Diet Warfare » exercise

Exercise to Increase Blood To Your Brain

Nana — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:27:20 +0000

A study was done on 299 adults for 13 years, and found that walking 6 – 9 miles per week may stop your brain from shrinking as you age. Exercise increases the blood to the brain, so more of the important nutrients get to the brain. And the more you walk, the more it helps, expect more than 9 miles per week only improves your fitness level, which is also important!

From the January 2 Parade Magazine Stay Healthy column by Emily Listford

Interval Training Gives You More Bang For Your Buck

Nana — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:23:26 +0000

You say you don’t have time to exercise for hours every day? Is this your excuse for now working out at all? The solution for you is interval training, which gives you a better workout in a shorter amount of time. This is not complicated, anyone can do it. Whatever exercise you can do, walking, running, biking, exercise machines at the gym, start your regular exercise, and after 5 to 10 minutes, step up your level of exertion for one minute. If you are walking, jog for one minute. If that is too much, just walk a little faster for one minute. Doing this allows you to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time, as well as the excellent side effects of giving you more energy to get through the day and being in better health.

Of course, this is not appropriate for people with chronic health problems. You have to be the judge of what you are capable of doing. You might even consult your physician.

Great article on the Mayo Clinic website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/interval-training/SM00110

The Science of Sedentary Behavior

Nana — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:55:42 +0000

Studies show that sitting endangers your health. It reduces your circulation and your metabolism starts to shut down. I don’t like that I am sitting here writing this post! However, no consensus has been reached on exactly how much sitting is bad for you. We all have to sit, whether on a train, bus or car to get to work, or while working in an office.

Make sure you get up and regular intervals, even if you just walk around your desk a few times. Or get yourself a glass of water, drinking enough water is a whole health topic by itself.

From The Stanford Center on Longevity: http://longevity.stanford.edu/

www.fitday.com

Nana — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:09:46 +0000

I found this great website, which lets you to find the amount of calories in a huge variety of foods, and allows you to create a free account and keep track of your weight, what activity you did during the day and the foods you have eaten. You also enter a diet start and end date and it tells you how many calories you can eat in a day as well as an overview of the fat, carbs and protein you have eaten and a graph of your weight.

My first problem with this site is that I think it is overstating the number of calories I need to lose the amount of weight I want to lose in the next six weeks. Other sites I have used to enter my weight, height, sex and daily activity level have suggested the amount of calories I need each day are less, like 500 calories less.

My second problem is that I had a hard time finding the amount of calories they suggest I burn in an average day, how much I should be eating to lose weight and how many calories I have left in a given day. Their “calorie balance equation”, which tells you the calories you burn minus the calorie restriction to lose the amount of weight in your desired amount of time, is here: go to the “Weight Goal” tab. At the bottom of the page are a set of 6 tabs. Go to the tab that says “Calorie Balance”.

Minimal Exercises

Nana — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:10:02 +0000

Parade Magazine had an article about exercising a few weeks ago. They spoke to a trainer in New York named Lacey Stone. She says that you can be in reasonable shape by doing three simple moves.

Jumping jacks – these get your heart rate up and burns some extra calories as well as helping you strengthen your bones. Alternately, you could go out for a brisk walk, walking is always good, and is less stress on your legs.
Push-ups – ugh, I always hated doing these when I was younger. But they are fast and simple and don’t require any equipment. They help increase your muscle mass in several muscle groups at once, which means you burn more calories at rest. Having stronger upper body strength also helps you do the normal things you have to do in life, like bringing in the groceries even. The bags won’t feel as heavy!
Improve your balance. You can do something as simple as the tree pose in Yoga. You can google this or here is one description of tree pose that I found: http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/496. As we age, our balance skills deteriorate, which means we are more at risk of falling, among other things. Balance is important in all areas of life.

Exercise Makes You Smarter

Nana — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:55:31 +0000

You can find so many reasons to exercise. Scientists now have hard data on the changes in your brain when you exercise that shows your cognitive ability improves when you exercise. They can see immediate effects, and scientists think the research also points to long term effects if you exercise regularly.

Here is the article: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/exercise-boost-brainpower/story?id=8840026&page=2 and the video is here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/exercise-boost-brainpower/story?id=8840026

The video provide more information.