Health Buzz Zone

How many times have you gone to sleep at night, promising to yourself that you’ll go to the gym in the morning, and then changing your mind just eight hours later because when you get up, you don’t feel like exercising?

While this can happen to the best of us, it doesn’t mean you should drop the ball altogether when it comes to staying fit. What people need to realize is that staying active and eating right are critical for long-term health and wellness. The more you know about how your body responds to your lifestyle choices, the better you can customize a nutrition and exercise plan that is right for you.

When you eat well, increase your level of physical activity, and exercise at the proper intensity, you are informing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This translates to burning fat more efficiently for energy. In other words, proper eating habits plus exercise equals fast metabolism, which, in turn gives you more energy throughout the day and allows you to do more physical work with less effort.

The true purpose of exercise is to send a repetitive message to the body asking for improvement in metabolism and strength. Each time you exercise, your body responds by upgrading its capabilities to burn fat throughout the day and night, Exercise doesn’t have to be intense to work for you, but it does need to be consistent.

I recommend engaging in regular cardiovascular exercise four times per week for 20 to 30 minutes per session, and resistance training four times per week for 20 to 25 minutes per session. This balanced approach provides a one-two punch, incorporating aerobic exercise to burn fat and deliver more oxygen, and resistance training to increase lean body mass and burn more calories around the block.

Once you make the commitment to exercise several times a week, don’t stop there. You should also change your diet and/or eating habits. Counting calories or calculating grams and percentages for certain nutrients is impractical. Instead, just use these easy-to-follow guidelines:

• Eat several small meals (optimally four) and a couple of small snacks throughout the day
• Make sure every meal is balanced — incorporate palm-sized proteins like lean meats, fish, egg whites and dairy products, fist-sized portions of complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread and pasta, wild rice, multigrain cereal and potatoes, and fist-sized portions of vegetable and fruits
• Limit your fat intake to only what’s necessary for adequate flavor
• Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water throughout the day
• Take a multi-vitamin each day to ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

That’s all to a healthy living.  Live and enjoy healthy life, we all deserve it.

healthy living tips, how to live a healthy lifestyle, tips for healthy living, way to healthy living, ways to live healthy

Tags: Healthy Living by leon
No Comments »

There are many reasons why someone might choose to become a vegetarian.  Some do so for religious reasons, while others have ethical concerns.  Health is another consideration that many vegetarians have.  Here are ten reasons why someone might want to be a vegetarian:

1. Religious Beliefs - A number of religions are associated with vegetarianism.  Many Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs are vegetarians.  Judaism does not prescribe a vegetarian diet, but it does place restrictions on the eating of meat.

2. Nutritional Concerns - Many believe that a vegetarian diet is healthier than one that includes meat, and many studies have confirmed the benefits of vegetarianism.  Vegetarians usually get more beneficial vitamins and nutrients from their regular diet, and less harmful substances such as saturated fat and cholesterol.  These factors are thought to reduce the risk of many diseases and ailments.

3. Food Safety - Many food safety scares have been publicized over the past few decades, and the majority of these have involved meat.  The bacteria E. coli is one of the most dreaded food contamination issues, and it is found primarily in meat. Although there have been cases of other foods being contaminated with E. coli, it is acquired through contact with contaminated meat.

4. Animal Rights Concerns - Animal rights is a primary concern of many vegetarians.  The production and slaughtering of animals to be used as food is often performed under questionable conditions and with little regard for the animals’ quality of life.  This has led many former meat-eaters to turn to vegetarianism.

5. Unwanted Food Additives - Factory farms often dose their poultry and livestock with antibiotics and hormones.  These remain in their meat and end up on the tables of those who eat it, often without their knowledge.  Those who are concerned about the effects of these additives often become vegans, as the antibiotics and hormones are also present in milk and eggs from the animals.

6. Environmental Concerns - The production of meat and animal products often has adverse effects on the environment.  Factory farms are particularly notorious for their disregard of issues such as pollution and sustainability.  This is one reason that vegetarianism and environmentalism often go hand in hand.

7. Concern for Laborers - Labor conditions in the meat industry often meet with scrutiny.  Human rights are often disregarded, and worker safety often falls by the wayside.  Not eating meat is one way to reduce the incidence of these labor violations.

8. Economic Concerns - Some believe that supporting the meat industry promotes world hunger, and there is sound logic behind this argument.  The amount of land required to raise one heard of cattle, for example, could produce enough grain or vegetables to feed many times the number of people that the animal would feed over its lifetime.

9. Medical Conditions - People with certain medical conditions may benefit from a vegetarian diet.  Prescription of such a diet is particularly common from doctors of alternative medicine.

10. Disease Scares - The Avian flu, hoof and mouth disease, and mad cow disease are examples of some of the disease scares that have been associated with the consumption of meat.  These are serious and sometimes life-threatening aliments, and some consumers choose to avoid meat altogether to prevent exposure.

reasons for becoming vegetarian, reasons for being vegan, reasons for going vegetarian, vegetarian lifestyle

Tags: Healthy Living by leon
No Comments »

Want to raise a healthy kid?  Take the time to be a good role model.  Here are some useful tips to help you.

There’s no doubt about it, healthy kids begin with healthy parents.  As a parent, regardless of the words that come out of your mouth, it is your actions that your children really pay attention to.   You can profess up and down how strongly you believe that good nutrition is vital for their health and development, if you’re sitting on the couch with your hand in a bag of chips, they’ll get the message that you don’t want them to hear.  “These chips are better than an apple any day.”

If you want them to eat a good breakfast, then prepare a good breakfast and sit down with them.  You want your children to make healthy choices when they are away from you at school and their friend’s homes.

Help your child develop healthy habits by:

•    Asking them to assist with the meal preparation and shopping.
•    Ask them to plan and prepare their sack lunches for school.
•    Ask them to choose the menu one evening each week.
•    Learn about nutrition and healthy habits together.

Once your children know what foods are good for their bodies, and they feel the results, they will begin to make better choices about what they put into them.  However, they won’t learn how to make those healthy choices, and they won’t be interested in making them, unless your actions support the habits.

Things you can do to reinforce your child’s healthy habits:

•    Take time to fill the house with healthy snacks
•    Don’t drink soda and eat junk food while forbidding your child to eat it
•    Do offer dessert night or special occasions where you and your child can enjoy a treat
•    Do engage your child in the planning and preparation of meals

When you take time to become a health conscious role model for your child, you benefit too.  You and your child will have more energy, you’ll feel happier, stronger, and when you prepare meals together you’ll share bonding moments that will last a lifetime.

Hope you find these tips useful.

how to raise healthy kids, raise healthy children, raising healthy kids

Tags: Healthy Living by leon
No Comments »