Health Care in Daily Life

Why Walking Works

Fitness walking is easy, safe and inexpensive. It’s aerobic, it burns calories, and it’s an ideal fat-burning activity. It conditions the heart, improves muscle tone and strength, relieves stress, and can help with back pain, osteoporosis, respiratory problems, diabetes, arthritis, cardiac rehabilitation and a variety of other health problems. Walking is an injury-free way for everybody to keep fit, and fit kids are fitter when all the family walks together.

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How to Walk for Weight Control

Weight is determined mostly by the balance of calories - how many you burn vs. how many you eat each day. To lose weight, you need to increase your activity to burn more and/or eat fewer calories each day.

A pound of fat equals 3500 calories. To lose 1 pound a week you will need to expend 3500 more calories than you eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating or both. Losing 1-2 pounds of fat a week is a sensible goal, and so you will want to use the combination of increased activity and eating less that will total 3500 calories for 7 days.

Your weight x distance = energy used walking. Time does not matter as much as distance. If you speed up to walking a mile in 13 minutes or less, you will be burning more calories per mile. But for most beginning walkers, it is best to increase the distance before working on speed. A simple rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 150 pound person.

Many young people go on a crash diet to lose weight without knowing the adverse effects that it can cause on your body. The notion that the solution to weight loss is a crash diet or the ability to stay off food is totally wrong and erroneous and should be avoided as it leads to serious health problems. To lose weight you need not deprive yourself of food or starve yourself. The solution is moderation and it involves making five simple changes in your daily food habits.


1. Don't torture your body. You might think that the less you eat the more you will lose weight. You might go on an extremely low calorie diet and completely avoid anything that carries high calories. Well you will lose weight but then your body will be weak. If you make a habit of consuming fewer calories than your body requires, your body will automatically go into the 'starvation mode', which will definitely result into weight loss but you will be losing not fat but important components of your body like water and muscle. Thus although your size and your weight goes down, the fat still remains. With the result that you will experience lethargy, weakness, Fatigue, hunger pangs, headaches and loss of concentration. Thus try to avoid extremely low or extremely high calorie food intake. Just stop torturing yourself.

2. Balance your diet. Eat more of low calorie high fiber foods such as salads and fresh fruits with each meal. Avoid salad dressings. Eat more of whole grain food and also try out vegetable soups, which are great if you are on a diet. Avoid red meat (beef, pork, ham, sausage), organ meat (liver, brain, kidney) and egg yolks since they are bad for your health as they fall into the saturated fat category. These foods contain high level of calories. Saturated fats, oily stuff, sweets, ice cream and chocolates should be avoided as far as possible. Include sprouts in your food intake, as they are rich in protein.
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3. Don't skip meals. Don't commit the mistake of skipping meals. If you are thinking that if you skip one meal you might work towards losing some weight but it is quite the opposite. Because when you eat you tend to eat more and this might work against all your efforts of losing weight. Breakfast is one meal that's very important because as the first meal of the day it helps you to raise your energy levels and provides you energy for the rest of the day. Dinner should always be light. Your body burns few calories while you sleep and if you consume excess calories at dinner, it can easily get stored up in the body as fat.

4. Learn a few tricks.

* Instead of eating three large meals in a day eat six small meals.
* Drink two glasses of water prior to each meal.
* Focus on eating. Relish the food you are eating and don't divert your attention to anything else while you are having your meal.
* Never eat while watching television since you don't keep track of how much you are eating and you tend to eat more.
* Chew each morsel thoroughly to liquid consistency. This will help digest the food properly.
* Pause for a moment before taking an extra serving.
* Don't overeat and don't get swayed away by seeing your favourite food served on the table, which might contain high calories.
* When dining out avoid high calorie food.

5. Don't lose heart. Everyone's weight control efforts get sidetracked from time to time. You might get fed up of going on a diet over and over again without getting any result. Don't worry. It is important to remember that temporary setbacks should, after the initial disappointment, serve as stepping-stones to future success. Use your past failures as learning experiences on the way to successful weight control. So pick yourself up and go ahead do it this time.

FRUIT FACTS

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Everyone knows eating fruits is good for health since fruits make your skin glow and your hair healthy. But what is the best way to eat them? Is eating fruits with their skin more beneficial? Should you eat fruits before or after a meal? There are many other questions, which normally bother you. We have thus brought for you some fruit facts and tried to dispel some myths.

Apple a day keeps the Doctor away

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This is very true and it does keep the doctor away. Infact apples and all other fruits, for that matter, have proven over time to do nothing but good for human beings.


