It is common knowledge that poor diet is a decisive factor in many conditions and diseases, including obesity, certain types of cancer and heart disease. The link between good health and good nutrition has been well established, and interest in nutrition and its impact on individual performance is now a science in itself. With obesity rates rising at an alarming rate more and more patients are seeking help to keep their weight down and their health intact.
Basics of a Healthy Diet
What’s in a healthy diet? It’s hard to know these days, isn’t it? Regardless of the type of diet you eat, most all nutrition professionals agree on three basic concepts:
Balance
Providing balance in your diet involves an intentional inclusion of different foods in proportion to each other based on the value that each food has to your total goal. For some, food choices might include a specific macronutrient balance. Most health organizations recommend a diet consisting of a balance from Carbohydrate at 55-65%, Protein at 10-15% and Fats at no higher than 30% of total calories. Other programs sometimes recommend that the nutrient balances be altered to a 40: 30: 30% or 75: 15: 10% Carbohydrate: Protein: Fat total calorie percent balance, respectively. Your goal shoudnt be only to have low fat diet. Lastly, balance refers to choosing healthier foods more often than foods that are less healthy.
Moderation
With obesity incidence growing at epidemic rates, one of the biggest concerns for should be portion control. Moderation first involves learning how much food is enough and how much is too much. Many dieting programs are very successful simply because they are very good at helping clients learn to plan food portion sizes appropriately. Because the feeling of fullness in the stomach can take as long as twenty minutes to register to the brain, it is important to regulate how much food is ingested before waiting for a full-feeling. Moderation, therefore, also involves learning the distinct difference between hunger satisfaction and fullness.
Variation
All healthy diets involve the inclusion of several food-types. The primary reason for this is health. Including a wide-variety of foods increases your likelihood of obtaining the required amounts of essential nutrients. It is well recognized that vitamin and mineral composition is food-specific. While some fruits are high in vitamin C, they are low in Calcium. Also, variation helps to avoid food-boredom: trying new foods can be interesting and exciting.
4.10.10
Do It Yourself Home Gym
Rowing.
This can be done with the help of the exercise bands. Sitting on the floor with your legs extended, loop elastic band under arches of feet and hold the ends in each hand. Start with arms extended forward. Keeping your back straight and shoulders down, pull your elbows back slowly, contracting shoulder blades. Hold for 2 seconds; release slowly. Repeat. Start with easy resistance and gradually increase the difficulty. If you feel that the band is stretched too much try using a band with higher resistance. Keep the band at its normal width so that it doesn't cut into your hands, feet, or ankles. After stretching the band, release it slowly, but not completely. Wrap the band securely around your hand or foot so it won't slip. When an exercise requires that one end is fixed, choose an object that won't move, such as a pole or heavy piece of furniture.
Jumping Ropes or skipping
You must have seen Professional boxers jumping ropes while they train, that's because it helps in increasing cardiovascular endurance. Skipping or Jumping rope is great exercise for adults as well as kids. All you need is a rope and good shoes to start. But first read on these instructions.
As a way to build cardiovascular endurance, jumping rope can be as good as jogging, but is lesser in impact, since you should jump only a little off the ground. It helps improve coordination, speed, and agility. If you engage in a sport that requires bursts of speed and power such as tennis or basketball, jumping rope can be particularly beneficial. It burns a lot of calories by working out the muscles in the legs, shoulders, chest, and forearms.Always Check the rope length before starting, it should not be to short neither too long. As a rule the handle of the rope should come till your armpit. Wear shoes which have good support. It's best to jump on wooden floor, as found in gym, but a lawn or a mat works well, too. Concrete is too hard and increases the risk of injury, but if your shoes are good enough you should be able to jump anywhere.
While jumping land with your knees slightly bent. Keep your posture erect, shoulders back, and abdomen tucked in. Slow down if you get too tired. Jumping rope can elevate your heart rate very quickly.
Elastic or TheraBands
Elastic exercise bands are the best bet for you to begin strength training. They've been used by physio-therapists for years. These are also known as therabands. These are cheap, portable, and versatile, these long, wide bands provide the resistance you need to work your muscles. They often come with booklets to make your work easy. They are supplied in eight colors and each colored band have different level of resistance. These can also be cut in required sizes and attached to a fixed object. You can choose the band depending on the resistance you want. You can strengthen and tone all your major muscles with them.
Physio-Balls
The big therapy ball—also called a physio-, Swiss, or gym ball—has been used for long time in Switzerland. Now these balls can be seen in gyms and physiotherapy offices. Unlike the medicine balls these are filled with air and relatively soft and, they cushion you as you stretch. They come in different sizes, for people of different heights. For instance, a 65-centimeter (about 24-inch) ball is recommended for those between 5'8" and 6'. Inflated with a simple pump.
Exercises like strengthening, stretches on the ball, warm-up and cool-down can be performed using them. Ball exercise are ideal when there is need to perform exercise of multiple muscle groups. For instance, by simply sitting and bouncing on the ball, you work your hamstrings, quadriceps, abdominals, and back muscles. Add arm movements, and you also get an upper-body workout. The main benefits of physio-balls are they help in improving your coordination, balance, and posture.When you sit on the ball, as you would a chair, your thighs should be parallel to the ground. Don't wear pins or objects that might puncture the ball. Make sure you have enough room so that if you lose your balance you are not injured. If you are older and/or have poor balance, start off with someone who will stand alongside you and make sure you don't fall off the ball.
Medicine balls
For a different kind of ball workout, try medicine balls. Leather versions used to be popular among trainers and athletes in the older days. Today these weighted balls, dubbed "plyoballs" or "body balls," are usually made of polyurethane and/or vinyl.
What you do with a medicine ball is called plyometric exercise. This involves stretching a muscle (as when you squat before you jump to shoot a basket) and then contracting it suddenly or "explosively" as you jump. You can hold the ball above your chest to make your sit-up routine more strenuous. Or substitute it for hand weights while doing aerobic dance. Or play toss or keep-away with one or two partners. Plyometrics can help in building muscle strength, thus increasing power. In the beginning use a small, lightweight ball. Vary your workout to avoid overuse injuries or soreness. For advanced or intense plyometric exercises, consult a trainer.
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