Cardiometabolic Exercise: Walking

An easy way to get involved with actively moving each day is to enroll in your community centers' exercise classes, schools', YMCAs',or gyms'.These places are great because they give you a community to help keep you motivated. However, if group programs are not your thing, don't fear. Studies have shown that self-directed lifestyle activities are every bit as well as supervised structured exercise programs.

There are many different options to choose from for exercising. In planning your exercise, keep in mind your body type, personal goals, schedule, facilities available, and supports at your disposal.

Walk to Health
One of the special things about walking is that you don't need special skills or special equipment. In all weather you walk, just cover yourself up if its chilly, grab an umbrella if its rainy, and you're good to go!
However, if the weather is hazardous, do not endanger yourself. You can walk around your house, on a treadmill, or around a mall indoors.

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There are a couple of tips for walking:
Try to keep your posture erect with your chin up, eyes forward, shoulders square.
Keep back straight, belly flat, and buttocks tucked in.
Keep arms close to your torso, bent at your elbows.
Land on your heels, and then roll forward to push off with your toes.
Swing your arms with each stride, keeping up a steady rhythmic cadence.

Walk for transportation is great, also taking the stairs instead of the elevators are an excellent addition to your life. You can make walking as intensive or non as you want. Strolling or power walking or somewhere in between is all perfectly fine. However if you do plan on power walking please invest in a proper pair of shoes.

A good pair is one that fits comfortably and is built for walking. The shoes should feel supportive but not constricting. Look for a padded tongue and heel counter. The uppers should be light, breathable, and flexible. The insole, moisture resistant, and the sole, shock absorbent. And the toe box should be roomy even with thick athletic socks.

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Another key point is if you are walking outside where cars drive past, wear bring clothing! It is highly important that you do not camouflage into the road so that cars can see you and move around you. It is for your own safety, so help the cars notice you. If you're walking on the road, walk facing the cars, so basically opposite the side you drive.

Enjoy the Weather!

It's now full spring and the temperature outside is creeping upwards. The day is beautiful, getting longer, and becoming more available for going outside. However your life style is, you can fit in a fun workout outside.

Walking, running, biking, skating, scootering, skipping, galloping, etc. are great ways to enjoy the fresh open air. Especially during the weekends, take your family out to a bike trail or grab some friends and go roller blading.

For the weekdays, take time in the mornings to do some cleansing breaths, and get some fresh air by taking a nice morning stroll before heading off to work. This will relax you, prepare you mentally for the day, and awaken your mind.

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If mornings are busy, you can take a easy walk during your lunch break or after dinner. A good half an hour of moving is perfect with the coupling of fresh air.

On the weekends, try to do something new. Make your exercise an event. Maybe call up a couple of friends and play a pick up game of ultimate frisbee, soccer, or basketball. Take your kids out to a park, lake, or beach as the weather runs into summer.

Even though its still in the 60s and 70s please make sure to properly prepare yourself for the sunny weather. Proper hydration and sun protection is important for your own health. Always carry with you a water bottle and sunscreen.

Enjoy the outdoors!

Eating with Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is when tissue in your esophagus has burned as a result of acid from the stomach going into the esophagus, and despite popular belief, it can be treated entirely naturally. Acid reflux can be caused by many factors, commonly including obesity and overly acidic diet. To treat acid reflux, therefore, you will need to increase the alkalinity of your diet. Here are some general tips for foods low in acidity:

• Foods high in fiber (vegetables, beans, nuts, and whole grain)
• Veggies high in minerals (cucumbers, lettuce, eggplant, and pumpkins)
• Drinks without carbonation or caffeine
• Gum (causes high salivation that neutralizes acids)
• Foods that are easy to digest (rice, fruit, aged cheese, beans and pasta)
• Foods high in digestive enzymes (fig, papaya, pineapple and yogurt)

Along with the foods that compose your diet, I also suggest changing hte periods, amount, and length of each meal you eat a day. For example, instead of having three large meals, try having six smaller ones. Large meals stretch the stomach and cause irritation. Preferably large meals should be eating during hte middle of the day as opposed to at night. When the stomach has a lot to digest, it speeds up and this causes acids to escape the stomach back into the esophagus, causing acid reflux.

