How to get fit and healthy

Do you want to improve your health and fitness? If so, then maintaining a healthy diet plan will help you achieve this. There are hundreds of “fitness foods”, “fitness drinks”, available in the market which will help you boost your body fitness, manage fat/muscle ratio and control your weight. The suggestions in this article may help you switch to a proper diet to maintain your fitness.

It is important to remember that there are 22 vitamins and minerals which are essential for the control of our weight and metabolism. The most important ones are: Vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6, Vitamin C, choline, and inositol, and minerals such as chromium, manganese and zinc. When you eat a wholesome meal and your overall diet is healthy, all of these go into your body in some form or the other.

Have omega 3 fatty acid food such as oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel etc at least twice a week. It protects your heart as they contain certain anti-inflammatory substances which help in preventing inflammation of the arteries.

Use olive oil while preparing salads as it reduces the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels and thus helps in reducing the risk of heart disease and getting rid of excess weight as well.

Include nuts like walnuts and almonds in your diet, but in moderation. It will raise HDL (high density lipoprotein — the good cholesterol) levels in your body.

To reduce your hunger between meals, drink a lot of filtered water and frequently chew sugarless gum. It will greatly minimize the feeling of hunger and reduce the desire to snack.

Consume green leafy vegetables. These contain folate, a nutrient that reduces homocysteine levels (homocysteine is a molecule that’s a risk factor for cardiovascular disease).

Have green tea. A recent study proves that green tea could reduce body weight by increasing energy expenditure and oxidising fat.

In addition to consuming fewer calories, you have to indulge in some form of exercise as it burns off calories and increases the metabolism rate.

There is a risk of injury with any type of physical activity. Prevention is much better than cure; by following these tips, you can reduce the risk of exercise injury and continue to gain health and fitness benefits.

• If you are feeling dizzy, feeling pains in joints and muscles, pain in the chest and shoulders, you should stop exercise and consult your healthcare professional.

• Have a medical checkup before doing a new exercise program as any new activity can stress your body. If you have diagnosed heart diseases or other conditions, you should modify your exercise accordingly. Follow your doctor’s advice in order to prevent any health problems.

• Before doing exercise, a proper, gradual warm up like jogging, walking or simply doing your regular activity is must. Warm up is the best way to avoid injury and prepare your body for any physical exercise.

• A good pair of shoes is vital to prevent injuries, provide support and absorb shock. You can select shoes based on your workout.

• Stay away from clothing that is tight and restricts your movements. You should be able to move freely.

• Drink enough water - Your body should be well hydrated before doing any workouts.

• Wipe the exercise equipments with disinfectant sprays provided by the gym, before and after use. Try to wash your hands thoroughly before and after exercise. It helps you avoid germs at the gym.

• Towards the end of an exercise session you will often feel that some of your muscles feel very sore. Decrease the intensity of your workout to avoid muscle injury.

• Lack of flexibility is a major cause for muscle strains, sprains and tendonitis, particularly for older people. For this reason, it is important to stretch after exercise.

The heart is the central system that controls whole function of the body. The main job of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body and help it stay alive. The heart plays a major role in human health; and exercise plays main role in heart health.

The cardiovascular exercises increase heart rate and keep your hearts in shape. Regular exercises have also been shown to lower blood pressure, freeing your heart from some of the effort in moving blood through our system. But people don’t get much enjoyment and involvement in regular disciplined exercises.

They can do dancing exercise instead of regular exercises like walking. Professor of cardiology at Università Politecnica delle Marche School of Medicine Dr. Romualdo Belardinelli said, “researchers chose the waltz because it has “universal appeal” and is a very aerobic exercise, but he said other slow dances should work, too”.

The Italian did the eight week study on 110 people including 89 men and 21 women who had mild to moderate heart failure. They divided 110 people into 3 groups. First group had 44 men and women, they were asked to do cycling and walking on a treadmill three times a week.

Another 44 people in the second group were asked to dance three times a week. They chose to perform waltzes for 21 minutes, by dancing slow waltzes for five minutes and fast waltzes for three minutes alternately. Remaining 22 people are asked to read books.

The result of the study was amazing, the danced people experienced 18 percent improvement and ability to breathe efficiently; exercised group got 16 percent improvement and the other team didn’t find any improvement.

Elliott M. Antman MD, a heart specialist at Harvard Medical School - “A well-trained athlete utilizes oxygen very efficiently, so his muscles don’t demand as much oxygen-containing blood per minute. This is what allows him or her to exercise harder and further than the average person”.
Do the dancing exercise with full enjoyments and have a healthy heart.

When was the last time that your blood pressure was measured? Did you know that a person who has essential hypertension does not feel anything wrong from his body? So how can you be so sure you are not hypertensive? In this article we will tell you what precautionary measures you should do before it is too late.

Statistics shows that many people are hypertensive or have high blood pressure. In America, it is believed that 50% of the older people have hypertension. According to the medical experts people who are hypertensive are five times prone to strokes, three times more likely to have a heart attack and two or more likely to have a heart attack. As people become older the situation gets even worse.

The good thing about high blood pressure is it is manageable. For those who are suffering from hypertension, here are some precautionary measures to lower down high blood pressure: a) Reduction of salt intake is recommended. Excessive salt content in our blood makes it easy to clot and needs more pressure to distribute all over our body. This is one of the major causes why our blood pressure is high.

b) Adopting a healthy diet plan for losing weight. Excess weight puts an additional load into our heart. This is like our car running on the second or third gear which means it is running under an abnormal condition. Our heart is like a mechanical part that is more likely to have a mechanical fatigue causing it to malfunction. Just like cars, it needs regular maintenance.

c) Exercising makes the heart healthy. It stimulates the heart for the development of new connections between the impaired and nearly normal blood vessels. People who exercise had a better supply of blood to all the muscle tissue of the heart. Exercise also strengthens and improves limb muscles.

High blood pressure could be the number one killer in the world today. This is due to the relaxed life style and the type of food we are eating. By doing regular exercise and adopting a healthy balanced diet we can reduce ourselves from these risks. We should not forget also to consult our medical doctor for a regular check up most specially for people whose age are over 40. Let us make it a habit to have a regular exercise and eat moderately.

To learn more about exercise and how to take care for our heart please visit this site: healthytips4us.com
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