The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,  

In any walking fitness program diet is an important element. There are a great many diets available and some are more useful than others. Recent research is showing that low carbohydrate slimming diets may clog arteries and increase the risk of strokes.

Researchers at the Beth Israel Institute - part of the Harvard Medical School - investigated the effects of a low carbohydrate diet on mice. They fed mice a standard mouse diet, a Western diet high in fat and a low carbohydrate high protein diet.

After 12 weeks the mice eating a low carbohydrate diet had gained less weight, but developed 15 per cent more atherosclerosis than those on a standard mouse diet. The Western diet group gained 9 per cent more atherosclerosis.

This is significant in mice, but we must not be surprised that mice on a low carbohydrate diet did not do well. After all the natural food of mice is high in carbohydrates. So the mice got sick. Well they would, wouldn’t they?

The lead researcher Anthony Rosenzweig said, ‘Our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects. It appears that a moderate and balanced diet, coupled with regular exercise, is probably the best for most people.”

This is a conclusion which is already well known and I hope not too many mice were lost in the process of proving it once again. If we wish to become fit and slim the best way to lose weight is to make a lifestyle choice. It is to eat a diet which is not excessively high in carbohydrates, or sugars, or fats. But we should not ban any of them.

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health says, ‘For long- term health at least one-third of what we eat should be bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or other starchy food.’

So just eat in moderation and combine it with a daily walking fitness program. I am sure the mice would be delighted.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell   

31 August 2009 

Photo Bev Banker

Technorati Tags: fitness tips, fitness walking, heart health, over fifties, senior walking, walk fit, walking exercise, walking fitness, weightloss

Hello Everybody, 

In Europe when walking for weight loss the only large animals you are likely to encounter are farm animals. Deer and wild boar are likely not to want to encounter you very much, although you must be aware that they are around.

In the UK we have a law called ‘Right to Roam’ which means that people can enter private property for the purposes of , would you believe, roaming. Generally they must keep to footpaths, but the only person able to police this is the landowner who may find himself in unpleasant confrontations if he reminds people they cannot use his land as a playground.

The problem is that there are fitness walkers who think of the countryside as an urban park with sheep, so problems can occur. Avoiding them is easy enough.

Cattle are generally benevolent beasts which delight in not doing very much. But, like most animals they will defend their young. There have been cases of walkers being killed by irate cows, who object to their cuddly new born calves being petted by strangers. There is a perception that bulls are dangerous, cows are safe. This is not quite right, so take care with cows as well. Bulls are fairly predictable. A bull in a field of cows is unlikely to be aggressive. Why should he be? He is a happy bull.

A bull in a field by himself may be a problem, but is likely to be harmless. Just treat him with respect and be aware that he can move quite fast if he really wants to.

If you see a sign ‘Beware of the Bull,’ near your ‘Right to Roam’ footpath it is probably illegal. But it is your decision whether you ignore it or not.

From the farmer’s point of view the real problem with walkers is their dogs. They must be kept on a tight lead if there are animals about. I am sure dog owners have the best of intensions, but most of them have no idea whatsoever about how to train a dog. If a dog is off the lead and needs to be restrained it must come when called. If not it is a menace. How many dogs do you know which come when called every time? I suspect very few.

A dog can spook cattle and horses, but it can devastate sheep. One loose dog in the lambing season can affect a farmer’s livelihood. He is quite entitled to shoot it, and probably will.

Horses are not a problem. But don’t feed them. A horse will soon learn to follow walkers for food and although unlikely to harm them can be a nuisance. Also the owner would prefer the horse not to be given unsuitable food.

This has been about Europe, where wilderness areas are fewer and wild animals less dramatic than in other parts of the world. But even in Europe if your free ranging dog encounters a wild boar with young in the woods he will find he is not quite so high up the food chain as he thought he was. Try not to put him in that position.

So that’s it really. Enjoy your walking for weight loss, close gates, keep your dog on a lead, respect farm and wild animals, take your rubbish home and do try to understand the difficulties of landowners. They will welcome you if you just keep to these simple rules.

See you soon,

25 August 2009

Technorati Tags: fitness tips, fitness walking, heart health, over fifties, senior walking, walk fit, walking exercise, walking fitness, weightloss

Hello Everybody,

If you are involved in any pursuit it is best to read a few books about it. Walking for weight loss is no exception. There are plenty of books available, particularly regarding weight loss. So many that it is possible to get totally confused.

Here are some I would recommend.

‘Walking for Weight Loss’ by Lucy Knight. This is a book which takes walking fitness back to basics. It is also good regarding diet. One of the best.

‘Running and Walking for Women Over 40’ by Katherine Switzer.

How to get started with fitness walking and, more importantly keeping it up. Many women over 40 join exercise groups and this is the book for them.

