A study from Brown University School of Medicine revealed that dieters who received interactive guidance on the Web lost an average of nine pounds in three months and kept it off for another three months. This is three times as much weight loss as those who didn't go online to lose. This could be great news for the 45 percent of American women and the 25 percent of American men who are currently on a diet.
Online diets are perfect for people who don't have enough time in the day to join other weight-loss programs like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. And although most online diet sites require a monthly or yearly fee (generally between $50 and $100 for an entire year), they are still reasonably priced when you consider the cost of joining a non-Web-based weight-loss program or going to a nutritionist. In addition, because 95 percent of dieters will regain the lost weight within one to five years of going on a diet, individuals who try out cyber dieting have more than likely already attempted numerous diets like Weight Watchers or diets one can find in books, like "The Zone" or "Dr. Atkin's Diet Revolution." If they weren't successful on other diets the Internet might be just the thing that keeps them on track.
According to the Brown University study, the people who received online help filled out personal profiles or surveys, created online diaries to record their food consumption and physical activity. They were also given access to online bulletin boards so that they could share their thoughts and experiences with other participants.
An interesting note to point out: The dieters who received personal feedback and therapist or diet-expert support, showed greater amounts of weight loss than the participants who didn't have feedback. Some experts think that the virtual support groups are the key. Although online diets can be pretty simple and easy to follow, there is always a need to stay committed and motivated. With bulletin boards and round-the-clock help, the help is there when the dieter needs it.
Online diet programs also give users a great deal of privacy, so for people who are insecure about the amount of weight they need to lose or go into a panic when they know they have to step onto a scale at a face-to-face dieters' meeting, they might find dieting on the Web to be the ticket for keeping the diet personal and private. The Internet is also incredibly convenient - it's open 24/7! So a world of nutritional information, facts and advice, always is available.
Another huge advantage to online dieting is that there are diets ranging from high-protein, vegetarian, and because there are so many online diets to chose from, it's almost a given that any one specific person will find a diet that fits his or her own needs.
Although most of the data collected on online dieting is new, it seems like virtual dieting itself is here to stay. And with the positive results continuing to poor in, online dieting might be the answer all of us perfect-body seekers are looking for!
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Fitness Over 40 and Beating Flab
Battling the bulge? It seems to get harder as we get older. The truth is most people just become less active as they age and eat more calories. The result: bigger bellies and flabbier bodies. Can you fight it? Can you keep the fat from piling on no matter how many birthdays pass by?
Absolutely.
Women especially lose sight of what it really takes to lose body fat and tone muscles. They constantly try new diets. They routinely take pills, and they relentlessly cut calories-always looking for that one diet, eating plan or fitness fad to lose unwanted flab on the abdomen and arms.
Unfortunately, most women in their quest for a leaner, trimmer body actually make themselves a better fat-storer and highly inefficient calorie burner.
The solution? Weight training.
Just imagine your life without low-calorie dieting, taking pills and being consumed with a flatter stomach or trimmer thighs. Wouldn't it be great? It can be. You just have to pick up some weights or use machines either at home or in the gym, two to three times a week.
You see, as we age we lose muscle, and because we become less active and eat more calories, the fat builds up. So to lose the fat and put muscle back on your body, you have to challenge the muscle with a load. Weight training is the way.
Now this doesn't mean you have to spend hours in the gym or hours with your equipment at home. But it does mean you have to spend at least 30 to 40 minutes working out with weights, two to three times a week. Check out videos. Tune into ESPN fitness shows. Read magazines. Consult a fitness trainer or hire one. There are basic routines for working the major muscles groups that will strengthen and tone your body. By building muscle you increase the calorie burning.
A pound of fat burns two calories. A pound of muscle burns 35 to 50 calories. Now imagine eating more because you're a better fat burner.
So what do you do?
Perform two or three sets of 10-15 repetitions for each body part; workout on alternating days. Never work the same muscle group two days in a row. Your muscles need recovery time. So perform your weight workout Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday or however it fits your lifestyle. The key is to be consistent, and this isn't something you do for a few weeks. It takes months to change your body.