It is better to eat fresh fruit

This is also true. When making fruit juice, valuable fibre may be removed. Sugar may also be added to packaged juices that are bought from supermarkets. Sugar syrup may also be added to the juices sold at hawker stalls. So, by drinking juices in place of fruit, you could gain more calories but miss out on valuable dietary fibre.

Fresh orange juice is better than frozen concentrate orange juice

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This is a myth. Researchers have recently discovered that orange juice made from frozen concentrate can have higher levels of active Vitamin C than ready-to-drink orange juice. And once reconstituted, the vitamin in frozen juices may keep its potency longer. This is because Vitamin C is destroyed very easily and ready-to-drink orange juice goes through more processing than concentrates.

Yellow fruits are rich in vitamin C

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This is true. The puld of yellow fruit is a good source of bioflavonoids, which can help neutralise cancer-causing substances. Colour therapists say yellow foods are foods associated with the sun, and can raise one's spirits and boost optimism. Thus eat lots of yellow fruit like bananas, grapefruit, pineapples, melons, lemon etc.

Red fruits contain vitamin A

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This is true. Red fruits contain beta-carotene, the plant version of vitamin A. Fruits with a higher level of beta-carotene are redder in colour. Colour therapists say red fruits have a warming and energising quality. Thus eat lots of watermelons, cranberries, red apples, raspberries, red cherries, red plums, strawberries, tomatoes etc.

Green fruits are good for your heart

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This is true. Green fruits are the most vital of all fruits since they contain a chemical that protects you against heart attack and keeps your heart healthy. They also protect one against bacteria, thus reducing the risks of food poisoning and tumours. They are recommended for low blood pressure and soothing the nerves. Thus you should include avocados, green grapes, green apples, kiwi fruit, limes etc in your meals.

Orange fruits keep you fresh and active

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This is true. Orange fruits are rich in beta-carotene, which makes one energetic and active all day long. It is seen by colour therapists as the colour of creation, and is linked to the mind and ideas. Eat lots of mangoes, apricots, oranges, nectarines etc.

People who want to lose weight can go on a fruit-only diet

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This is a Myth.The body needs a balanced diet in order to be healthy. Eating only fruits will deprive the body of the necessary nutrients not found in fruits.

Popping a Vitamin C capsule is just as good as eating an orange

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This is a myth. Fruits and vegetables contain numerous phytochemicals. For example, broccoli alone may contain as many as 10,000 phytochemicals. Although phytochemicals have been found to benefit the body in some ways, the safety of large doses of isolated, purified phytochemicals, as found in supplement capsules, has not been investigated thoroughly. So, the best and safest source of phytochemicals is an actual fruit and not a supplement.

ENHANCE YOUR ENERGY LEVELS

Do you feel exhausted or tired very quickly? Do you feel that you will faint while you are walking on the road? Well if this is the case then you are in trouble coz your body doesn't seem to be producing enough energy. And the first person responsible for this condition is you. Your body cannot produce energy out of nothing. If you eat junk food, which does not contain nutrients, it will affect your energy levels and that is the reason of fatigue, lack of energy and exhaustion.

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Following are a few tips that will help increase your energy levels:

1. Exercise regularly at least 5 days in a week for 40-45 minutes. It will help increase your energy levels but don't over do it.

2. Instead of eating 2-3 large meals try eating 5 to 6 mini meals. Studies reveal that people who eat small, frequent meals suffer less from exhaustion and can think more clearly than those who eat 2-3 large meals.

3. In your mini meals include food like fruits, vegetable juices like tomato juice, carrot juice, cucumber juice or a whole grain salad sandwich.

4. To boost your energy consume all foods in their natural forms that is, not processed or refined.

5. Limit your sugar intake.

6. Include sprouts in your food habit. Eat sprouts mixed in your salad since it is a very good source of vitamins and sprouting increases the nutritional value of the food.

7. Eat more complex carbohydrates like jawar, bajra, brown rice, oatmeal seeds and dry food since they contain fiber.

8. Take Vitamin-B supplements since B-complex vitamins protect the nerves and increases energy levels. The natural B-complex sources are leafy vegetables, whole grain cereals, pulses, dals, peas, and banana.

9. Try avoiding eating dairy products since they decrease your energy levels. Instead of eating wheat roti eat bajra roti.

10. Eat vegetables, which increase the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood since that will help increase your energy levels. For that take a glass of raw vegetable juice made of tomato, carrot beetroot flavored by coriander or mint leaves and add a dash of limejuice.