‘Walking for Fitness’ by Nina Borough. My favourite book. It doesn’t just tell you how, but it tells you why as well. A very detailed, but easy to read, book about all aspects of fitness walking.

As you will know walking for weight loss involves diet as well as exercise and these are two of the best books about the best diet.

‘The Mediterranean Diet’ by Marissa Cloutier. It tastes good as well. This book tells you all about it.

‘101 Mediterranean Dishes’ by Helen V. Fisher and Cynthia Thompson. Some recipes to try and enjoy.

All these books are obtainable from Amazon or can be ordered from bookshops.

But don’t get too carried away with diets. We now have a new psychological condition suffered mostly by the over 30 well educated middle class. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about already. It is called orthorexia nervosa, poorly translated as ‘fixation on righteous eating.’ The British Dietric Association’s mental health group reports that the problem is increasing. The obsession involves diets that avoid sugar, salt, caffeine, alchohol, wheat, gluten, yeast, soya, corn and dairy foods.

So if you are over enthusiastic about such matters be careful.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

18 August 2009

Technorati Tags: mediterranean diet, senior health, Senior walking fitness, walking fitness

Hello Everybody,

We all want a long healthy life. If we go about it the right way we may well achieve it. Here are six tips to help you on your way.

Keep Fit. Obesity is one of the great killers of our age. Whether it is by a walking for weight loss program or static exercise we need to burn off the calories in the food we eat. We must do it every day, because the fatter we get the more difficult it gets to lose weight. The task seems beyond us and we fall back on the old excuses of having big bones, or size running in the family. No, we don’t have big bones and size runs in families because they all eat the same bad diet. So daily exercise is essential.

Eat the Right Food. Avoid too much fat and sugar. In fact any food which is heavily advertised probably contains both and is likely to be bad for you. Try not to snack or, if you do, eat fruit rather than biscuits. Avoid sweet fizzy drinks. Keep to a Mediterranean diet of fresh vegetables, lean meat and oily fish. Other diets are possible, but I think this is the most complete. You can even eat crusty bread with it in moderation and an occasional glass of red wine. You are not on a diet, you are just eating better food.

Enjoy the Simple Things. Striving after things we can’t have is another killer. Once people enjoyed short haul holidays, then medium haul and now nowhere is worth going to if it isn’t a twelve hour flight away. By the time we have recovered from the stress of getting there it is time for the stress of getting back.

Then, of course there, is the consumer treadmill. Why do we have to change a perfectly useable car for a later model? Who needs a massive TV set? You can watch rubbish equally well on a smaller one. All this is tied to money and in order to obtain the money we work long hours. Many city workers are burnt out by the time they are forty. So then the health problems arrive.

It is much better to enjoy the things you have and only work for the achievable. There is nothing wrong in seeking to improve the quality of life of you and your family, but make sure you are really doing so.

Stress. ‘Life is trouble, only death is not,’ as Zorba so rightly put it. There is stress everywhere and it cannot be avoided. But we should not go looking for it. The man in the pub queue who orders five pints of beer, can’t decide if he’ll have cheese and onion or plain crisps and pays by credit card can cause stress. But it doesn’t really matter if it takes you an extra five minutes to get your order.

Be relaxed in your car, we all get lost, we all make driving errors. You are not surrounded by idiots, just by people like you. Forgive and move on.

Much stress cannot to avoided, but self induced stress can. Next time you feel your blood pressure rising take a deep breath and calm down.

Keep Learning. To live a long and healthy life you must keep learning. It has been proved that using your brain fends off Alzheimer’s disease. Not for all but for enough of us to make it worth while keeping our brains active. Use your brain. If you forget something look it up and learn it again. Start a new hobby. Become an expert on something - anything. But you must use your brain in a new way every day.

If you can afford it, a college or University course will enable you to learn

new skills and make new friends at the same time. It will also give you something to aim at, whether a Certificate of Completion, a finished painting or maybe a completed piece of creative writing. Whatever it is you have used your brain and achieved something as well.

Have a Close Relationship. A close friend or partner can help alleviate stress and depression by being somebody to talk to. Not all close relationships are successful or even desirable in later life, but if you do know someone with a sympathetic ear you will find great benefit in their friendship. But don’t forget there will be times when they need help from you. If you do not have anybody to talk to join a club and you will find friends in abundance.

It’s not too difficult to have a long healthy life. You just need to get a few things right. But remember, if you do nothing else, a regular walking for weight loss program will get you fit and keep you fit. So put the pieces in place and off you go. Why not start now?

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

7 August 2009

Technorati Tags: fitness tips, fitness walking, heart health, over fifties, senior walking, walk fit, walking exercise, walking fitness, weightloss