Hello Everybody,
Lifetime fitness is something we would all like to achieve. But if so far you have only achieved lifetime unfitness do not worry. You can start a fitness program right away. It need not cost you anything.
There is, of course, fitness and super fitness. The fitness industry, which for some reason seems obsessed with six packs, is a multi million dollar operation. It provides everything from gyms and personal trainers to a multiplicity of equipment all aimed at helping people achieve a high level of fitness. This is fine but for most of us fitness means being reasonably slim and feeling and looking as good as we can manage.
All we need for this level of lifetime fitness is a good pair of walking shoes and a careful look at our diet and lifestyle.
Just as there is fitness and fitness there are diets and diets. I recently found some diets I would not recommend to anybody. We have the Master Cleanse Diet. This involves the consumption of 6-12 glasses a day of a mixture of maple syrup, lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper - yes, cayenne pepper. This is one of those detoxification diets that does nothing your liver and kidneys cannot do all by themselves. Another is the Blood Type Diet, the contents of which is adjusted for different blood types. There is, of course, nothing to show that blood type has anything to do with successful weight loss. There are many more diets of a similar nature, some of which may well reduce your weight quickly. But you cannot live for ever on a crash diet and when you stop your weight will come back on again.
For lifetime fitness you need a lifestyle change not a short term diet. You need to eat healthy food such as fresh vegetables, fruit, pulses, oily fish and lean meat. This, in its various forms, is the Mediterranean diet which I have advocated many times. I only do so because it works and the food is enjoyable. There are a lot French, Greek and Italian recipes available using simple healthy ingredients which will help you lose weight as well as enjoying what you eat. You can even drink the occasional glass of wine with your food. So why spend your time drinking cayenne pepper when you could be eating a pleasant meal?
I suggest walking as a form of exercise because it is enjoyable and, unlike some types of exercise, can easily be continued as we get older. Having said this it takes a while to lose calories just by walking. An hour of average speed walking only burns off the calories in a hot cross bun or a medium sized bar of chocolate. But if you want to lose more in the same time swimming or cycling will do it for you. Whatever you decide to do try and exercise for an hour every day. This need not be all at once. Half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening is fine, or even several shorter periods. Just try to fit in an hour a day.
So with exercise and a healthy diet you will be well on your way to achieving lifetime fitness and all without drinking cayenne pepper or checking your blood type. It is not difficult and you can have a good time doing it as well.
See you soon,
Peter Stockwell
15 May 2010
Photo. Emily Wimset
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