Throw away the scale. It is not the best indication of how much fat or muscle you have on your body. More muscle on your body may mean for you a higher number on the scale. Take your measurements and have your body fat tested. But rest assured, as a woman you won't bulk up unless you're spending hours in the gym everyday and you are genetically predisposed to more muscle mass.
So, if you want to lose body fat, tone up, get stronger and look better in your clothes, you need to weight train. Stay consistent. Keep it up. You will win the battle of the bulge, once and for all.
Absolutely.
Women especially lose sight of what it really takes to lose body fat and tone muscles. They constantly try new diets. They routinely take pills, and they relentlessly cut calories-always looking for that one diet, eating plan or fitness fad to lose unwanted flab on the abdomen and arms.
Unfortunately, most women in their quest for a leaner, trimmer body actually make themselves a better fat-storer and highly inefficient calorie burner.
The solution? Weight training.
Just imagine your life without low-calorie dieting, taking pills and being consumed with a flatter stomach or trimmer thighs. Wouldn't it be great? It can be. You just have to pick up some weights or use machines either at home or in the gym, two to three times a week.
You see, as we age we lose muscle, and because we become less active and eat more calories, the fat builds up. So to lose the fat and put muscle back on your body, you have to challenge the muscle with a load. Weight training is the way.
Now this doesn't mean you have to spend hours in the gym or hours with your equipment at home. But it does mean you have to spend at least 30 to 40 minutes working out with weights, two to three times a week. Check out videos. Tune into ESPN fitness shows. Read magazines. Consult a fitness trainer or hire one. There are basic routines for working the major muscles groups that will strengthen and tone your body. By building muscle you increase the calorie burning.
A pound of fat burns two calories. A pound of muscle burns 35 to 50 calories. Now imagine eating more because you're a better fat burner.
So what do you do?
Perform two or three sets of 10-15 repetitions for each body part; workout on alternating days. Never work the same muscle group two days in a row. Your muscles need recovery time. So perform your weight workout Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday or however it fits your lifestyle. The key is to be consistent, and this isn't something you do for a few weeks. It takes months to change your body.
Throw away the scale. It is not the best indication of how much fat or muscle you have on your body. More muscle on your body may mean for you a higher number on the scale. Take your measurements and have your body fat tested. But rest assured, as a woman you won't bulk up unless you're spending hours in the gym everyday and you are genetically predisposed to more muscle mass.
So, if you want to lose body fat, tone up, get stronger and look better in your clothes, you need to weight train. Stay consistent. Keep it up. You will win the battle of the bulge, once and for all.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Cardio: The Lighter Side of Running
The leaves are falling off the trees, and if that is not the most obvious sign of the passing of summer, I am not certain how else to identify autumn. All is not lost, of course, and this is in fact one of the best times to run, I think.
Still, all those summer mornings which I spent heaving semi-clear suburban air as I pounded the pavement on warm, soothing mornings are but a memory for another year. Now, as I travel those same sidewalks each morning, I see very different sights, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations, wilting flowers, bags of clippings, and most importantly, piles of leaves raked together by children. I can remember spending many an hour raking when I was little, trying to make the largest and widest pile that I could make, and all this work was for the sole purpose of jumping into it and feeling the good feeling of being a child buried three feet under crinkly autumn leaves. I was at peace with myself within these moments, and I enjoyed them immensely.
Almost fifteen years later, I am very proud to see that today's kids have taken up where I left off; they pile massive quantities of leaves. I thought I would be a mischievous runner and refamiliarize myself with the favorite activity of past Octobers. Most of the week, the majority of my run is spent in quiet residential blocks where many large trees still retain their majesty and, of course, their many leaves. There is one street nearby that has a particularly high density of large oaks, walnuts and maples, and it happens to be one of my most beautiful running routes.
Each fall, the trees become bare, but the streets become a sea of leaves, and the sidewalks a small mountain range of collected piles. This year, I thought I would rejoin my present with my past and go for another jump through the leaves. I set everything up perfectly in my mind, even going so far as to plan where I would park and which streets I would follow so that the leaves would be the grand finale of a great run.
When I got to the street, all the piles were there in formations familiar to my childhood, even though I grew up in a town miles away. All of them were inviting targets. I ran backwards several dozen meters in fact, just so that I could get up enough speed to get some really good jumps into my nice little destructive barrage, and once I reached a point where I felt comfortable starting from, I was off. When I came barreling into the first pile, there was a sensation unlike anything else I had felt in ages. I felt seven again, and in those seconds, weeks of memories returned to me.
