Food (and exercise) for thought
January is always a great time to take a step back and reevaluate where you’re at and where you want to go. In terms of health, this might entail looking at diet, exercise, and fitness goals. One has to be brutally frank with oneself for this to work right, so let’s get started with diet and exercise for now. I’ll tackle fitness goals in another post.
Are you getting exercise daily? Maybe 3 times / week? Does that exercise entail you getting your heart rate up for at least 15 minutes? No?
A study last year linked physical inactivity to more than 5 million deaths worldwide per year, more than those caused by smoking.
The survey revealed that only 20.6 percent of people met the total recommended amounts of exercise — about 23 percent of all surveyed men and 18 percent of surveyed women. People most likely to exercise were between the ages of 18 and 24 (almost 31 percent of exercisers). Those least likely to engage in physical activity were ages 65 and older (nearly 16 percent of exercisers).
GOAL: The U.S. government recommends adults get at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or a combination of both. Adults should also engage in muscle-strengthening activities like lifting weights or doing push-ups at least twice per week.
Well what about your diet? Let’s go easy on you to start…are you eating at least 3 or more fruits and veggies per day? Triple that and you’re where you should be, but if you’re eating 3-4/day you’re WAY above average. Does your daily diet start with McDonalds? Muffin or donut with a coffee? Lunch something relatively fast too? Does your dinner come out of a box in the freezer and into your belly after a “2 minutes and turn, heat for another 2 minutes” microwave stint?
The Institute of Medicine periodically issues recommendations on what people should eat to be healthy and maintain a reasonable weight. Americans have largely ignored this well-intentioned advice, a new study shows. It reports that “nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. Most people missed the mark on nearly every nutrient category, the study found. Overindulgence in some discretionary nutrients, however, “was ubiquitous” — notably for solid fats (i.e. not vegetable or fish oils), added sugars and alcohol, according to Susan Krebs-Smith of the National Cancer Institute and her colleagues. (reference)
GOAL: Mostly fruits, veggies, and whole grains with a sensible portion of protein. While this may be up for debate it is a good place to start.
