectancy. Regular exercise is an important part of controlling blood sugar levels, losing weight, and reducing the risks of cardiovascular complications for people with diabetes.
Exercise for Fun and Fitness

Reasons for Mountain Biking

Reasons for Mountain Biking
Mounting Biking is for fun
Mountain biking will be contrast with hiking. Both have their niche and the choice is ours. We can do both. In the end, it’s matter of personal preference. Relative to hiking, mountain biking might be for fun. The wind in our face, the feeling of speed…. Speed compresses the time interval between successive events such as turns, drops, and climbs and we are forced to think ahead while controlling the bike. The combined mental and physical challenge makes mountain biking fun.

Mountain biking is for exercise
Mountain biking is a great low impact, cardiovascular exercise. Aerobic activity, which increases our metabolism, is the best way to burn calories. Aerobic activity also strengthens our heart, lungs and legs muscles. Our blood’s capacity to carry oxygen and nutrients is increased, producing stamina. In this regard, cycling is similar to running.

We can use bike’s gears to regulate the intensity of our cardiovascular workout. Using lower gears for an easy spin brings our heart and respiration rates up to sustainable levels for long periods. Or, use the big gears and feel the burn on short, intense rides.

Because of cardiovascular benefits, some have discovered that biking makes an excellent adjunct spot to other activities, such as hiking and backpacking.

Mountain biking as a challenge
Once the sole province of young daredevils, men and women of all ages are now getting into the sport. Part of the attraction is the challenge that comes from the interaction between bike and rider. If we accept this challenge and work at it, our skills will improve. Everyone has personal limits, but practice and tenacity will soon have our riding trails that we once found intimidating. Overcoming these challenges produces a lot of thrills and also provides a sense of accomplishment.
Reasons for Mountain Biking

Dietary Fiber

Dietary Fiber
Recognition of dietary fiber as an important food component was reawakened in the mid 1970s. Since the simple notion that “roughage” relieves constipation has been replaces by the concept of an active dietary fiber with its many possible implications for general health. Result from the extensive research devoted to the dietary fiber during the last 15 or so years have suggested this food component may be quiet important in the prevention and management of a wide variety of disease states. Not surprisingly, fiber has been implicated as important in various aspect of bowel function. The metabolic diseases, diabetes and obesity, are believed by some researches s to be more easily regulated with high fiber and fiber supplemented diets. Fiber has also has been implicated in the control or prevention of variety of carcinomas as well as certain diseases affecting the cardiovascular system.

The varying aspects of the fiber observed by researches are related to the fact that dietary fiber is made up of different compositions, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Delineation of these many components plus their various, distinctive characteristics emphasizes fact that dietary fiber cannot be considered a single entity.

Food components figures of fiber traditionally have referred to crude fiber, primarily cellulose, rather than being inclusive for the various component making up dietary fiber.
Dietary Fiber

Kinds of Martial Arts

Kinds of Martial Arts
One of the trendiest sports today is kickboxing, which is featured in film, TV shows, and live events worldwide. Some of the most distinguished names in the business of kickboxing, such as Chuck Norris, were superstar kick boxers and these individuals managed to increase interest in the game dramatically

Many of the participants who enter the sport have skills in kickboxing London and were often included with the best participants in their chosen activity. Many expert boxers also get into the sport of kickboxing London, after a trainer has taught them how to kick.

Kickboxing started in Europe and America as an alternative to traditional kickboxing and is often allied with mixed kickboxing. Although not technically considered one of the kickboxing.

Unlike a kickboxing tournament, the participants in a kickboxing match will typically wear some defensive gear, such as mouth guards, boxing gloves, and a groin shield. This is to take care that the participants in the match do not experience lasting injury from their experience in the ring.

There are a lot of different kinds types of kickboxing that may be featured in a match and a number of the differences in style are region specific in nature. Several countries, including France, India, and Cambodia, have invented their own techniques
Kinds of Martial Arts
By: FinlayMacintosh
Article source: http://www.articlehero.com

Exercise or Diets – which is better?