The leaves flew up and fell back on me, I was sitting on the ground in the midst of the multi-colored haze, and I was smiling a rather large smile. I could have sat there for hours, yet there were several more leaf piles to torment. I was sure that people would blame it on the wind, for the leaf piles weren't my own. I didn't even know most of the people on the street, but I was experiencing way too much nostalgia to think as clear as I normally do.
The second pile was about twice as large and several hundred feet away. I got up, brushed myself off and stretched some, just to ensure that I could put 100% of Lorne into his next act of running mischief. I started slow, but gained speed at a steady pace so that I would be going full steam when I got to the pile. Seconds later, I was there and I jumped. It seemed that time stood still, as I was in the air heading for the leaves.
It was at this moment that I heard words which still ring out as clear as they did when I hit the ground: "What are you doing, sir?"
I was red-faced. This was perhaps the most embarrassing and awkward moment for me in recent memory, and being an experienced performer, I have had many embarrassing and awkward moments. The woman standing before me, looked at me as more of a pathetic figure than someone worth any amount of ire or anything even remotely resembling anger. I sat there, in her leaf pile, trying to compose a very succinct but cute way of explaining my presence in her yard. I stood up, calmly cleaned myself, and then proceeded to tell her how this was something I always loved to do when I was little and the temptation was simply too much and I had to do this once more for old times' sake and I would be glad to rake it back.
It was then that I heard words, which were said through laughing, so I knew that I probably did sound like a very pathetic person, even for a twenty-something freelance writer.
I heard : "Just run."
I ran off, refraining from risking the wrath of other people who might have more stringent objections to the presence of a runner in their leaves. I actually drove home and, before I started my several hours of writing for the day, tried to ascertain if there were enough leaves to make a pile that I could use for my own purposes.
So far, our trees have kept their leaves, but I will certainly be found outside soon, burying myself in the red and yellow mountains, which form beneath our large maple trees. The next day, I ran down another street that was full of leaves, but nobody had taken the time to rake them up. No matter. I reached down, scooped up a handful of fine walnut leaves, and threw them in the air as I ran, pretending there was a stream of debris behind me, just to make me appear I was going a little faster.
People drove by, watching this pathetic runner once more defy all social constraints and defy the normal perception of civilized running, but all I saw was a seven year-old Lorne having immense fun at the age of twenty-two.
I often refer to the runs that I take in the fall as "running into the rainbow," for on those breezy and cool days, leaves blow off trees and into your face and you really do feel as if you're running into a rainbow. That 's how it really feels to me, and I suppose it will have to substitute it for physically jumping into leaf piles lest I be found raking up leaves as part of a community service agreement made by the lawyers of people who REALLY didn't enjoy my presence in their leaves.
Therefore, I will make another all-important step in growing up; not trespassing for childlike fun during my runs. I'll have to have better reasons from now on, I suppose.
Still, all those summer mornings which I spent heaving semi-clear suburban air as I pounded the pavement on warm, soothing mornings are but a memory for another year. Now, as I travel those same sidewalks each morning, I see very different sights, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations, wilting flowers, bags of clippings, and most importantly, piles of leaves raked together by children. I can remember spending many an hour raking when I was little, trying to make the largest and widest pile that I could make, and all this work was for the sole purpose of jumping into it and feeling the good feeling of being a child buried three feet under crinkly autumn leaves. I was at peace with myself within these moments, and I enjoyed them immensely.
Almost fifteen years later, I am very proud to see that today's kids have taken up where I left off; they pile massive quantities of leaves. I thought I would be a mischievous runner and refamiliarize myself with the favorite activity of past Octobers. Most of the week, the majority of my run is spent in quiet residential blocks where many large trees still retain their majesty and, of course, their many leaves. There is one street nearby that has a particularly high density of large oaks, walnuts and maples, and it happens to be one of my most beautiful running routes.
Each fall, the trees become bare, but the streets become a sea of leaves, and the sidewalks a small mountain range of collected piles. This year, I thought I would rejoin my present with my past and go for another jump through the leaves. I set everything up perfectly in my mind, even going so far as to plan where I would park and which streets I would follow so that the leaves would be the grand finale of a great run.
