DIET AND EXERCISE
Diet
First you have to eat right. Eating right means keeping your metabolism running at optimal levels. Never go on diets. That is the path to certain doom. If you want to lose weight, or get in shape, or stay healthy, or whatever your goals are, the road to that is through wholesale lifestyle change.
You must eat in a way that you can maintain for the rest of your life. You can't drink two shakes for breakfast and lunch, then a sensible dinner, you can't starve yourself, you can't neglect to eat carbs al la the Atkins diet. You have to eat correctly. And here's how:
Six small meals throughout the day. You can't eat until you feel "full." If you've eaten to that point, you either ate too much or ate something bad. You must eat only until you feel not hungry. Six times a day. This is how you keep your metabolism high, your body running optimally, and your brain able to make the right fuel to make you feel good through the replenishment of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin.
The food pyramid! Learn it. Live it. Take notice that the largest thing on the food pyramid is the carbohydrate group. Breads, pastas, and brown rice are integral to keeping your metabolism high and your energy level up. But take note that these must be complex carbs. Complex carbs are those derived from the wheat group and the grain group. In other words, brown stuff. This group is your best friend.
What are we drinking? Water! Milk is OK too. If you think you are doing yourself any favors by drinking diet sodas you are going to pay the piper. If you are replacing your soda with sweet tea, again, you are going to pay the piper. And the only reason you should be drinking sports drinks (aka Gatorade, Powerade, Vitamin Water, or anything similar) is if you are in the middle of competing in some type of rigorous sports activity. If you are just thirsty and you are drinking sports drinks you are going to ... say it with me now ... pay the piper!
What about juices? Sorry kiddos, once you throw away the actual physical fruit after squeezing out all the juice you are actually throwing away the part of the fruit that was mostly healthy.
Most juices do contain a fair amount of vitamin C, but the sugar is going to more than make up for that. The meat of the fruit is what contained all your fiber and good complex carbohydrates, the stuff you need. Once you've thrown away the meat of the fruit you've thrown away most of the part of the fruit that was going to be of biological value.
The food scientists will shockingly tell you that you can actually get more nutrition from candy bars that sugary drinks. Take a moment to let that sink in. Back? Good. Here's another. Juices, according to a growing number of researchers, aren't any better for you than soda. Sounds crazy right?
The big key to all of diet is awareness. Be mindful of what you eat. Awareness of what is going into your mouth is a key component of having the discipline to keep bad stuff out. Apple slices with no sugar whip cream is a much better choice for desert that chocolate fudge brownie sundaes. Know the calorie and sugar count of everything that goes into your mouth and ask yourself, is this minor increase in flavor really worth it?
What About the kids?
Scores of research studies show a direct correlation between poor food intake, high sugar diets, and poor behavior. Letting your four year old wash down Doritos with Dr. Pepper in the waiting room of a psychiatrist to find out if your kid has ADHD should not happen, but it unfortunately does.
Not only is this correlation well chronicled in the research, but more recent research has shown that schools that have adopted healthier menus see a significant decrease in behavioral problems throughout the school.
Exercise
Scientists used to say that you needed to have your heart rate over 150 beats per minute for at least 45 minutes in order to see any results. You can certainly follow this path and it will not hurt you at all.
More recently exercise gurus have found gold nuggets in interval training. In 15 minutes, if you keep moving, you can see significant athletic gains.
At any rate, the key is to find some type of exercise that you enjoy doing. Whether that is sports, dance, karate, lifting weights, running, ninja fighting or alligator wrestling, as long as you enjoy doing it you WILL do it.
Another big key is muscle confusion. Don't do the same thing over and over again. Not only will you get bored, but so will your muscles and they will stop showering you with results. Vary your workouts and you will reap the benefits. Run one day, then swim the next, weight lift, aerobics, yoga, ninja fighting, and dancing all will make for a good week!
Find some way to get your body moving, and your mind will reap the benefits.
And unlike the Guidos in the gym, don't take steroids or do drugs or drink alcohol.
What NOT to Do
Fad diets all say that they have some kind of "secret" to help you lose weight. The diet industry knows that they have no such secret.
The secret is that if they actually help you lose weight, they are going out of business!
Forget about Atkins Diet, Nutrasystem, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, diet pills, 3 day diets, cabbage diets, cookie diets (really?), Hollywood diets, diets of the stars, Oprah diets, cranberry juice diets, juice diets, diets where you drink shakes, and any other kind of diets. You must commit to lifestyle change.
And if you are already a healthy weight, this doesn't mean you can go bonkers. You may look good on the outside, but your heart is taking a pounding if you are allowing it to be bombarded with fried chicken and sugary fancies!
