Recently, I attended the annual CanFitPro conference in Toronto and I attended a lecture that gave me some food for thought. It was a lecture by Dr. Mark Occhipinti called "Anti-Cancer Diet: Changing the Way We Ear and Think". Basically, what Dr. Occhipinti was saying in his talk was that we need to change to a diet of plant based foods to avoid developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments. Shortly after attending this lecture, I watched a documentary on CNN with Dr. Sanji Gupta interviewing former president Bill Clinton about his recent encounters with heart disease. Apparently, Mr. Clinton is now eating a diet based on plant based foods for the most part as well as maintaining a fitness regime based mainly on running. Mr. Clinton has been successful in reversing his heart disease and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In the same documentary, a woman in her middle years was diagnosed with coronary artery disease with one artery almost completely occluded. The physician wanted to perform coronary artery bypass surgery immediately. The woman chose to treat herself by changing her diet and exercise. She chose a plant based diet and an exercise program resulting in the reversal of her occluded artery.
Adopting a completely plant based diet is a pretty severe strategy and one that not everyone will be willing to do, however, there can be positive changes made in ones health by incorporating whole grains and more fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. Eliminating things like pop, chips and foods made from refined sugars can make a huge difference in your diet and ultimately your health. The addition of other protein sources such as beans, legumes and soy on one or more days of the week can help with the transition to a healthier diet. With so many antibiotics and hormones being added to the feed of animals, even the leaner choices of animal proteins are not has healthy as they once were.
Changing the way that food is prepared can have a huge impact on the fat content. Poaching and steaming are healthy alternatives to sauteing and frying. Steaming also prevents the loss of vitamins in vegetables. Grilling can be a tasty as well as healthy way to prepare foods. Broiling and baking instead of frying can help save on the fat content of food.
The other factor in this prescription for health is exercise. Moderate exercise is recommend to patients who suffer from most ailments including diabetes, obesity, arthritis, fibromyalgia, heart disease, hyperlipidemia and so many more. Many people that are told that they need to exercise are coming from a sedentary lifestyle and this in itself can present as a death sentence. It does not have to be that bad. The simplest form of exercise is walking. If you have never exercised, you might start by walking around the block. Each day try to go a bit further. You may only be able to walk for ten minutes when you first start but after a week or so, you can increase to 15 minutes. As your fitness level improves, you can start increasing the pace at which you walk to the point where you can eventually add a few minutes of light jogging. This all takes time and is part of your progression. As you become more fit, you need to add more intensity or more time to your activity to see more progress.
The type of exercise that you choose depends on your personal likes and your abilities. If you are morbidly obese, you do not want to choose an exercise that can actually endanger yourself. Many people hire personal trainers to help them establish a fitness program. This is often a wise move for those who do not know where to start. A personal trainer can assess your fitness level and make recommendations that are best suited to your own needs. For people with very special needs, a kinesiologist might be able to help you. For most people, a personal trainer is all that might be required. The need for the personal trainer will diminish once you learn your program and once you have established good form with any of the strength training moves that you perform. Personal trainers generally focus on strength training while working with their clients. They tend to leave the cardio training to the client once the client knows how to set progressions on the treadmill or the bike.
You make your program very simple by choosing to walk or run for your cardio training. Be sure to incorporate all forms of exercise into your program. You need to move with cardio activity. You need to lift with some form of strength training. And you need to stretch your muscles. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that the normal adult under 65 years of age does 30 minutes of moderately intense cardio activity 5 days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous intense cardio 3 days a week. For strength training they recommend 8 to 10 strength training exercises with 8 to 12 repititions of each exercise 2 times a week. These are minimum guidelines.
Here are the guidelines.
Here is the link for the new Canadian guidelines for physical activity. These also are minimum guidelines.
Both guidelines explain moderate activity as being activity that allows you to generate a sweat but to be able to still hold a conversation. So if you choose to walk, you need to do so at a faster rate than your normal liesurely walk. Also if you want to lose weight, you will most likely want to increase your time from 30 minutes to 45 or 60 minutes.
It is important to pick an activity that you like. Some people do not enjoy walking or running so cycling may be an option. Others love to dance so they might chose an activity that involves dancing such as Zumba. I like kickboxing so I love to do Turbo Kick and Tae Bo. As long as it allows your heart rate to increase in your training zone, then it is all good.
There are many advertisements that promote pilates for weight loss. Pilates is a great workout but it is more of a core stabilization and flexibility workout which we all need. There is no cardiovascular activity in pilates so it should be used in addition to your cardio program.
Yoga is another activity that many people chose as their activity. I love yoga and all of it's benefits which include strength, flexibililty, relaxation and the ability to connect your mind and body. Yoga is another activity that enhances your cardio training but in itself has no cardiovaxcular benefit.
Strength training is the other main component mentioned in the guidelines. We need strength training for our muscles and our bones. The guidelines recommend a minimum of twice a week but as you progress you need to use the principle of progressive resistance. This can occur by increasing the number of repitition, weight used and/or by increasing the number of sets. One set usually consists of 8 to 12 repititions of a certain exercise. You want a weight that will actually fatigue your muscle by twelfth repititon. Generally the activity will start to feel more difficult by the ninth rep if you are using enough of a load. If you do not feel any fatigue after 12 reps then you need to increase your weight. Resistance bands can also be used. The same priniciple applies. Some bands are heavier giving more resistance. You can get more resistance from your band by shortening it.
There are all kinds of books and videos of strength and cardio activities out there if you choose to follow a program at home. Just make sure that the book or video is from a reputable source. The publisher Human Kinetics publishes hundreds of fitness books by very reputable trainers. There are many DVDs on the market for the video fitness buff. The programs by Beach Body are usually good but you need to make sure that they are an appropriate program. I would not choose to P90X or Insanity if I were a beginner exerciser. But there are programs out there for most people. There are always websites that will have reviews or discussions about different programs. Netflix in the US does have fitness videos that you can preview before you purchase.
It is all good. No matter what you decide to do, the important thing is that you have chosen to move. You are making the changes in your diet and your activity. If you are diabetic, you will see changes in your blood glucose and your overall health. If you are obese, you will see changes in your weight and hopefully, you will approach a healthier weight and extend your life. If you have arthritis or fibromyalgia, a moderate exercise program will help you to feel better and hopefully have less pain. If you are just trying to improve your life, you should start to see the benefits. To put it simply, we need to move, lift, stretch, eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables, eat lean sources of protein and limit refined sugars. You will feel better and live better and longer.