When I got to the street, all the piles were there in formations familiar to my childhood, even though I grew up in a town miles away. All of them were inviting targets. I ran backwards several dozen meters in fact, just so that I could get up enough speed to get some really good jumps into my nice little destructive barrage, and once I reached a point where I felt comfortable starting from, I was off. When I came barreling into the first pile, there was a sensation unlike anything else I had felt in ages. I felt seven again, and in those seconds, weeks of memories returned to me.
The leaves flew up and fell back on me, I was sitting on the ground in the midst of the multi-colored haze, and I was smiling a rather large smile. I could have sat there for hours, yet there were several more leaf piles to torment. I was sure that people would blame it on the wind, for the leaf piles weren't my own. I didn't even know most of the people on the street, but I was experiencing way too much nostalgia to think as clear as I normally do.
The second pile was about twice as large and several hundred feet away. I got up, brushed myself off and stretched some, just to ensure that I could put 100% of Lorne into his next act of running mischief. I started slow, but gained speed at a steady pace so that I would be going full steam when I got to the pile. Seconds later, I was there and I jumped. It seemed that time stood still, as I was in the air heading for the leaves.
It was at this moment that I heard words which still ring out as clear as they did when I hit the ground: "What are you doing, sir?"
I was red-faced. This was perhaps the most embarrassing and awkward moment for me in recent memory, and being an experienced performer, I have had many embarrassing and awkward moments. The woman standing before me, looked at me as more of a pathetic figure than someone worth any amount of ire or anything even remotely resembling anger. I sat there, in her leaf pile, trying to compose a very succinct but cute way of explaining my presence in her yard. I stood up, calmly cleaned myself, and then proceeded to tell her how this was something I always loved to do when I was little and the temptation was simply too much and I had to do this once more for old times' sake and I would be glad to rake it back.
It was then that I heard words, which were said through laughing, so I knew that I probably did sound like a very pathetic person, even for a twenty-something freelance writer.
I heard : "Just run."
I ran off, refraining from risking the wrath of other people who might have more stringent objections to the presence of a runner in their leaves. I actually drove home and, before I started my several hours of writing for the day, tried to ascertain if there were enough leaves to make a pile that I could use for my own purposes.
So far, our trees have kept their leaves, but I will certainly be found outside soon, burying myself in the red and yellow mountains, which form beneath our large maple trees. The next day, I ran down another street that was full of leaves, but nobody had taken the time to rake them up. No matter. I reached down, scooped up a handful of fine walnut leaves, and threw them in the air as I ran, pretending there was a stream of debris behind me, just to make me appear I was going a little faster.
People drove by, watching this pathetic runner once more defy all social constraints and defy the normal perception of civilized running, but all I saw was a seven year-old Lorne having immense fun at the age of twenty-two.
I often refer to the runs that I take in the fall as "running into the rainbow," for on those breezy and cool days, leaves blow off trees and into your face and you really do feel as if you're running into a rainbow. That 's how it really feels to me, and I suppose it will have to substitute it for physically jumping into leaf piles lest I be found raking up leaves as part of a community service agreement made by the lawyers of people who REALLY didn't enjoy my presence in their leaves.
Therefore, I will make another all-important step in growing up; not trespassing for childlike fun during my runs. I'll have to have better reasons from now on, I suppose.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
By All Means … Go Bananas
Bananas have been used for many things, such as movie props (people slipped on them as we howled with laughter). Woody Allen used them for a title in one of his movies. They were utilized to write silly songs … this great fruit is much more than something to laugh at!
Banana's have been touched on to define certain emotional outbursts, and have been frozen, dipped in chocolate, and had their peels smoked by a particular type of people in the 1960's. Jokes, certain references and the smell of one left in our book bags for a week have carved the banana into our thoughts forever. Yet, with all of this fantastic press this fruit has gotten through the years, we still forget to just eat them plain and simple.
If you're rushing out of the house in the morning and need something to eat real fast, check out with a banana. If you crave something sweet to pick you up in the afternoon, try letting a banana raise you to new heights. If you have imbibed too much alcohol the night before and wish you hadn't, a banana is your best friend.