Exercise or Diets – which is better?
Both those who dieted and those who exercised lost a significant amount of weight, according to the study on whether a calorie-restriction diet can extend lifespan. However, while exercisers maintained their strength and muscle mass and increased aerobic capacity, those who dieted lost muscle mass, strength and aerobic capacity.

Exercise-induced weight loss provides the additional benefit of improving physical performance capacity.

Those who dieted lost muscle mass while those who exercised did not. This is because exercisers routinely challenged their muscles, which prevented muscle tissue from degrading. Dieters didn't work their muscles as vigorously as those who exercised.

In addition, once a person loses weight, his or her muscles don't have to work as hard at everyday movements, such as rising from a chair, walking up steps or getting out of a car.

Because they're carrying a lighter load, less demand is placed on them.

The muscles dieters use to carry their bodies "detrain," in much the same way that a weight lifter using less weight in the gym doesn't develop as large of muscles as one who uses heavier weights.

It's important that dieting not be seen as a bad thing because it provides enormous benefits with respect to reducing the risk of disease and is effective for weight loss
In addition, those who exercise may be under the mistaken impression that they can eat more and still lose weight.

A critical requirement for exercise-induced weight loss is that food intake does not increase.
Exercise or Diets – which is better?

Benefits of Regular and Moderate Exercise

Benefits of Regular and Moderate Exercise
What are the benefits of regular exercise? It promotes self-discipline and has a positive impact how people perceive their life. Exercise helps in lifting our spirits and getting us out of any depression. For first timers, it can be done for 15 minutes for 2 to 3 days a week. The time can be increased once our body gets tuned up for it.

Don’t ever force our body! If it gets hurt, then stop. We can take a break from exercising for a few days and then can start again but we need to start from day 1.

Here are some moderate and regular exercises can be done:

Walking
Make use of the surroundings. We can walk with our dog, with partner or child. We should encourage our family to do the walking exercise daily. It will burning body calories while enjoying the surroundings and getting enough sunlight that is also good for our body.

Yoga
Yoga is one effective exercise that energizes not only our body but also our soul. A five-minute yoga exercise can perk us up and recharge our body with the energy.

Sports
Play basketball, football, baseball, tennis or badminton. Many doctors have recommended sports as an effective way to stay fit and healthy. Sports can also be done in moderation. Do not take it seriously. Shooting basketball with a friend is one moderate exercise that is also considered a sport.

Join exercise programs at work

Exercise while doing household chores
Gardening, raking leaves, lawn mowing, doing the laundry, vacuuming and car washing are effective moderate exercises at home. Make use of these chores to sweat and burn calories. Instead of using machines and gadgets to perform these chores, why not do it with our hands and lose some fats?

Making exercises as part of our daily routines will surprise us of how much calories we will lose. Doing these moderate exercises of the same amount every day can burn 150 calories up to 1,000 calories a day.
Benefits of Regular and Moderate Exercise

Top 5 Tips For Exercising in the Heat of the Summer

Top 5 Tips For Exercising in the Heat of the Summer
By Robert Kokoska
Everyone wants to move outdoors during the summer months to exercise their hearts out. The winter months are over and the treadmill needs to resume its role as a coat hanger as the open road calls our tennis shoes. But, even though the weather is warm and the days are long, the ideal exercise day can turn into a nightmare if there are not precautions taken against the summer heat. Exercising in the heat of the summer means taking a few extra steps to prepare for your workout.

* Blocking the sun. The suns rays are known to case skin cancer and premature skin aging. A good sunscreen can block the sun's rays from harming the skin and is an essential addition to a summer outdoor workout. The sunscreen needs to be waterproof in order to stay put during those bouts of sweating and utilize a blocker for both UVA and UVB rays.

* Keeping hydrated. Hydration starts before you walk out that door to exercise. Drinking an entire bottle of water before running is good, but keeping hydrated throughout the day is even better. During your routine, you will burn off much of the water reserves every 15 minutes, so rehydrate soon and rehydrate often. Many people do not like to drink while they are exercising. This is not a healthy choice, water is the key to life and to a great workout in good health.

* Warming up and cooling down. The warm weather may make you feel as though you do not have to warm up and cool down. The muscles are not as warm as the skin is, that is for sure. You still need to warm up those muscles and cool them down after the workout. This will prevent muscle pulls, strains and pain after the workout.

