Health Tips

Eating the right foods, such as California peaches, plums, nectarines, pluots and citrus fruit as well as regular exercise are the key to healthy weight management.

Healthy Tip #1

Match Your Activity to Your Weight-Loss Goals

Exercise
How much is enough? The amount of exercise you need
depends on your goals.

Weight Loss
Regular exercise is also key to achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight. To prevent the gradual weight gain that often occurs in adulthood, 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise on most, and preferably all, days of the week is recommended. Weight-loss maintenance: Once you have lost weight through diet and exercise, the best thing you can do to keep that weight from coming back is to engage in regular exercise. Research shows that the amount of exercise required to keep lost weight from returning is between 60-90 minutes on most, and preferably all, days of the week.

Healthy Tip #2

Fidget Away The Calories

Simple, subtle movements may help avoid weight gain. Stand up to stretch during meetings, tap your feet or swing your legs while working at your desk and make frequent trips to the water cooler.

New research suggests that fidgeting may be what separates the lean from the obese. In the most detailed study ever conducted on routine body movements, researchers found that lean people tend to be more fidgety than obese people. The extra movements that lean people engage in could be enough to burn 350 extra calories per day, which could potentially add up to 10-30 pounds per year!

Healthy Tip #3

What's Your Intensity Level?

It is true that higher intensity exercise burns a lower relative percentage of fat than lower intensity exercise. However, the factor that mostly determines weight loss is not the relative percentage of fat being burned, but the total calories burned. Of course, very high intensity exercise is difficult to sustain for the necessary 30-60 minutes, especially if you are just starting an exercise program, so it is best to begin at low intensity and work your way up to something more moderate.

How exactly does one determine the intensity of an exercise? Here is a practical way to determine whether an exercise is low, moderate or high intensity. This method is called the "ratings of perceived exertion" or RPE. You rate the intensity of the exercise according to how it feels or how you perceive it to be.

Low intensity exercise feels very comfortable. You are breathing easily, you can carry on a conversation, and you feel like you could go on for hours. Walking at a leisurely pace would be a good example.

Moderate intensity would feel like you are breathing a little faster, you can still carry on a conversation but you are huffing and puffing a bit. An example would be brisk walking.

During high intensity exercise, you can feel your heart thumping, you are breathing hard and you can talk but only in very short sentences. Running, an advanced aerobics class, or a singles tennis match would be a good example.

Super-high intensity would be hardly being able to talk and gasping for air. The 100-meter dash would be an example. At this level, the body is burning almost all its calories from carbohydrates.

Healthy Tip #4

Yoga 101: Simple Stretches for a New You

Variety is often touted as being the spice of life and this is true for exercise as well. Doing different types of exercise will not only keep you from getting bored, but it will allow you to work all of your different muscles. If you haven’t tried yoga yet, it may be a good time to find out what the craze is all about.

Asanas (postures) Hold each position for 15 to 60 seconds.

Standing Mountain
Stand up straight with your feet next to each other, facing forward, with big toes touching. Arms hang by your side. Feel your legs rooted into the ground.

Standing Mountain with Hands in Prayer Position
Bend your arms and place your hands together, as if you were praying, in front of your chest.

Triangle
Start in Standing Mountain, then move your legs so that your feet, still pointed ahead, are 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Stretch your arms to the side at shoulder level, palms down. Turn your right foot 90 degrees, so that it is pointed directly to your right. Turn your left foot in slightly. Keeping your legs straight, bend to your right, placing your right hand on your right calf or ankle, and extending your left arm straight up, palm facing forward. Keep your spine straight and avoid the temptation to bend at the knee. Come up and repeat on the other side.

Warrior I
Start in Standing Mountain, then move your legs so that your feet, still pointed ahead, are 3 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms overhead, lifting straight up from the shoulders, palms facing. Next, pivot your left foot about 45 degrees in and your right foot 90 degrees, turning your torso to the right so that it is facing the same direction as your right leg. Then, bend the right leg to a 90-degree angle, keeping arms raised. Return to start position and switch to other side.

Seated Mountain
Sit down with your legs straight ahead of you, inner ankles touching and torso upright. Try to keep your back straight.

Seated Twist
Start in Seated Mountain. Bend your right leg over the outside of your left leg, planting right foot on the ground. Keep left leg extended, muscles active. Place your right hand behind you, then bend your left arm and place your left elbow on your right knee.

Simultaneously, twist your torso towards the right, initiating the movement from your hip, then your waist, then your shoulders, then your neck. Return to starting position, then switch sides.

Healthy Tip #5

How Many Calories Does Your Healthy Hobby Burn?

If you hate to run, find something else, something that you do like. There are a multitude of physical activities to choose from. It’s important to pick something (or several things) that you like, as you are more likely to stick with a form of exercise you enjoy. If swimming is your passion, swim. If martial arts is how you get your kicks, then do it. If you’d rather play basketball, jump to it!

Activity (1 hour)	Calories 130lb*
Badminton, social Bowling Child care, standing/dressing/feeding Cleaning, house/general Kickball Music playing, drums Rock climbing, moderate Skiing, water Snorkeling Surfing Walking, upstairs	266 177 177 207 413 236 590 354 295 177 472