On an average, like most fruits and vegetables, the banana contributes 1% of our daily intake of fat, 7% of protein, 10% of calories, 20% niacin, thiamine and iron, 25% magnesium and 35% of vitamin B6. One medium size raw banana contains about 100 calories and about 32 grams of carbohydrates, making it a very useful and healthy energy source. Bananas are soothing to the digestive tract and the large amount of potassium in one banana, about 300 mg., will replace the huge amount lost when we drink too much as well as the potassium deficiencies brought on by certain medications.
Even though just eating a banana plain is pretty good, eating a sliced banana on cereal can be positively blissful. It gets soggy in fruit salad but on a peanut butter sandwich it is the wind beneath the breadth.
Making your own banana bread lets you decide what's in it.
Basic Banana Bread Recipe
Makes one loaf
2 cups of sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar or blackstrap molasses
2 eggs, beaten
3 medium ripe bananas
½ cup milk, yogurt, buttermilk, soymilk, or rice milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar or molasses. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, bananas, milk, butter mixture and the rest of your ingredients.* When well-blended, pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out dry.
*You can add spices to this basic banana bread recipe, such as cinnamon, ground cloves and freshly grated nutmeg. You can add more vitamins in the form of shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, dried apricots, figs dates, cranberries, currents or nuts. In summer, try one with fresh peaches and cinnamon. In fall, try apples. Mash the bananas thoroughly or leave them in small chunks. Make two loaves and freeze one or give one as a gift.
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Weight Reducing Diets
If you want to lose weight, you will be surrounded by numerous diets that claim to be the best weight reducing diets available. The thought is indeed tempting, but have you ever wondered whether these diets are really good for your body? A close look at all the currently available diets that claim to lose weight will help you make your decision easier.
Liquid diets
What you take in: The diet plans to replace two meals and one snack per day with a milk shake. This shake is made from eight ounces of skimmed milk and a powdered drink mix. The third meal should have a calorie count of 600 calories and it should be a low fat combination of nutrient dense foods. The milk shake has a calorie content of 200 calories; hence the total daily intake amounts to 1200 calories.
Length: Indefinite
Positives: The milk shake is made using a formulated mix and hence it is well balanced. So combining it with a meal, makes your meal well-balanced.
Negatives: The pounds return once you go back on solid foods. You also miss on the important plant substances that protect you from diseases.
The grapefruit diet
What you take in: Breakfast consists of half a grapefruit along with a cup of black coffee. Lunch includes half a grapefruit along with an egg, cucumber, a bread slice and plain tea or coffee, while dinner you can have two eggs, half a head of lettuce, a tomato, grapefruit and tea or coffee. The total calories amount to about 800 per day.
Length: Three weeks
Positives: The nutritive content of grapefruit is responsible for all the positive points. Grapefruit is low in calories and sodium but very high in vitamin C. Being rich in water and fibre, it gives you a feeling of being full.
Negatives: Any diet restricted to one food cannot be healthy. The grapefruit diet will not provide you with calcium, a vital bone mineral, iron and many other vitamins and minerals required for the proper functioning of the body.
Food combining diets (Beverly hill diet)
What you take in: You eat a generous serving of only fruits for the first 10 days. Half a pound of bread, two tablespoons of butter and three ears of corn follow this on the 11th day. This continues till day 19th when a complete protein such as steak or lobster is included.
Length: three weeks
Positives: It provides you with a greater variety of foods in the later days and hence can be followed easily.
Negatives: This diet has been judged as extremely low in vital nutrients and may even cause diarrhoea, which further results in loss of nutrients from the body. This diet promotes muscle breakdown to cope with the protein deficiencies.
Cabbage soup diet
What you take in: Drink cabbage soup to your heart's content along with a specific food in unlimited or fixed amounts as specified. On day 1 you can have any fruit except banana to any amount. Day 2 is the vegetables day, which includes a baked potato. On day 3 you can have fruits and vegetables except potato. Day 4 allows you to have a maximum of eight bananas along with skimmed milk. From day 5 onwards you can have non-vegetarian food. On day 6 you can have six tomatoes along with a maximum of 20 ounces of beef, chicken or fish. This is followed by unlimited beef, chicken or fish on day 6. Day 7 is the cereal day and you can have brown rice, vegetables and unsweetened fruit juice.
