Traditionally it’s known that weight gain is a matter of positive energy balance. More calories from food plus sedentary life equal weight gain. Decreased calories and high activity level usually means weight loss. Most weight loss topics are about the goodness of good food and the badness of bad food. Just like with food, different people have different preferences with activity types and amounts. Some people are addicted to exercise, they run marathons, go to the gym at 4:30 in am, jog 5-7 times per week or bike for 20 miles per day. Some fit in yoga or a Pilates class 2-3 times per week or take a dog for a walk or just walk. Others feel too tired, exhausted or depressed to force themselves into a simple walk. Truly, we come in different mind-sets, shapes, colors and attitudes but we all benefit from exercise. There is definite inverse correlation between fitness and fatness. Physical fitness is actually more than exercise. It is a general state of good health, usually as a result of exercise and nutrition. Fitness is achieved through healthy eating and exercise. But how much and what kind of exercise it takes to be considered fit?
Not long ago American Heart Association recommended 30 min of exercise for 5 times daily. In 2005 the recommendation changed to 210 minutes per week and more recent recommendation is more than that. More than 210 minutes per week helped people to maintain 10% of lost weight.
Some important facts about fitness - it is associated with better immunity, better neutrophil (cells that fight infection) action, less inflammation, less depression, less atherosclerosis, less mortality, better HDL (good) cholesterol, less LDL (bad) cholesterol, better diabetes control, better sleep and more productivity.
Aerobic exercise training is an effective way of achieving these goals. Most exercise we do, like walking, jogging, biking, dancing, yoga, Pilates, swimming etc is aerobic. Resistance training also induces beneficial changes in insulin sensitivity, glucose storage and muscle mass. Exercise increases the amount of oxygen that is inhaled and distributed to body tissues and increases the metabolism.
Muscle mass is lost with aging; therefore, resistance training may be particularly important in people over 50. You need to start slow and with a trainer or a tape that teaches you how to do the weight training. Most YMCAs will offer such classes. Consider taking a body building class. Keep walking, park your car far from your destination, take stairs, do the am-charge-up, use the exercise bike. Even when you feel tired make an effort to achieve fitness - it will pay-off.
Studies have shown that it is better to be fat and fit than thin and unfit.
Mar 31, 2010
Mar 29, 2010
Tips for Alpha-Living
• Read the labels, make sure you avoid, more like never buy anything with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or partially hydrogenated fats (HF) at the store. Avoid artificial sweeteners (AF) and food coloring (FC).
• Avoid any regular or diet soda.
• Avoid fruit juice and eat the fruit. Fruits are great but are high in sugar, so keep the amount of fruit per day under 3.
• Incorporate the freshest and colorful produce in your daily meals. If available opt for locally grown and organic.
• Use olive oil for most cooking, butter and vegetable oils on rare occasions. Experiment with cooking. Bake and grill
• Eat lean protein (fish, meat, chicken or tofu) of your choice with dinner and protein-rich foods with breakfast, lunch and snacks. Eat fish 2-3 times per week. Watch for the portions of starches and use whole grain.
• Eat legumes (minimum 1/2 cup daily). Remember those are good sources of protein, starch and fiber.
• Drink plenty of water, 1-2 cups of coffee and green tea.
• Take a walk at lunch time. Try to reach your exercise-goal.
• Avoid any regular or diet soda.
• Avoid fruit juice and eat the fruit. Fruits are great but are high in sugar, so keep the amount of fruit per day under 3.
• Incorporate the freshest and colorful produce in your daily meals. If available opt for locally grown and organic.
• Use olive oil for most cooking, butter and vegetable oils on rare occasions. Experiment with cooking. Bake and grill
• Eat lean protein (fish, meat, chicken or tofu) of your choice with dinner and protein-rich foods with breakfast, lunch and snacks. Eat fish 2-3 times per week. Watch for the portions of starches and use whole grain.
• Eat legumes (minimum 1/2 cup daily). Remember those are good sources of protein, starch and fiber.
• Drink plenty of water, 1-2 cups of coffee and green tea.
• Take a walk at lunch time. Try to reach your exercise-goal.
Mar 28, 2010
Know the fats by their names. Eat good fats, avoid the harming fats.
For the last forty years fats have been shown to increase heart disease and cancer and have been under relentless attack from nutritional-scientists and food industry. As a result every food has a word fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and now days also trans fats on the Nutrition facts on it.
Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature. The major sources of saturated fats are butter, lard, ghee, meats (beef, pork, chicken, lamb), dairy, coconut oil (will talk more about this oil later), and pastry made from butter or chocolate. Margarine also contains significant levels of saturated fats, but is to be condemned for other reasons (see the discussion on trans-fats, below).
Cholesterol frequently is present with these fats, but can also be found separately, such as in egg yolk.