* Keep clothing light. The lighter the clothing, the more the skin will be able to wick the sweat away. If the skin is covered tightly, the evaporation needed to cool the body will not happen. There are plenty of special clothing lines that help the body to stay cool during workouts and these are perfect for the summer months.

* Know when to stop. The heat can wreak havoc on the body. A workout can go south very quick if you do not recognize the signs of heat stroke. Heat stroke is a very real killer and needs to be watched out for carefully. Dizziness and extreme fatigue are often the top two signs of heat stroke. If you feel you are being affected by the sun, sit down in the shade and drink plenty of water.

Exercising outside in the summer if a fitness right of passage. There is something about the sound of sneakers on the open pavement that makes the dull winter blues fade away. When working out in the summer heat, take precautions to keep your workout safe and healthy. That way, your workouts can continue through the summer and you can make the most of the long days of warmth and clean air and sunshine.
Top 5 Tips For Exercising in the Heat of the Summer
Source: ezinearticles.com

Swimming As A Recreational Activity - 7 Facts About Swimming That You May Not Know

Swimming As A Recreational Activity - 7 Facts About Swimming That You May Not Know Swimming is one of the safest and most effective forms of exercise. It is almost impossible to get injured while swimming and it is also a great workout for your body. Whether you are trying to lose weight or stay in shape, swimming has something to offer just about anyone. Here are 7 facts about recreational swimming that you may or may not know.

*You can swim for exercise no matter what your age. Some people teach their infants and toddlers how to swim so that they will learn to love and respect the water at a very early age. I also know people well into their eighties who swim regularly to stay in shape.

*An estimated 65 thousand people in the United States alone do not know how to swim. Many of them learned as young children but never go to a pool, lake, river, or ocean anymore and have forgotten how to swim over the years. Others were never taught and continue to avoid the activity altogether. It was once thought that knowing how to swim was important for safety reasons, but now it is pretty much left up to the individual.

*Swimming in extremely cold water can be very dangerous. People with heart conditions or other ailments, as well as elderly people, should avoid swimming in water that is too cold. Cold water cools down the human body 25 times faster that cold air does, so swimming in water that is below about 15 degrees Celsius should never be undertaken. This can lead to thermal shock, hypothermia, and eventual death.

*Swimming is also a very safe form of exercise because it is considered to be low impact and easy on the bones and joints. You can do exercises in the water using floats and weights and enjoy a good workout without worrying about serious injury. This is especially true if you have arthritis or other types of physical limitations.

*It really is true that you shouldn't swim for about an hour after eating. This is primarily because your body is digesting your food and you may get a cramp during the time right after you eat. Allow your body to rest after eating and then go into the water.

*Swimming is a good way to lose weight. This form of exercise will stimulate your entire body and could lead to an increase in metabolism over time. If you are trying to lose weight, swim for at least twenty minutes three or four times each week.

*Going swimming is very relaxing and has been compared to yoga and meditation in terms of its soothing effect on the mind and body. So swim often and remember that some of the most intelligent and creative people in the world choose swimming as their form of exercise and relaxation.

Swimming As A Recreational Activity - 7 Facts About Swimming That You May Not Know
By Connie Ragen Green
Source: http://ezinearticles.com

Exercise and dementia

Exercise and dementia
Older adult who regularly walk fro exercise may help lower their risk of vascular dementia, the second most common form of this disorder after Alzheimer’s disease.

In group of 749 adults who were 65 years of age or older, Italian researchers found that those who regularly walked or got other forms of moderate exercise were less likely to develop vascular dementia over the next four years.

Compared with their sedentary counterparts, active adults had about one quarter the risk of developing vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is caused by an impaired blood flow to the brain.

Blockages that narrow the blood vessels supplying the brain or complete blockages that cause a stroke, may also lead to vascular dementia.

People with conditions that damage blood vessels throughout the body – such as high blood pressure or diabetes – are also at increased risk. The new findings built on evidence that lifestyles habits are important in dementia risk.

A number of studies have suggested that the same habit s that are good for the heart such as a healthy diet and regular exercise – may benefit the ageing brain as well.
Exercise and dementia