Length: One week
Positives: You will lose weight quickly while eating as much as you like.
Negatives: Being too low in complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, this diet results in weakness and a decreased ability to concentrate.
Sugar busters
What you take in: You eat all food other than those high in refined sugars. These foods include potatoes, corn, white rice, white bread, beets, carrots and sugar in most forms (moderate amounts of fructose and lactose can be taken). The total calorie intake should amount to 1200 calories per day.
Length: indefinite
Positives: You decrease your reliance to refined foods, which is the main aim for overall good health. You take in complex carbohydrates as a result of which the fibre intake increases. Fibre has numerous beneficial effects on the body.
Negatives: There is no scientific evidence of fact that increased sugar intake is associated with increase in weight. So you lose weight because of calorie restriction and not solely due to low refined carbohydrates.
Whatever diet you ultimately choose is a call you have to make. But before taking a decision remember to evaluate the pros and cons carefully.
Liquid diets
What you take in: The diet plans to replace two meals and one snack per day with a milk shake. This shake is made from eight ounces of skimmed milk and a powdered drink mix. The third meal should have a calorie count of 600 calories and it should be a low fat combination of nutrient dense foods. The milk shake has a calorie content of 200 calories; hence the total daily intake amounts to 1200 calories.
Length: Indefinite
Positives: The milk shake is made using a formulated mix and hence it is well balanced. So combining it with a meal, makes your meal well-balanced.
Negatives: The pounds return once you go back on solid foods. You also miss on the important plant substances that protect you from diseases.
The grapefruit diet
What you take in: Breakfast consists of half a grapefruit along with a cup of black coffee. Lunch includes half a grapefruit along with an egg, cucumber, a bread slice and plain tea or coffee, while dinner you can have two eggs, half a head of lettuce, a tomato, grapefruit and tea or coffee. The total calories amount to about 800 per day.
Length: Three weeks
Positives: The nutritive content of grapefruit is responsible for all the positive points. Grapefruit is low in calories and sodium but very high in vitamin C. Being rich in water and fibre, it gives you a feeling of being full.
Negatives: Any diet restricted to one food cannot be healthy. The grapefruit diet will not provide you with calcium, a vital bone mineral, iron and many other vitamins and minerals required for the proper functioning of the body.
Food combining diets (Beverly hill diet)
What you take in: You eat a generous serving of only fruits for the first 10 days. Half a pound of bread, two tablespoons of butter and three ears of corn follow this on the 11th day. This continues till day 19th when a complete protein such as steak or lobster is included.
Length: three weeks
Positives: It provides you with a greater variety of foods in the later days and hence can be followed easily.
Negatives: This diet has been judged as extremely low in vital nutrients and may even cause diarrhoea, which further results in loss of nutrients from the body. This diet promotes muscle breakdown to cope with the protein deficiencies.
Cabbage soup diet
What you take in: Drink cabbage soup to your heart's content along with a specific food in unlimited or fixed amounts as specified. On day 1 you can have any fruit except banana to any amount. Day 2 is the vegetables day, which includes a baked potato. On day 3 you can have fruits and vegetables except potato. Day 4 allows you to have a maximum of eight bananas along with skimmed milk. From day 5 onwards you can have non-vegetarian food. On day 6 you can have six tomatoes along with a maximum of 20 ounces of beef, chicken or fish. This is followed by unlimited beef, chicken or fish on day 6. Day 7 is the cereal day and you can have brown rice, vegetables and unsweetened fruit juice.
Length: One week
Positives: You will lose weight quickly while eating as much as you like.
Negatives: Being too low in complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, this diet results in weakness and a decreased ability to concentrate.
Sugar busters
What you take in: You eat all food other than those high in refined sugars. These foods include potatoes, corn, white rice, white bread, beets, carrots and sugar in most forms (moderate amounts of fructose and lactose can be taken). The total calorie intake should amount to 1200 calories per day.
Length: indefinite
Positives: You decrease your reliance to refined foods, which is the main aim for overall good health. You take in complex carbohydrates as a result of which the fibre intake increases. Fibre has numerous beneficial effects on the body.
