Since the inception of the ‘physical’ age back in the early 80′s, it seems we can’t go two minutes without a new miracle diet, pill, or magic cream. With the whirlwind of information flying around us, most of which is conflicting, many of us are completley confused how to properly manage our weight. To make matters worse, there’s a Billion dollars in Advertising that cares more about sales than about health. It’s no wonder a lot of us are losing this battle.
As always, we tend to make things harder than they have to be. So, for the sake of winning this war let’s keep it simple. Let’s start with the Basics:
Exercise – Okay, this is a no brainer. Anyone that thinks they’re going to effectively manage their weight without some old fashioned ‘work’ is completely disillusioned. Please, Please, Please, do not dismiss this with the tired ‘I’m too busy’ excuse. 30 million people spent 3 hours a week watching American Idol this year. Yeah, real busy!
How do we keep it simple? – Well, simple – Spend 20 minutes a day with easy exercises:
Stretch; do push ups; do no-weight squats; do core exercises. Go to Expert village and watch videos on how to correctly perform each of these. Also, very important, limit rest between sets, the goal is to raise your heart rate. Invest in a heart rate monitor and be sure you’re staying within the proper range.
Eating – This is usually the hard part, or so we think. However, it’s let’s keep it simple.
Eat MUCH less of these: Candy, cakes, doughnuts, bages, chips, dips, soda, beer, white rice, white flour based pasta, cheese, mayo, butter, white breads, pancakes, fatty meats, creamy sauces (pretty obvious no?)
Eat MUCH more of these: Vegetables, grilled (but feel free to season it) chicken, lean meats, nuts, seeds, legumes, salad (go VERY easy on dressing), whole grain breads, rice, cereals, and pastas.
Drink much more water, it helps keep you hydrated and feeling full.
Be leary of any diet that doesn’t focus on proper nutrition. You should be eating complete meals that are designed to fuel your body. Do not adopt any program that severely limits your calories. Also, one final tip, try to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. All of the heavily processed foods we find on the shelves at our local Grocery Store are causing a lot of our problems.