The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

When we walk we are walking for weight loss as well as overall fitness and enjoyment, so we may not need too many scary stories about obese people. But sadly these are becoming more frequent in the UK, as one in four Britons is now obese.

The National Health Information Centre tells us that in 2008/09 there were 8,085 admissions to hospital for obesity. This compares with 5,056 the previous year and 1,746 in 3003/04. If that is not an epidemic I don’t know what is. The reasons for entry to hospitals can be many, but are usually due to obesity related illness or weight loss surgery.

The world’s heaviest man lives in the UK. He is Paul Mason, aged 48 who weighs 70 stone and will shortly be going to hospital for weight loss surgery. It will be necessary to airlift him from his home, as this is the only way to transport him to hospital.

I would never deny that some people are overweight through no fault of their own. However there are a lot who are ruining their health and costing the Health Service money because of what used to be called gluttony.

The situation, of course, gets even more worrying when children are involved. We are told by the British Public Health minister that, due to government action, child obesity may now be levelling off. I await the statistics with interest, but wonder why the government needs to take action when the answer lies with the child’s parents.

Having discussed the problem many times we know the answer. It is to keep up a walking for weight loss program and if we have children, or grand children, take them with us. Also eat a low fat Mediterranean diet or something similar. That way our family and ourselves will have a good quality of life and stay well away from hospitals.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

30 October 2009

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Hello Everybody,

You may have been eating a healthy diet and working at a walking for weight loss, or some other kind of exercise, program. You have lost some weight and are feeling a lot fitter but still have fat around your middle. This is a common problem and is not always easy to resolve. But you must try because it can affect your health. Scientists writing in the imaginatively named ‘Thorax’ journal tell us that being even ‘modestly overweight’ can increase the risk of asthma. This applies particularly to women. There are many other illnesses, applicable to both sexes, associated with being overweight.

What can you do about it? If you need to lose weight and are not fully succeeding you must be doing one of three things wrong. Either taking in too many calories, doing too little exercise, or both.

We can list what is needed:

Cut down on calories. You need carbohydrates but some are good and some are bad. Refined flours like white bread, pasta, doughnuts, cakes and biscuits are all bad. Good carbohydrates are fresh fruits and vegetables, oats, brown rice and sweet potatoes. Wholemeal bread is good. Make sure you are not eating fatty foods, stick to lean meat and fish. Don’t eat a lot of pasta. Avoid junk food

Cut down on alcohol. As well as sugar alcohol contains a lot of calories and is best avoided. There is no need to cut it out completely, but drink in moderation and that means just a daily glass of wine or beer with a meal.

Consume less sugar. The sugar and refined carbohydrates found in junk food such as fizzy drinks, sweets, cookies, and crisps is a big producer of excess fat. Cut it out.

Exercise daily. A walking for weight loss program will help, as will abdominal exercises. The real enthusiasts recommend a weight lifting regime. This will depend on your age. For older people light weights are an option, but I would suggest increasing your walking for weight loss program first, as it is more gentle exercise. If you would then like to use weights be all means do so.

No late snacks. Do not snack before going to bed. You will have no time to burn it off and just put on fat while you sleep.

If you still have stomach fat after your best efforts look at these suggestions. It may be that you are just not doing quite enough. It may be that you have not been doing your weight loss program long enough. Crash diets for losing weight fast seldom work. You trick your body into adopting ‘starvation protection’ mode which releases cortical, a hormone telling you to store fat, particularly around your stomach area. To your amazement you eat less and your body weight stays the same or even goes up.

So take things slowly, think long term weight loss and you really will be slim and fit one day.

See you soon

25 October 2009

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Hello Everybody,  

When out on a walking for fitness program or in the home it is known that as we get older there is more risk of falls. One in three adults over 65 will suffer from a fall this year. These can be serious, as bones become more brittle with age and there is a high chance of breakage.

The problem is often caused by lack of balance. Good balance is a result of three systems in the body: the inner ear, the eye and the proprioceptor nerves in muscles and joints. These let the person know the position of their body when they move. With age these systems can deteriorate and the result is lack of balance resulting in falls.

There is not a great deal of medical help available to maintain balance. Diseases of the inner ear can be addressed and diabetes, which affects balance, can be controlled. But a medical response to general age related deterioration is less easy.

However all is not lost. A way of improving balance is by exercise. There are a number of exercises which can help and anybody over 65 should consider trying them. I know it is one more round of exercise to add to a fitness walking program and maybe exercise to strengthen muscles. But the simplest balance exercise is so easy it is worth a try.

All you need to do is to stand on one leg for thirty seconds and then stand on the other one for thirty seconds. Make sure you have something strong to hold on to at first, as it may be more difficult than you expect. Once you can do this easily do it with your eyes closed. When you have achieved this do it standing on a pillow or a folded towel. That’s it! Just do it twice a day.

An exercise, which may prevent you having broken bones, for two minutes work a day seems a good deal to me.

In the home there are a few practical things you can do to make life safer. Remove scatter rugs, do not polish floors too highly, make sure you have good lighting on stairs and install grab rails in difficult areas. But if all else fails, indoors or out, a good sense of balance could save you from injury. It’s worth the effort improve it. You can then walk with confidence and feel safer in your home.

