Exercise and Balanced Diet for a Healthy Life

Exercise and Balanced Diet for a Healthy Life

By Kaneez Zehra Jamal 

A combination of a good exercise regime and a balanced diet will produce lasting results of healthy life. Exercise not only keeps a person fit but makes one feel good about oneself. As the sayings go, "a healthy body has a healthy mind" and "you are what you eat". Exercising regularly stimulates the brain to produce endorphin, a chemical that helps a person feel more relaxed and peaceful. A balanced diet is essential to maintain a healthy weight. Exercise and nutrition go hand in hand.

Studies have shown that aerobics exercises can make your bones strong which in turn helps you age better. Eating a low fat, low carb and high protein diet can be helpful in achieving goals faster. Exercising regularly prevents the risk of developing heart diseases, diabetes and certain types of cancers. To ensure that you are exercising hard enough without straining your heart, calculate heart rate by using the heart rate calculator. The optimum workout requires the heart beat to go up to 75% of heart rate which will burn a lot of calories in little amount of time.

Basic exercises to get you started: There are three basic components to all exercise routines; Aerobics, Strength training and Flexibility or Stretching.

Aerobics exercise: Walking, jumping and swimming are the best forms of aerobics exercise. Jump rope brings the heart rate up much faster than walking. Hence, ten minutes of jump-rope, is equivalent to twenty minutes of walking. Swimming is considered as the only workout that allows all the muscle groups to work together simultaneously to burn maximum calories.

Strength Training: Weights and Pilates are known as muscle toning and strengthening workouts. Weight training should be done at least three times a week. Pilates are getting quite popular nowadays especially in the western countries. It teaches control of mind and body and helps strengthen core muscles.

Flexibility exercises: Yoga and stretching. Yoga is known for relaxation. It calms anxiety and brings about a holistic approach to life. Stretching is highly recommended after every workout. It is a good way to prevent injuries and soothe tired and sore muscles.

Benefits of exercising: The benefits of exercise are innumerable, to name a few:  Increased brain performance;  Feel more energetic ;  Releases stress ;  Keeps diseases at bay ;  Makes the heart stronger ; and  Removes anxiety and depression

Importance of a Balanced Diet: A balanced diet will provide you the energy your body needs to function properly. It is important to maintain healthy eating habits so that your immune system is strong enough to fight illnesses. Poor diet can hinder the growth and development in children. Kids with bad eating habits are more likely to continue it for the rest of their lives.

Easy tips to follow: A healthy diet is a composition of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, dairy and whole grains. Here are some simple do's and don'ts to get you started.

• Don't fill yourself up with empty calories, like cakes and cookies, etc.

• Try to make every calorie count by obtaining them from the four major food groups.

• Prefer fresh fruits over store bought juices.

• Try to eat six small meals instead of three large ones.

• Always eat a healthy snack between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner.

• Finally have a small snack just before bed time. That way you won't end up consuming large portions at each meal.

When starting a healthy lifestyle, do some homework on how to calculate heart rate for optimum workout, find out the caloric intake required for your age and try to maintain a food journal in the beginning. Just keep yourself disciplined through exercise, maintain a balanced diet, and you can enjoy a happy life for many years to come. Start bringing a change today by living the healthy way.

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