Monounsaturated fats are the healthiest for the heart and cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fatty acids or MUFA are the main constituent of olive oil. Canola oil and peanut oil and certain nuts, like walnuts and pecans also contain preferentially monounsaturated fats. It is well known that, traditionally, people consuming a Mediterranean diet have lower rates of heart disease. The Mediterranean diet is a high monounsaturated fat diet because everything is cooked or dressed with olive oil. The studies comparing high MUFA diets with the traditional American-Western diet showed dramatic differences, including better patterns of insulin sensitivity, cholesterol profiles, heart disease and weight. High MUFA diets lower bad LDL-cholesterol without harming levels of good HDL-cholesterol. In contrast, very low-fat diets have shown very modest and transient weight reduction, with a decrease in HDL or “good” cholesterol. The moral of the story: Don't try to eliminate fats completely because they are important. Use olive oil as your preferred oil.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils, canola oil, flax oil, peanut butter, almond butter and fish oil. As it turns out, unsaturated fats tend to be associated with lower cholesterol, when compared with saturated fats.
Trans fats are unknown to nature. These are created in the lab under high temperatures, by reintroduction of hydrogen atoms into fatty acid chains, causing double bonds to randomly convert into single bonds. This process is called hydrogenation and many foods on the market contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. These fats contain trans fatty acids. Trans-fats are the worst fats health wise. We can't (or at least shouldn't) use them the way we usually use fats (to build cell membranes, nerve coating, hormones). They are one of the major culprits of weight gain. They raise the bad LDL-C and lower the good HDL-C. Vegetable shortening is another name for these fats.
These partially hydrogenated fats give foods the properties of long shelf life. If you buy pastries made with these compounds and accidentally lose them in the back of your cupboard, you will note that they still appear fresh months and years later. Processed foods—margarine, snack foods, French-fries, shortenings and cheap baked goods, are main sources of trans-fats. Previously thought to be harmless (remember when margarine was “better” than butter?) these trans-fats are shown to harden the arteries and express other harmful effects (like suppression of immunity) on the body. The direct correlation has been shown between the eaten hydrogenated fat and body fat. On a scale from -10 to 1, one being good and -10 being bad, trans-fats score -10, saturated fats score -5, polyunsaturated fats score 1 and omega-3 fatty acids are positive 5. In fact those are so good that we will dedicate a week to Omega-3s.
For the last forty years fats have been shown to increase heart disease and cancer and have been under relentless attack from nutritional-scientists and food industry. As a result every food has a word fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and now days also trans fats on the Nutrition facts on it.
Saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature. The major sources of saturated fats are butter, lard, ghee, meats (beef, pork, chicken, lamb), dairy, coconut oil (will talk more about this oil later), and pastry made from butter or chocolate. Margarine also contains significant levels of saturated fats, but is to be condemned for other reasons (see the discussion on trans-fats, below).
Cholesterol frequently is present with these fats, but can also be found separately, such as in egg yolk.
Monounsaturated fats are the healthiest for the heart and cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fatty acids or MUFA are the main constituent of olive oil. Canola oil and peanut oil and certain nuts, like walnuts and pecans also contain preferentially monounsaturated fats. It is well known that, traditionally, people consuming a Mediterranean diet have lower rates of heart disease. The Mediterranean diet is a high monounsaturated fat diet because everything is cooked or dressed with olive oil. The studies comparing high MUFA diets with the traditional American-Western diet showed dramatic differences, including better patterns of insulin sensitivity, cholesterol profiles, heart disease and weight. High MUFA diets lower bad LDL-cholesterol without harming levels of good HDL-cholesterol. In contrast, very low-fat diets have shown very modest and transient weight reduction, with a decrease in HDL or “good” cholesterol. The moral of the story: Don't try to eliminate fats completely because they are important. Use olive oil as your preferred oil.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils, canola oil, flax oil, peanut butter, almond butter and fish oil. As it turns out, unsaturated fats tend to be associated with lower cholesterol, when compared with saturated fats.
Trans fats are unknown to nature. These are created in the lab under high temperatures, by reintroduction of hydrogen atoms into fatty acid chains, causing double bonds to randomly convert into single bonds. This process is called hydrogenation and many foods on the market contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. These fats contain trans fatty acids. Trans-fats are the worst fats health wise. We can't (or at least shouldn't) use them the way we usually use fats (to build cell membranes, nerve coating, hormones). They are one of the major culprits of weight gain. They raise the bad LDL-C and lower the good HDL-C. Vegetable shortening is another name for these fats.
These partially hydrogenated fats give foods the properties of long shelf life. If you buy pastries made with these compounds and accidentally lose them in the back of your cupboard, you will note that they still appear fresh months and years later. Processed foods—margarine, snack foods, French-fries, shortenings and cheap baked goods, are main sources of trans-fats. Previously thought to be harmless (remember when margarine was “better” than butter?) these trans-fats are shown to harden the arteries and express other harmful effects (like suppression of immunity) on the body. The direct correlation has been shown between the eaten hydrogenated fat and body fat. On a scale from -10 to 1, one being good and -10 being bad, trans-fats score -10, saturated fats score -5, polyunsaturated fats score 1 and omega-3 fatty acids are positive 5. In fact those are so good that we will dedicate a week to Omega-3s.
Mar 21, 2010
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