Making Dinner for the Family

This week my friend and I cooked a healthy dinner which was quite delicious and I highly recommend it to you all! Plus, it only took 30 minutes to prep and its vegetarian!

The meal includes chilled tofu with scallions and soy sauce, kale chips, and rice. Below is a recipe for 2 servings, so you will need to adjust ratios for the amount of people you are cooking for. Rice is a recommended staple but you can eat this with just about anything!

TOFU:
Ingredients: 14 oz tofu (soft), 2 sliced scallions, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds, 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1/2 tbsp sriracha
Procedure:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a small, with the exception of the tofu.

2. Cut the tofu into squares and bathe in the sauce you just made. Put it in the fridge to chill and you are good to go :)

KALE CHIPS:

Ingredients: 1 head of washed and dried kale, 2 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle of sea salt
Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F
2. Cut up the kale leaves into pieces 1.5 inches across. Lay them on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with olive oil and salt.
3. Cook them for 10 minutes, and then turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes.

Now all thats left is the rice, and bam! You have got a healthy, easy, quick and delicious meal for you and your family. Enjoy!

Avoiding Cancer

Although it is not conclusive that exercise can reduce the risks of getting cancer, it is certainly true that maintaining a normal weight and leading a healthy lifestyle can lower your chances of having cancer.

It is definitive that physically active men and women have around a forty to fifty percent less likely chance to develop colon cancer. The thought behind this is that physical activity allows your colon to process food and waste products more quickly, therefore allowing your colon less exposure to cancer-causing substances.

Breast cancer risks can be reduced as well with physical activity. However, the evidence is not as conclusive as it is for colon cancer. Active women have a thirty to forty percent less likely chance to develop breast cancer, because physical activity decreases a woman's exposure to estrogen. (In men, exercise can reduce testosterone exposure which allows for a lower chance of gaining prostate cancer.)

Some other benefits to exercise are as follows:

• boosting your immune system
• decreasing the amount of insulin circulating in your blood
• reducing levels of other hormones (excluding estrogen and testosterone)
• losing weight

Depressed?

Clinical depression is normally treated with therapy and anti-depressants. However, exercise seems to also show as a positive coping mechanism.

Aerobic exercise and strength training can actually be as effective as taking an anti-depressant or seeing a psychotherapist. The research isn't definitive, but there have been several studies that show regular exercise routines can help those with major depressive disorder.

So, if thats the case, aerobic exercise or weightlifting? Oddly enough, either form of exercise is equally effective. It seems that relaxation and stretching, like yoga, don't show effective results. It may also be helpful to join a gym that holds group exercise classes as social interaction can be of some assistance to cheering up the soul. (:

What makes exercise a useful treatment in fighting depression? Regular workouts usually provoke chemical changes in the brain, which correct imbalances of neurotransmitters like serotonin. Exercise also boosts self-esteem and body image. With the combination of these two results, exercise is a great way to fight depression.

What does metabolism actually mean?

Your metabolism, scientifically speaking, is the rate at which your body uses energy at any given moment, or in other words, the rate at which your body burns calories no matter what you're doing, whether it be watching a movie or going for an afternoon run.

Metabolism is used in many contexts. For example, you've probably heard a friend say, "I have such a slow metabolism!" Most often when he says that, he means, his metabolism is resting. A resting metabolism is the calorie burn required to keep your body alive and moving. Your resting metabolism is always around, because even when you're sleeping, your body needs energy to keep your heart rate up, your kidney's functioning, etc.

So what does your resting metabolism account for? Normally, it accounts for 60 to 75 percent of your total calorie burn for the day. However, your active metabolism accounts for 15 to 30 percent which is totally dependent on how much you move around during the day. The thing about your body is that it always requires spending energy to do anything. So, even when you're eating and digesting your food, you're still burning calories, although not much, just 5 to 10 percent. Nevertheless, your resting metabolic rate is personalized, meaning everyone's rate is different. It depends on your body size, genetics, and your muscle mass.