Jumping on a bandwagon is NOT an aerobic activity!

Jumping on a bandwagon is NOT an aerobic activity!

     It is very tempting to jump on the latest bandwagon in search of permanent weight loss and fitness. Everywhere we look, headlines scream “easy” and “low-calorie” and urge us to try this or that new (or not-so-new) product. I have spent many years at this weight loss game (that I never really asked to play) and I can tell you that there is nothing easy about permanent change. And if there really is an “easy” solution, it is going to be costly. That is just the way it is. If you want to improve your health and not spend a fortune doing it, just close your eyes and stick your fingers in your ears until that particular tempting commercial is gone.

     The components of fitness are aerobic fitness, endurance, and flexibility. You can work on these things without a gym membership and without complicated, expensive equipment. The components of a healthy diet include the macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbohydrates) as well as a host of micronutrients (basically vitamins, minerals, enzymes and the like).

     Do your fitness routine every day, or at least 5 days out of 7. Thirty minutes a day is recognized as the bare minimum for fitness maintenance, so aim to do more if you want to increase fitness, as opposed to just staying where you are. For example, you could do 15 minutes of aerobic fitness (walking) and 15 minutes of endurance/strength training (squats, push-ups, crunches, lunges, biceps curls and similar stuff) and 15 minutes of static stretching or yoga. There. If you do that every day, 5 out of 7 days, you will be ahead of where you are right now. Or you could do 45 minutes of walking one day, 45 minutes of strength training another day, and 45 minutes of yoga another day, and so on.

     Although your exercise routine is important for health, the real weight-loss secret is hidden in the kitchen. Drink lots of pure water. Eat lots and lots and lots of vegetables. Eat lots of fruits, especially early on in your program when you are trying to battle a sweet tooth. Fruits and vegetables provide the carbohydrates that your body needs. Eat a small amount of healthy fat (like olive oil, not like bacon!) each day. It’s easy to do this; the hard part is keeping to just a small amount of fat. Fat is necessary for health, but a lot of it is not helpful. Protein comes in many forms. Some of them are wrapped up in fat, particularly the less-healthy saturated fat. Dodge that saturated fat! Look for protein from low-fat sources such as skinless, boneless chicken breasts, well-trimmed eye-of-round steak, fish, kidney beans, quinoa, and egg whites. Eat foods that are raw, or steamed, or grilled. Dodge anything canned, fried or deep-fried. Eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. “Foods” that are processed (dodge the cracker aisle at the grocery store!) contribute to weight gain, and get in the way of your new, healthy lifestyle. Sugar, salt, and most fats are going to do you no favours. Give them a miss.

     Compare the cost of a bag of apples to a bag of potato chips. How long would you feel full if you ate a bag of apples? A bag of chips? You likely cannot eat a bag of apples at one sitting, but some of us have no difficulty eating a bag of chips. And we would likely need a beer or two, or some pop, to wash it down. And we would be hungry again pretty soon and need to eat more! Healthy food need not be more expensive than unhealthy pseudo-food.