Health Fitness Tips of Week Dec 26

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December 26

Health and Diet
Want to add more fruits and vegetables into your daily meals? Try some of the following tips. Add fresh fruit to your cereal. Top pancakes with fruit rather than syrup. Cook recipes with fresh and dried fruit. Make soups, casseroles, and past dishes with a variety of vegetables. Add vegetables to omelets. Chop vegetables into bite-size pieces and add to your salads.

Fitness
Make fitness a family affair. Create a fitness contest with family members. Start with simple activities like how many push-ups and sit-ups everyone can do in 10 minutes. Then move on to other activities, like who can walk around the block the quickest. Be creative, and before you know it, your entire family will improve their fitness.

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December 27

Health and Diet
Butter or margarine? Both butter and margarine contain fats that can raise blood cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease. Butter is a major source of saturated fat. Margarine does contain less saturated fat, but the hydrogenation process of margarine creates trans fatty acids (TFA). Opt for natural, unhydrogenated oils such as canola or olive oil.

Fitness
Eat early and often. Try not to go more than 3 hours without some form of nutrition. If it has been 3 hours since lunch, snack on a piece of fruit, a tablespoon of nuts, a piece of dried fruit or a nonfat organic yogurt. Have dinner 2 or 3 hours later. If you have dinner after 7 p.m., make sure it totals less than 500 calories. Heavy eating before bedtime makes it difficult to maintain deep sleep, as your body is focused on digesting food instead of revitalizing itself.

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December 28

Health and Diet
How much water should we drink? The recommended water intake is eight 8-ounce glasses per day. Water is needed for almost every bodily function -- it aids digestion, absorption, circulation, distribution of nutrients and excretion. Water helps maintain our body temperature and is necessary for carrying out waste. Try including water with your meals – a great way to avoid some extra calories and hydrate your body at the same time.

Fitness
Boost your metabolism by reading instead of watching. Researches at Memphis State University monitored thirty-two girls as they watched a half-hour television program. They found the metabolic rates dropped as much as 16 percent below the resting metabolic rate. In other words, they burned fewer calories watching TV than they did just by sitting!

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December 29

Health and Diet
How much water should we drink? The recommended water intake is eight 8-ounce glasses per day. Water is needed for almost every bodily function -- it aids digestion, absorption, circulation, distribution of nutrients and excretion. Water helps maintain our body temperature and is necessary for carrying out waste. Try including water with your meals – a great way to avoid some extra calories and hydrate your body at the same time.

Fitness
Boost your metabolism by reading instead of watching. Researches at Memphis State University monitored thirty-two girls as they watched a half-hour television program. They found the metabolic rates dropped as much as 16 percent below the resting metabolic rate. In other words, they burned fewer calories watching TV than they did just by sitting!

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December 30

Health and Diet
Picking fresh produce... The cantaloupes are plump, the peaches look luscious, but do you know flavorful produce when you see it? Look at the color and shape. If the characteristic color of the produce is missing, pick a different piece. Touch the produce -- firm is the best choice. If it is too soft, it may be too ripe. Smell produce. Peaches, nectarines, melons and tomatoes can be judged by their smell -- a strong scent means the item is prime for eating.

Fitness
Examine your exercise before you stretch. In some cases pre-exercise stretches may actually increase your risk of injury. However, make sure you DO warm up before exercises, which make your tendons more flexible and maximize blood flow to the muscles

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December 31

Health and Diet
Do you know what you are drinking? Would you believe one 12 ounce can of regular soda contains approximately 9 teaspoons of sugar, in the form of high-fructose corn syrup? One 24-ounce bottle of the popular sports drinks contains more than 20 teaspoons. Try to avoid these excess sugars and empty calories by reaching for some pure water or sodium-free seltzer. Give it a twist with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime.

Fitness
Fight the boredom. If exercise bores you no matter what you do, use distraction to stick with the program. Listen to music or books on tape while walking outdoors or on the treadmill. Once you get into the exercise habit, try to become involved with the act of exercising (mind to muscle), which researchers say produces better results. Really focus on the moment and how the exercise feels.