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Dieting does not mean eating less or keeping yourself starved. Most women on diet have this idea of dieting and the result is that they are hungry since they eat less and hence they give it up as quickly as they started. Dieting simply means eating differently and eating sensible food and less junk food. Sensible eating means choosing low fat, low sugar foods, lots of fruit, vegetables, beans, cereal, potatoes, wholegrain bread, rice & pasta, low fat dairy foods and modest amounts of lean meat & fish.

Following are the important diet mistakes that are committed which results into a disastrous attempt.

* Most dieters don't eat enough. Result -- They get so hungry that ultimately they give up.
* Most dieters want to lose weight too fast. Result -- They get so impatient, they give up.
* Most dieters don't understand fat. Result -- They eat all the wrong food available.

Hence one has to eat sensibly. Follow the following guidelines.

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Don't Go Hungry and Avoid Food

Hunger is definitely your biggest enemy. Because if you stay hungry then it makes you feel miserable. And the end result is that you give up dieting and go back to the biscuits/cookies and all kinds of junk food you can lay your hands on. Unfortunately, most dieters still think that dieting means eating in small quantity - that's why most of them give up dieting and stay fat.

Avoid Fat

Avoid fat because it is no good for your health. Fat contains more than twice the calories of other nutrients. Fat in small quantity is ok i.e., you need no more than about 30 grams of fat per day. To do this, you must switch to low-fat options whenever possible. Switch to low-fat dairy products. Avoid high-fat foods like, fried breakfasts, fries, pastries, butter, mayonnaise, chocolate/candy and biscuits/cookies. Eat less red meat (beef, lamb, pork). Twice a week is enough. Switch to fish, chicken, pork steak, lean beefsteak.

Eat Less Sugar

Sugar provides us with virtually no nutrients, so if we stopped eating it tomorrow we wouldn't be any less nourished. It is not your friend and so have as less sugar as possible in your diet. To do this you will have to reduce the amount of sugar you add to your tea or coffee or juice. Have cereals without sugar. Avoid non-diet soft drinks. Instead, enjoy diet drinks/minerals or 100% fruit juice. Avoid so-called treats like biscuits/cookies, chocolates/candy and cakes.

Eat More Fibre

Fibre is very important and you must include more fibre in your diet. Fibre contains far fewer calories than fat or sugar so it's an ideal slimming food. It also fills us up, so we feel nice and satisfied. It also helps to protect against a number of digestive complaints like constipation, diabetes, gallstones etc. High fibre, starchy foods include: whole meal bread, potatoes, pasta, brown rice, beans, peas, leafy green vegetables, sweet-corn, pulses, bran-based cereals, oat bran.

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Adding lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet is not only good for reducing those extra weight but it makes your skin glow, hair shine and is very good for your health. Ideally, eat 4-5 helpings of fruit and 3-4 helpings of vegetables every day. Eat more salads; drink vegetable soups and green leafy vegetables in your daily diet. Add fruits in your cereals, drink fresh fruit juice without sugar or simply cut fruits into big pieces and munch on it.

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Dealing with Fat Thighs

The main reason why women have fat thighs, fat hips or a fat butt is because of what they eat. Normally women store fat on the lower part of their body in order to protect their reproductive organs. Thus, after menopause, when they are no longer able to reproduce, the weight distribution changes and fat is then accumulated above the waist - just like men. Secondly this phenomenon is also hereditary and depends largely upon the genes.

A Few Facts About Fat Thighs

* There are NO special 'hip and thigh' diets, which can reduce, fat from your hips and thighs. The ONLY way to get back in shape is to follow a proper balanced diet.
* There is NO exercise, which can reduce, fat from a specific area of your body like your hips, thighs or butt. All that exercises can do is try to maintain your figure once you have reduced the fat deposit by eating sensible weight loss diet.
* Exercise can improve the shape of a particular part of your body, by tightening muscles, but it can't reduce the fat in these areas. The only way to lose fat off your thighs, hips & butt is by changing your eating habits
* Although each of us has a unique bone structure and basic body shape, which we can't change, we can change our weight and fat. All you have to do is be patient and follow a sensible diet, which is a balanced low-fat eating-plan, which is high in vegetables, fruit, and other complex carbohydrates, and LOW in fat.

Exercise for Fat Thighs

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* To exercise thighs & butt

1. Stand with feet apart, toes pointed outwards, and hands on the outside of your thighs. Keeping your back straight, at right angles to the floor, bend knees and allow your hands to slide down your thighs until they reach your knees. (Keep back straight!) Hold your knees for a count of 5, and then slowly return to start position. Repeat 10-20 times.

