Here’s to Your Health: Fitness Is the Key to a Happy Life

Fitness is the key to a happy life. I know that many of you are rolling your eyes at this statement, but it is true. Living a unhealthy lifestyle will cause misery and unhappiness. This will article hopefully will inspire you to start your own fitness program so that you can get lose weight, build muscle, and start living a healthy lifestyle.There is nothing more than the thrill of excitement when the impossible has been conquered. With home fitness videos becoming more intense, it may lead us to think that we cannot do these workouts. I remember that when I started the P90X and the Insanity workouts, I would stop so many times to catch my breath because I would be out of shape. Doing these types of workouts reminded me of the days when I played football for the Highland Rams. During the football season, our weight training class would be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. It was Wednesday that everyone feared because we knew that it was sweat day. We would go through a full hour of running the stadium stairs or doing cardio and plyometric training, but, Needless to say that I was in the best shape of my life during the high school years.The secret to success with any kind of workout is that you have to overcome the self-doubt at first. This is the most important key in order to have the body that you want. Second, when going through the workout, it is okay to stop and take a breather and then get back into the action. Don’t beat yourself up if you have to stop many times during the workout. Because over time, you will get stronger and faster and that you will be able to complete the workout without stopping. Third, set a goal for yourself and once that goal is complete, reward yourself with a treat. These workouts nowadays are a no walk in the park. Fourth, make sure that you eat a good healthy meal because it is critical that your body gets the proper nourishment to keep you going throughout the day.If your workout allows fruit consumption, I would suggest making a fruit smoothie so that you can have the good carbs to fuel your muscles. With this smoothie, the way that I always make mine is with a combination of bananas, strawberries, apple, oranges, and blueberries with a slight addition of fresh leaf spinach (because of the high amounts of iron that spinach contains). Throw them into a blender with a cup full of water and ice (if you desire, add in some liquid or powder stevia to sweeten the smoothie). Mix them all together and enjoy. If you are daring, you can make a veggie smoothie, but I prefer drink V8 with high potassium and low sodium instead. Some workouts requires you to go six days a week while others, every other day, but no matter what the time period may be, you have to put in the effort to achieve the body that you want.Getting a fitness program up and running can be a hard thing to do, but like I stated before in this article, fitness is the key to a happy life.

Why Do American Women Get Fat? – Addressing the Root Causes of High Body Fat and Poor Health

The average American woman is about 32% body fat (and rising), which medically is considered obese. The average American woman is a size fourteen and experiences a variety of premature medical conditions. We need to confront the fact that poor nutrition and lack of exercise usually trigger our weight difficulties as well as some of the medical predicaments we find ourselves facing. However, the methods we use to confront these issues are extreme, to say the least. Instead of trying to gain control over our “fat” problem the right way, we have become desperate, seeking out programs and products that only end up as major disappointments-creating multiple health risks and costing us tons of money.So how did this happen? Women gain body fat and ruin their health through five main avenues; these comprise the “Five Factors Affecting Body Fat and Health”.Factor #1: Liquid Consumption Too many poor liquid choices add unnecessary and empty calories to the American diet, and an inadequate water intake leaves women dehydrated, unhealthy, bloated, and fat. This includes coffee drinks, tea with sugar, soda, powdered soft drinks and other sugary drinks, non-fresh juice, poor quality meal replacement drinks, and alcohol. What women drink can make or break a diet-causing health issues and weight gain!Factor #2: Quantity and Distribution of Calories o Daily caloric intake: The average American woman goes one extreme or the other-overeating (over 3000 calories per day, except for athletes, young girls, women with an extremely high metabolism or a medical condition that warrants high calories) or undereating (under 1000 calories per day). Both of which can have the same outcome for all women-obesity and/or poor health.o Daily nutrient ratio (protein/carbohydrates/fat): Proper nutrition requires all of the essential nutrients including, water, protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Most diet plans do not establish the proper balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. The wrong nutrient ratio in a woman’s daily diet can have a major impact on body fat, health, moods, and energy.o Number of meals and meal timing each day: Here is another area that women miss the mark. Most women think they are doing themselves a favor by not eating all day, but by dinnertime they are starving and often overeat-allowing their calories to be stored as fat as opposed to being used for their intended purpose (health and energy). Woman also have a tendency to skip meals all day, allowing their blood glucose level to be unstable making it impossible to lose fat and have adequate energy throughout the day.o Meal size: Portion control is an enormous problem in the American diet-we super size everything except for water! The human body can only assimilate so much in one sitting and the rest will be stored as FAT! In fact, calories consumed in excess of the body’s needs are stored as fat (in our fat cells-around our internal organs and visible places like a woman’s hips, butt, thighs, abdominal, and arms).Factor #3: Quality and Purity of Calories Calories are our friend, however, the wrong kind of calories will do harm (make women fat and sick-the opposite of fit and healthy)! Calories that are not wholesome and do not promote mental, spiritual, and physical well-being include:
Fat calories
Unhealthy calories
Dirty calories
Impure calories
Old and dead calories
Non-kosher calories
Factor #4: Restrictive and Unbalanced Dieting Because most women look for quick-fix solutions to our obesity and poor-health epidemic, we buy into gimmicks and false promises. We subscribe to dangerous pills and special packaged foods. We suffer needlessly. Sometimes we lose weight only to “rebound”-gaining more weight than when we started and usually at the expense of our health and sanity. We end up confused and more desperate. So instead of seeking the proper way to lose weight, we start the cycle all over again.Factor #5: Lack of ExerciseLack of exercise is a major factor in women’s health problems and is a main reason why women “get fat” in the first place. We are a “remote-control” country where most American’s lack physical activity and are frequently either distracted or too lazy to exercise.So what can we women do? We can stop all the confusion and even help the next generation of girls and young women. Instead of settling for our current condition and seeking a quick-fix product or program, we can get healthy & fit once and for all the right way by searching for accurate knowledge and by disciplining ourselves. We can stop putting band-aids on a serious problem and attack the root causes (“Five Factors Affecting Body Fat and Health”) of why we are overweight and not at our full potential for optimal health.How can we attack the root causes? Women who want to feel, look, and function better can dissect each of the “Five Factors” and fix them to create a “New American Diet and Exercise Plan” that can be implemented to ensure the prevention of high body fat and poor health. And for those women who are already overweight and are suffering from diet-caused health issues can make the same changes to lose fat and regain health again!Here is an outline on how ALL women can fix the “Five Factors”: Factor #1: Monitor liquid consumption: Consume plenty of water each day and proper amounts of other liquidsFactor #2: Calculate the quantity and distribution of calories: Eat according to your metabolism, goals, and activity level.Factor #3: Determine the quality and purity of calories: Eat pure and wholesome foods.Factor #4: Eliminate restrictive and unbalanced dieting forever.Factor #5: Introduce a balanced exercise regimen.By using this approach WE WOMEN CAN ALWAYS BE lean, fit, healthy, and live more productive, happier, and longer lives.