If you are one of the 65% of Americans who are overweight or obese your risk of developing several different health problems is increased. Those health problems include but are not limited to:
?Diabetes
?Heart disease
?Stroke
?Gallstones
?Certain types of cancer
?Arthritic joints
Researchers say being overweight is the second leading cause of ?preventable? death in the United States.
We are often told increase our daily intake of fruits and vegetables as one possible means of warding off life threatening diseases. Below is a list of vegetables and fruits and the diseases they help us to fight off:
1.Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, turnips, watercress. This group of vegetables contains cancer-fighting chemicals. Green vegetables are especially folate-rich and help protect the heart, guard against colon, rectal, mouth and throat cancers. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables guard against bladder cancer. Leafy green vegetables help ward off stomach and lung cancers. Spinach, kale and other dark leafy greens protect against cataracts and macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in older people. Plenty of servings of cruciferous vegetables and leafy green help lower the risk for stroke.
2.Carrots contain beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A. Carrots may help prevent heart disease and guards against cancers of the mouth, throat, lung, and stomach. There is also some evidence that carrots may possibly guard against breast cancer especially in women who have a family history of it.
3.Clementines, grapefruits, lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines all contain Vitamin C. Abundant servings of citrus fruits lower the risk of stroke, and guard against mouth and throat cancers.
4.Tomatoes is a common and popular vegetable that when served either raw or cooked can help prevent prostate cancer, guard against stomach cancer and possibly lung cancer.
As we age our metabolism slows down. A slower metabolism makes it harder to burn off calories. Muscle mass starts to decline. Muscle burns calories more efficiently than fat, so with a decrease in muscle mass there is also more weight gain.
Children, adults chasing after children and toddlers and jobs that are physically active may not be sources of daily exercise for people as they get older. Opportunities for daily exercise then becomes an extra chore we must seek after. Ailments like painful joints or back pain slows down our activity, which makes it harder to burn the calories we eat daily.
At any age, however, eating too much snack food and super-sized portions of any kind of food does not help a quest to fight off excess weight.
Despite all the challenges each of us face in our daily lives it is very much worthwhile to try and keep the extra pounds off and/or lose the excess weight we have acquired through little activity, overeating and eating the wrong kinds of food.
Even if you do not know how to calculate what is your normal weight it is simple to understand that taking in more calories than you burn off add extra pounds. Burning off more calories helps you to loose excess weight.
For anyone who has ever tried to lose weight, you probably realize this is easier said than done. Weight loss is hard for almost everyone who really needs to lose weight.
Rather than trying all the popular diets that works out ways to restrict calories you might try a few simple steps to see if this will work for you:
?Limit refined carbohydrates that cause insulin levels to rise and speeds up hunger signals.
?Focus more on vegetables and whole grains that are digested slowly.
?Eat less saturated fats and trans fats while including moderate amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in your diet. Remember that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in your diet have proven health benefits.
No matter how many diets there are in this world I think everyone agrees that ?exercise? is a main component of healthy living. Regular exercise can help reduce your chances of getting a wide range of illnesses, keeps bones and joints strong and healthy, helps you to maintain vigor and independence in later years and definitely improves your mood and mental functioning. I say definitely improves the mood because just in general one might not think a simple thing as taking a 30 minute daily walk would help keep the mood level. Actually, it really does.
Study after study proves that fitness prolongs life. One study found that the simple, and for some, pleasurable hobby of gardening performed for more than an hour a week reduces the risk of death of cardiac arrest.
We even read story after story of people who live very unhealthy lifestyles, such as smokers, yet they exercise and reap rewards from the exercise alone. That is not to say, go ahead and live as unhealthy as you please and just do your exercises. It is just to say that for some people who refuse to live healthy lifestyles otherwise and who do perform some kind of regular exercise, the exercise has proven beneficial to those individuals.
Despite all the research, and written and oral material about the benefits of exercise, few people actually do it. Even worse than this is that studies show with increasing age, fewer and fewer people perform regular exercise routines. Women tend to become less active than men as they age.
We all realize that part of the problem is that ?routine exercise? is just no fun and especially for people who are already suffering from disabling pain in the bones, joints and elsewhere in the body. Some people worry about injuring themselves while exercising. And it certainly is true not all forms of exercise are right for everyone.
Even worse than this is we are told the most balanced and beneficial exercise routine is one that combines aerobic activity, strength training and flexibility. It truly is enough to make a person throw up their hands and say ?I give up; I just don?t know what to do.? We are constantly bombarded with this study and that study.
If you are in that seat of the person who says ?I just don?t know what to do,? you might begin by doing something very simple and then consulting with your private physician for some professional resources to get you on a uniquely prescribed exercise program.
The simple things could be:
?The normal lifting, bending, walking and whatever it takes to do those household chores.
?Hoeing, weeding, raking and lifting that goes into gardening delivers much of the same aerobic benefits of a more structured exercise routine.
?Changing activities helps ward off the boredom. Painting a bedroom can be pleasurable, mentally and physically invigorating.
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