See you soon,

20 September 2009

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

Hello Everybody,

A walking for weight loss program and a healthy diet has many benefits but now we are told it also helps fight depression.

A study of 11000 people in Spain has found that a Mediterranean diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, lean meat and oily fish results in people being less likely to become depressed. It seems that those on the diet were 30 percent less likely to suffer depression than those whose diet had less of the elements of the Mediterranean diet.

Researchers do not really know the cause of these results. They suggest that the diet may improve blood vessel function, fight inflammation and repair oxygen-related cell damage. This could reduce the chances of developing depression. That, slightly incomprehensible, explanation sounds a lot like guessing to me. I wonder if they have considered that people living in a Mediterranean climate could well start off more cheerful than those living in some rain sodden Northern country. Although the comparison is within a group I would like to see it repeated in the UK or North America, it is not impossible that the results would be quite different when comparing those on a Mediterranean diet and those not.

Anyway whether a Mediterranean diet will help depression in your case or not it is still good for you. There is a mountain of research which tells you so, some going back 50 years. The first study involved the people of Crete at the end of the 1940s. Even after the trauma and deprivation of a world war the cardiovascular health of these people exceeded that of North Americans. This was considered to be due to differences in diet. Although depression did not feature in the research at that time it did conclude that there was a significant improvement in health. There was a 9 percent reduction in overall mortality for all people having a Mediterranean diet compared with those eating a more usual Western diet.

In a later study researchers looked at people aged 70 to 90 for more than a decade, and found those who adhered to a healthy low-fat Mediterranean-style diet lowered their risk of death by 23 percent. People who drank alcohol moderately lowered their risk by 22 percent. Physical activity lowered the risk by 37 percent. Non-smoking lowered the death risk by 22 percent. And people who had all four of these healthy lifestyle factors lowered their risk of death from any cause by 65 percent.

So diet can work wonders and as more and more research comes to light we are proving how effective the Mediterranean diet can be.

But don’t forget that walking or some other form of exercise is important as part of a fitness program. However healthy your diet is if you don’t exercise you will get fat and lose the benefits of the diet. So don’t forget the two elements, a walking for weight loss program, a Mediterranean diet and you will be fit and well.

See you soon,

13 October 2009

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

Hello Everybody,

As the seasons change we have much to interest us in walks in the countryside. If your walking for fitness program takes you through deer country you will have noticed by now that October is the rutting season.

Deer can be found in many places, moors, woodlands, parks, country estates. In the UK red deer are the largest and most impressive wild deer. Fallow deer with their flattened antlers are semi domesticated and occur more in parks and estates, sometimes with red deer. Both can make fascinating watching.

Stags herd their females into groups and rush about defending them from other males who want to lure them away. It is a high stress high action time of year and stags sometimes get killed in fights. Fortunately it is often a case of cold war, where they lock antlers and the one who pushes hardest wins. There is a lot of bluff about the whole thing as stags try to out- roar each other with their challenges. It is only if two evenly matched stags meet and one stands a chance of losing his herd that things get serious. Then fights can last a long time until an animal is hurt or exhausted.

For the walker it is a remarkable thing to see. But be careful. As always near animals in the country, keep your dog on a lead. He could have a nasty shock if he meets a rutting stag. Keep away from herds yourself. Truly wild deer are hard to approach, but park deer are not afraid of people and a stag could cause you problems. Remember red deer are large and fast. The largest British red deer, a magnificent beast which lives on Exmoor, is nine feet tall from hoof to top of antler. That’s big and I would rather not be chased by him.

So take a pair of binoculars, watch from a distance and all will be well.

Do enjoy your walking for fitness program. There is a lot to see at any time of year, but a stag on a misty autumn day is one of the great sights, never to be forgotten.

See you soon,

9 October 2009

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A walking exercise program will do a lot to maintain muscle tone in Seniors. But if they find they are unable to keep up regular walking exercise there is likely to be some muscle wastage.

It is of course not unusual for older people to have reduced activity compared with when they were younger. As a result they can lose muscle tone and develop significant atrophy. Even minor muscle atrophy can bring about some loss of mobility and strength. Fortunately this is reversible with exercise.

Together with a walking program it is a good idea to consider weight training. This may sound a little drastic, but mild training using light weights can build upper body strength. It is also an effective weapon against diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease.

Research has been carried out into muscle wastage both at the University of California and the University of Copenhagen. It has been found that an enzyme which acts as a catalyst to repair and maintain muscles is lower in older people.

If the concentration of the mitogen-activated protein kinas is increased in Seniors it is thought that the old muscles can be restored to their former efficiency. This research, which was reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine, may lead to treatments strengthening ageing bodies or fighting off degenerative illnesses.

As ever there is no time scale for all this. Researchers have a habit of announcing breakthroughs at an early stage in order to generate interest and get more funding for their projects. Fair enough, but we should not think that strong muscles on sedentary older people are just around the corner. They are not; for the moment just carry on with your fitness exercise program if you are able. It is enjoyable and does you a lot of good, so it is well worth the effort.

The bottom line is that as you get older you need exercise and it is possible to keep fit without major effort. A little goes a long way and the fitter you are the better your chances of avoiding some of the infirmities which old age brings.

See you soon,

2 October 2009

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