Health Diet Fitness

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Health Diet Fitness

Health Diet Fitness: There are many people who think that having a good fitness program is all that is needed to gain optimum health. Sure, you can gain great benefits from exercise, but that’s only part of the picture.

Another part that is very essential to optimum health is having a good, wholesome diet. This means eating as much organic food as possible including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, good fats and oils, fish, legumes, and sparingly, lean cuts of meat.

Being physically fit does not give you license to continue eating an excess amount of sugar, a high fat diet, or any other negative way of eating.

Health Diet Fitness: A Tragic Example

We can learn this principal by studying the life of Jim Fixx. He became one the greatest runners of his time. He could run marathons under four hours. He even wrote a book called The Complete Book Of Running.

Though he became the biggest advocate for running, he wasn’t always a runner. He used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day up until the age of 35 when he started running. He used to eat whatever he wanted also, which included many burgers and shakes.

Then he started running. While he did quit smoking, he didn’t understand the importance diet had in developing optimum health. He continued to eat his high fat diet. He just didn’t worry about eating more healthfully and largely ignored this counsel.

Unfortunately, at the age of only 52, Jim Fixx was found dead one day at the side of the road in Vermont. All he was wearing was his running shorts and running shoes. He had a massive heart attack.

His major arteries were severely clogged. He was the greatest spokesperson on the benefits on running, but completely ignored what a healthy diet can also do. Exercise is a great means of becoming physically fit, but it does not compensate for poor eating habits.

Health Diet Fitness: A Combination

Some people think eating healthy is all they need to do to be optimally healthy. This is not the right way of thinking. Exercise can offer great benefits.

In combination with healthy eating, it can lower your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and a slew of other chronic diseases.

It doesn’t take much either. A modest exercise routine can give you almost the same kind of benefits a higher level of exercise can.

Health Diet Fitness: A Modest Example

There was a study done by the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. They examined the exercise patterns of 13,344 men and women and followed them for eight years. There were five groups, from least fit to most fit.

The least fit didn’t do any exercise at all. The second group only walked. The next two groups were involved in fitness programs or other sports. The fifth group were long distance runners.

After eight years, the study showed those that were least fit had more deaths during this time. That was to be expected because they didn’t exercise.

However, what was surprising in the study was the biggest difference in mortality rates between the least fit and those who walked four or five times a week. The four groups that exercised to some degree had similar death rates.

However, those that did no exercise had death rates at least three times more than those who only walked!

Health Diet Fitness: Optimal Health

This goes to show you that a modest amount of exercise, like simply walking, can change your health for the better and increase your longevity. Consistency is key.

Exercise modestly for four or five times a week will decrease the risks for chronic diseases. Include a healthy diet of the above mentioned foods and develop a life of optimal health.

Sources:

Fleming, Richard M., M.D. And Monte, Tom. Stop Inflammation Now! New York. Penguin Group, Inc. 2004. 65-66 Robbins, John. Healthy At 100. New York. Ballantine Books. 2006. 183-184

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