Negatives: There is no scientific evidence of fact that increased sugar intake is associated with increase in weight. So you lose weight because of calorie restriction and not solely due to low refined carbohydrates.
Whatever diet you ultimately choose is a call you have to make. But before taking a decision remember to evaluate the pros and cons carefully.
Do Kids Need to Exercise?
For little kids life is a ball, literally. Their job is to play and they space it out with school- work. As a child, playing games teaches them freedom of expression, gives them a sense of worth and provides an opportunity to deal with a plethora of emotions: elation associated with winning, disappointment on losing, team spirit, camaraderie and just the joy of playing with and against other kids. That's why kids, especially between the ages of 12-16, don't really need to exercise like adults do because their daily routine involves physical activity in different hues and amounts.
But where they, the school and as parents you go wrong is when this play lessens as they get older. As pressures of tests and exams mount, it's playtime that takes a backseat. However, this should not be the case. Kids should be made aware of the importance of including some amount of physical activity that will continue to run all through their lives. This must be inculcated in them right from the start. The problem starts once the growth spurts settle down, when unspent calories begin to add up and when incorrect habits become a part of the lifestyle. It does not take a "Eureka" to realise that this is one of the gifts you can leave for our children.
Barriers to this utopia
There is a certain mindset that hampers this imbibing. On the one hand, most schools and homes, disregard the child's interest in sports and related activities. Their focus is on pure academics, which they believe will hold them in higher stead. Granted that this is true to some extent, but there has to be a balance inculcated right from the beginning. On the other hand, a misconception most likely made is that brawn and brain do not have their place together. But this is something you can change in our children. Psychologists have recently added sports acumen to be considered as an important component of intelligence.
What can be done
Parents can make up for this lapse by ensuring that play should be a part of their child's everyday life. So be it tennis in the neighborhood, cricket in the building, squash at the sports arena, swimming at the local club or just a game of gulli danda, encourage them to partake of it in good spirit. Parents should also recognise signs of latent talent in their kids and take that extra effort to cultivate and hone those skills. It will add another feather in your child's cap. So if it means driving miles to take them to attend a coaching class, in the long run it may just be worth the while.
Also this should be done in as subtle a manner as possible. Because the minute there is too much pressure from the parent's end without the same enthusiasm from the child, the child loses interest. Parents must also keep in mind that each child is different and should not be compared either with a sibling or friend or cousin, or for that matter, with the child's own previous performance. Neither should their faults be highlighted. The idea is to allow the child to go through the experience itself whatever may be the outcome. The aim of the game is not only in the winning but also in the participation!
Some parents also ask if their child should attend a gymnasium at such a young age. My feeling is that even though there are a lot of kids these days who visit gyms because it's hip, you can find more innovative ideas that will take care of your child's physical activity needs. It is also advisable to allow full physical growth to take its natural course and then start a weight-training program. In the case of very obese children, a simple brisk walk everyday should be able to do the trick, along with sensible diet plans to ensure adequate intake of essential nutrients.
To wrap up, as parents you need to balance play and work in your child's life equally to ensure that your child is not only endowed with brains but also an equal measure of brawn.
But where they, the school and as parents you go wrong is when this play lessens as they get older. As pressures of tests and exams mount, it's playtime that takes a backseat. However, this should not be the case. Kids should be made aware of the importance of including some amount of physical activity that will continue to run all through their lives. This must be inculcated in them right from the start. The problem starts once the growth spurts settle down, when unspent calories begin to add up and when incorrect habits become a part of the lifestyle. It does not take a "Eureka" to realise that this is one of the gifts you can leave for our children.
Barriers to this utopia
There is a certain mindset that hampers this imbibing. On the one hand, most schools and homes, disregard the child's interest in sports and related activities. Their focus is on pure academics, which they believe will hold them in higher stead. Granted that this is true to some extent, but there has to be a balance inculcated right from the beginning. On the other hand, a misconception most likely made is that brawn and brain do not have their place together. But this is something you can change in our children. Psychologists have recently added sports acumen to be considered as an important component of intelligence.