2. Stand with feet slightly apart. Stretch your arms straight out ahead of you. Slowly bend your knees, until your thighs are roughly parallel with the floor. Slowly raise yourself back to the starting position. The slower you do this, the better. Start with 10 real slow ones. But please don't strain yourself. Go at your own pace.

* To exercise the inside of your thighs

Sit down on the floor in front of an ordinary straight back chair. Stretch your legs straight out in front of you, with your feet on either side of the chair. Keeping your back straight, place your palms on the floor on either side of you. Clasp the legs of the chair with the soles of your feet as though trying to push both chair legs together. Press hard and hold for a count of 50.

* To exercise the back of your thighs

Stand with feet apart. Bend forward from the waist. Reach to your right with both hands and clasp your ankle with both hands. Push your upper body downwards towards the floor. Count to 20. Return to start position and repeat exercise on the left-hand side.

* To exercise the front of your thighs

Kneel upright on the floor, with knees together. Lean backwards and clasp your right ankle with your left hand. Do not sit on your ankles. Hold this position for a count of 20. Return to start position and repeat exercise on the left-hand side.

Winters can be hard on health. Most people tend to stay indoors and are less physically active. The days are shorter; less daylight makes outdoor exercise tough and promotes more passive entertainment like television watching and snacking. Reduced sunlight is reported to affect moods too, altering our commitment to health goals. Some people suffer from 'seasonal affective disorder' (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues, in which a person with normal mental health experiences depressive symptoms during winter. Studies have suggested that the incidence of depression during winter increases by up to 30 per cent. Depression also increases the severity of pain related to joints, bones and muscles.

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Nature has its own ways of keeping the body warm. The body generates heat; it burns more calories to keep itself warm but that also increases the need to eat more. Eating, again, raises body temperature and helps cope with the cold outside. Certain foods, have a 'warming effect', also known as 'diet-induced thermogenesis' , which is the release of energy in the form of heat during digestion. This heat increases the body temperature.
Have these warming foods:

1. Whole grains and pulses (bajra, oats, maize or corn, millets)
2. Herbs, spices and condiments (ginger, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, fenugreek seeds or methi, black mustard seeds, omum or ajwain, nutmeg, saffron, black pepper, asafoetida and cloves)
3. Nuts and oilseeds (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, black and white sesame seeds, flax seeds etc)
4. Honey and jaggery

We should also stock fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C (which boosts immunity and thus helps fight infections) like carrots, pumpkin, turnips, cabbage, tomatoes, oranges, guava, lime and amla. Also, dark green leafy vegetables like mustard greenshemoglobin levels. and amaranth greens (bathua) are protective as they are rich in iron and folate and help maintain good

Studies show that people choose more high-fat food in winter. Halwas, besan ladoos, chikkis and plum cakes are so much part of winter food. Combined with being sedentary, weight gain during winter is thus no surprise.

Winter produces many physiological changes in the body. For instance, the body tends to concentrate cholesterol. The average total cholesterol in winter can be four to five points higher than it is in summer and for those with high cholesterol, the difference can be up to 11 points.

A 2008 epidemiological study by the American Dietetic Association showed that people being treated for hypertension achieve blood pressure control more often in summer than they do in winter.

Cold-induced changes in blood composition include increase in red blood cell count, plasma cholesterol and plasma fibrinogen (protein responsible for clotting of blood), which increase the risk of a clot formation and thereby a heart attack or stroke. It has been found that the mortality from heart attacks is significantly higher in cold weather. Angina attacks also appear to be more frequent in winters than during the rest of the year. The increase in mortality is one per cent for a one-degree Celsius fall in temperature.

Respiratory infections represent about 25 per cent of additional winter deaths. Other problems include significantly lower levels of vitamin D which has been associated with compromised immunity and increased risk of inflammatory conditions including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, auto-immune diseases and depression.

High-risk groups include the elderly, children (who lose heat faster due to their higher body surface /weight ratio), people with histories of heart disease or stroke and those with chronic respiratory disease or asthma.

Tips to stay healthy in winters:

1. Keep a calorie count
2. Decrease cooking oil, increase intake of warming foods, soups, hot liquids and vegetables.
a. Exercise indoors. Avoid early morning walks or walking against cold winds.
3. Monitor blood pressure
4. Drink plenty of fluids
5. Moderate alcohol intake. Alcohol dilates blood vessels near the body's surface, giving a feeling of warmth. But as the body's heat escapes, alcohol cools the inner body.