November 10th, 2006 |  Print This Post |  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email |  

Effective steps are less of a mouthful…

One of the major concerns as pertaining to health these days is the rampant obesity that plagues people in the United States. In a country where at one point people were so obsessed with working out, its hard to believe that it’s taking a turn for the worse, and we are now more interested in food, entertainment, and relaxation – things we seemingly view as the total package of good life.

Just as food, entertainment, and relaxation are essential parts of our lives, taking care of our body also is. It is recommended that people spend a number of days in the gym to stay fit, we know this, but hardly ever carry out that task.

I am one of the lucky people blessed with a good metabolism, so I make an effort to gain weight. In addition to that, I don’t eat food because it is readily available, I eat because I’m hungry – this makes it easier for me to control my weight. Sometimes I could eat twice a day, other occasions, three or four times. What is important is that I am careful to ensure that I have the essential nutrients to support my bodily functions and health.

Know Your Body

Everyone has to know their body. Not everyone can have beach bodies (it be unrealistic to expect that in everyone), but each person should at least have some expectation of themselves when it comes to weight control and health. This expectation would vary from person to person, but the goal is to continue enhancing the positive process of improvement. Know your body, know your limits, be constantly aware of your physical state, of what you eat, and what you don’t eat. When your fall beneath your personally established benchmark, or that of your primary care physician (which should carry a higher precedent), you should be proactive to getting back to where you want to be before it gets to an uncontrollable point.

Be Involved in a Fitness Regimen You Like

When I was in college, I loved to go to the gym a lot. I went on a daily basis (except Saturdays and Sundays), and I always typically worked out for one and a half to two hours using free weights and machines. I did this because I loved it at the time. But by the time I graduated from college, I was beginning to lose interest in lifting weights. When that happened, I knew I had to find something else I was interested in that I could participate in. Interest was key because, as I entered into the workforce, I realized I could never make time to go to the gym because I had begun to associate it with hard work, and would rather just get home from work and lounge on the sofa, as I was tired from the day’s work.

As time went on, I noticed that my longtime passion for martial arts was rekindling, so I joined a school. Because I had passion for this, it easy for me to make classes, and get the workout, stretches, and exercises I needed.

Likewise, if you hate going to the gym, or you hate getting sweaty in a martial arts class, look for something you enjoy, but still provides a healthy workout – because a little exercise is better than none at all. If you love to take walks do that. If you hate taking walks by yourself, engage with someone you love taking walks with. You do it while you have fun. If you love cleaning up around the house or yard, but hate the idea of going to a gym, clean your house and yard actively. If you home is clean, help out senior citizens in your neighborhood with their surroundings. If you exhaust that, join a community service group that does that for an extended area. The point is that you stay active – better than the extreme of being inactive.

If you love playing sports, but haven’t done any since college, get back into it. Shoot hoops if you like, or flag football, go to the bowling alley frequently, whatever keeps you active. Remember, a little exercise is better than none at all.

The only caveat to this is to make sure that you are physically capable to engage in such activities, by consulting your doctor.

Frequent Doctor Visits

This is the one area where I usually fail. I have once gone two years without seeing a doctor, though I am fully aware I should be doing this at least once a year. I’m guilty of this as most of us are. Dealing with this is a matter of resolve. You sincerely make up your mind that you’ll see your doctor frequently, and you realize that’s all you had to do in the first place - coming to a point where you make a resolve. We’ve all heard “shoulda coulda” stories. I personally don’t want to join the list of those who would get a bad diagnosis because of their negligence.

Getting Enough Sleep

Sleep is important because it causes you to rest and recharge. Lack of sleep produces tiredness, dullness of the brain, and escalates stress. These are not good things to have. Lack of sleep reduces your capacity to perform and think accurately. The times I typically caught a cold was when I continuously had little sleep for an extended period of time. It had a negative effect on my immune system. There were times when I either didn’t get enough sleep, or I got more sleep than necessary. Side effect of too much sleep is that it reduces the amount of time in a day to accomplish things that need to get done, and you wake up still feeling tired for some weird reason.

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