What can be done
Parents can make up for this lapse by ensuring that play should be a part of their child's everyday life. So be it tennis in the neighborhood, cricket in the building, squash at the sports arena, swimming at the local club or just a game of gulli danda, encourage them to partake of it in good spirit. Parents should also recognise signs of latent talent in their kids and take that extra effort to cultivate and hone those skills. It will add another feather in your child's cap. So if it means driving miles to take them to attend a coaching class, in the long run it may just be worth the while.
Also this should be done in as subtle a manner as possible. Because the minute there is too much pressure from the parent's end without the same enthusiasm from the child, the child loses interest. Parents must also keep in mind that each child is different and should not be compared either with a sibling or friend or cousin, or for that matter, with the child's own previous performance. Neither should their faults be highlighted. The idea is to allow the child to go through the experience itself whatever may be the outcome. The aim of the game is not only in the winning but also in the participation!
Some parents also ask if their child should attend a gymnasium at such a young age. My feeling is that even though there are a lot of kids these days who visit gyms because it's hip, you can find more innovative ideas that will take care of your child's physical activity needs. It is also advisable to allow full physical growth to take its natural course and then start a weight-training program. In the case of very obese children, a simple brisk walk everyday should be able to do the trick, along with sensible diet plans to ensure adequate intake of essential nutrients.
To wrap up, as parents you need to balance play and work in your child's life equally to ensure that your child is not only endowed with brains but also an equal measure of brawn.
Aerobics for the Diabetic
While exercising, do you experience sudden drops in energy levels, feel giddy, weak, disoriented, and suffer from excessive sweating? Also, do you have frequent hunger pangs, headaches, and trembling sensations? If yes, then you should get your blood sugar checked. You may be having diabetes. In diabetes, insulin malfunctioning leads to either low blood sugar level (hypoglycemia) or high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia). If you are a diabetic, your main concern should be to normalize your blood sugar level. This is where aerobics could be of great help to you.
Aerobics can counter some of the factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, ageing or even stress, which are instrumental in causing diabetes. In addition, aerobics is also helpful for diabetics because it :
If you are diabetic and plan to begin an aerobics programme, you must take the following precautions:
So in case you are guilty of not exercising because of diabetes, here's your chance to make amends and start exercising in the right spirit.
Aerobics can counter some of the factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, ageing or even stress, which are instrumental in causing diabetes. In addition, aerobics is also helpful for diabetics because it :
- Lowers your blood sugar levels. This decreases your chances of medical complications.
- Decreases insulin requirements.
- Prevents adult-obesity . Aerobics suppresses the appetite and increases the metabolic rate.
- Enhances your capacity for physical work . This is achieved by developing lean muscle and helps in the control of diabetes.
- Regulates blood lipids and lowers your cholesterol levels.
- Reduces the risk of heart disease through the above benefits.
- Increases your endurance , strength and thus improves your self-esteem.
If you are diabetic and plan to begin an aerobics programme, you must take the following precautions:
- Have the disorder under control . And get your blood sugar tested. It would also be advisable to get your oral glucose test, insulin secretion test and also a stress test done for cardiovascular fitness levels.
- Begin with low-intensity alternative aerobics. Try a few weeks of walking or bicycling to see how your body responds to physical activity.
- Exercise at the same time everyday. This will prevent hypoglycemia if done at the prescribed intensity & duration. Do not exercise when your insulin is at its peak. Have a snack half an hour before exercising.
- Choose the site of insulin injection. Do not inject insulin close to the muscles being exercised since muscle contraction during exercise will push it directly into the bloodstream. This will cause premature hypoglycemia.
- Keep some candies or fruit juices within reach to counteract hypoglycemia.
- Do not perform aerobics more than three to five times in a week. Always take a day off to replenish your body's carbohydrate reserves.
- Stick to low-impact movements. Your insulin requirements will drop as much as 20 per cent during initial adaptation to aerobics. It may take you two weeks to respond to new levels.
- Keep checking the intensity of your workout.
- Ensure a suitable floor surface, shoes, and socks. This is to minimize your chances of injury.
- Take time off during cold and flu season. Diabetics take longer to recuperate so be careful not to contact communicable diseases.
- Know about first aid procedures . And do not leave your class alone, looking for sugar during a hypoglycemic stage.
So in case you are guilty of not exercising because of diabetes, here's your chance to make amends and start exercising in the right spirit.
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