HEALTHY LIVING: EXERCISE

Balance is key to whatever we decide to do in life, a balanced way of life is organised to accommodate love, work, exercise, leisure...

 

It is important to find a way to balance both our diet and physical activities, balancing work from play and stressful activities.

 

When I speak with people on the need for exercise, I get a very wide range of response from I'm already thin why do I need to exercise,? to I do a lot of walking and jumping around on daily basis and that should count for exercise. Sigh!

 

The English dictionary defines exercise as: a physical activity intended to improve strength and fitness.

 

Now based on this definition, it means you can eat balanced meal every so often, Rest well and work properly without still been fit or improve on the strength you draw from these meals...

 

Exercise is not only about body building and losing colestrol. It is also about being in tip-top shape. Various exercise technique exist for various results. Either you are looking to work your tummy muscles, burn cholesterol or general toning of the body. Each form or series of exercises is useful to achieve certain level of body fitness.

The usual advice is you know your body and schedule, you know your weaknesses and how far you are willing to push. Activities done under duress or stress cannot be termed as 'exercise' because these forms of activities are adrenaline driven and not usually useful in getting the desired result.

Speaking with professional fitness experts would reveal that no set of exercise can be strictly used by two persons, it is usually modified to suit the personal health conditions, work/ life schedule, eating habits and affinity.

 

However, exercise is generally recommended to pump our adrenaline level (as against using adrenaline to push fort an activity). It is required to help improve blood circulation, keep us fit and alert, reduce cholesterol and tone our muscle (depending on your needs).

 

I have discovered that the most excuse given by working class city people is either the traffic combined with the distance of their place of work from their homes or the nature of their jobs. To this end I have decided to go on a personal research of what kind of exercise people who fall in this category could benefit from without completely disrupting their entire schedule or over burdening themselves with barrages of activities.

 

General muscle toning is mainly the first steps required to keep in tip-top shape. You can get up early to do some activities even by your bed side for about 15minutes just before you drop in the shower.

 

Exercises that help you get the most out of every workout move, meant to build lean muscle tone, fast include;

 

Split Squat

Stand with your legs staggered, your left foot about two feet In front of your right

 

(a). Bend your knees to lower your body until your left thigh is parallel and your shin is perpendicular to the floor

 

(b). Straighten your legs to return to start. Do five reps, then switch sides and repeat.

Incline Push up

Get into a push up position with your hands placed slightly wider than your shoulders on a box, stool, dressing table or bench,

(a). Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the surface

(b). Pause at the bottom, and then push yourself back to start. Do as many reps as possible until you can't maintain form or have to stop.

 Lat Pull-Down

For those who have a Lat pull down in their homes. Sit at the lat pull-down station and grab the bar with an overhang grip that's slightly wider than your shoulders (a). Without moving your torso, pull the bar down to your chest, pulling your elbows toward the floor and your rib cage, and squeezing your shoulder blades at the bottom of the move

(b). Pause, then return to start. Do five reps.

Triceps Dip

Sit on the edge of a bench or chair with your knees bent and your feet on the floor in front of you. Place your palms face down next to your thighs and, keep your arms straight, scoot forward until your hips and butt are in front of the seat

(a). Bend your elbows to lower your hips until your upper arms are parallel to the floor

(b). Push back to start. That's one rep. Do as many reps as possible until you have to pause or can't maintain form.

No one is left behind in these short steps that can be done before shower time. With only about 15minutes of work out that can be done even by your bed side you don't have an excuse not to get into shape.

 

What are you waiting for? Let's get to it together and start living more healthy while keeping in a top tip shape.

HEALTHY LIVING: THE JOURNEY OF A CURIOUS BEAUTY.

 

 

 

Living a healthy life is a multi facets activity, from eating a well balanced meal to regular exercise and taking proper rest, forging strong and pleasant relationships also form part of the facets to living a healthy life.

Healthy feeding; if anything else, Africa is abundantly blessed with various healthy and delicious foods. Dietians say a healthy dose of vegetables a day should be encouraged and infused into our daily diet. Eating raw vegetables has its own health and beauty benefit. Many types of vegetable have been known to reduce aging in women ( what I will routinely call the anti aging spell) yeah. Veggies like Tomatoes contain lycopene an antioxidant that combat free radicals.this veggie helps regenerate cells, they help prevent some cancers include lung cancer too. Garden egg is another vegetable anti aging and cancer fighting veggie the Nusain in this plant help achieve all these feats. Certain food like yogurt also help soften and smoothing out the skin surface. for breakfast it is advisable that you should take fruits in form of juices ( i am not referring to processed can or packed juices here) i am writing about freshly squeezed fruit juice, smoothies or consuming whole fruits. These fruit will help clean out the bowel and the entire body system. Taking this over a period you would realise how effective it is in detoxifying your body system. Eating raw vegetable first thing in the morning can also help cleanse the system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of us Africans have abused food and we have betrayed our traditions of eating like real Africans. Eating well is not the same as eating large, diet experts have advised that adult should consume less dairy products and red meat, they are also advised to eat more white meat ( chicken,  fish and lamb). Most adult don't follow this rules as often times than not we notice that the adults in the house do the least chores and eat the most of everything their body can't get rid of easily. The funny experiences I have had are usually during my lunch break at work when I enter some restaurant and see people order, some order as much as a plate full of red beef. This is usually believed to be a show of wealth when it is actually a show of death.

A balanced meal should include plenty vegetable, fruit and water. Many have complained about recurring head aches and have decided to place themselves eternally on pain killers when they could easily have cured this aches by drinking plenty water and taking proper rest.

Food in itself is not only the basic kind of medication human body can assimilate but also the most potent poison. Hence, it is imperative that we do take care of what, when, why and how we eat. Boiling or over boiling of vegetable is bad for consumption because the vegetables would lose substantial amount of it benefit to heat on the other hand not cooking our fish or meat properly can be equally dangerous to our health because it exposes us to warms and other parasitic organisms that may be living within their natural host which turn up in our pots as meat of prey.

Eating for good health and growth applies to both young and old as it is important to give our children tasty and balanced diet to aid their growth so is it important to eat healthy to slow down degeneration of our body too. Our children need us healthy and alive. Taking daily steps to live healthy lives in terms of eating balanced diet is a daily task and commitment.  Interestingly in a country like Nigeria people can still afford to eat fruit and vegetables in season.

Eating early and light dinners, not missing breakfast is key to staying in good health even for those who are trying to cut down on their weight, healthy eating is one of the first steps to keeping your body weight stable.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Beauty they say is only skin deep but eating healthy will actually help develop and bring out your inner beauty STAY AWAY FROM JUNK ITS NOT A TYPE OF FOOD ITS A DISEASE CAUSING AGENT..

Keep checking this blogspot as we continue our journey into becoming healthier, more beautiful and happier people.