Eating For Health

Exercise.   Who has time to fit exercise into their day during the holiday season?   And what are the guidelines for how much exercise we should get each day?   A frequently asked question from my students is “How much exercise do I need each day?”   Well, recently, November 2018 to be precise, the federal guidelines on physical activity were updated.   So, what are the latest recommendations and who sets those guidelines anyway? Who sets the guidelines for exercise? The federal government sets guidelines for what we should eat at MyPlate.   A number of federal agencies worked together to update the physical activity guidelines including:   Centers for Disease Control, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, National Institutes of Health and the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.   The guidelines were first issued in 2008 and November, 2018 is the first time the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans h...

Many of us hear the word “exercise” and we groan.   But simple walking is exercise.   But to be healthy we need to add some aerobic exercise to our routine.    Why aerobic exercise? Heart – our hearts are a muscle and as such we can strengthen our heart muscle with aerobic exercise.   This will increase the size of your heart and make it stronger and pump more efficiently.   An athlete has a heart that is about a third larger than a normal heart because they have strengthened their heart muscle.   Cardiac efficiency – a stronger heart pumps more blood with each beat.   This delivers more oxygen and nutrients to your cells.   Heart rate – a stronger heart pumps more blood with each beat so it needs to beat less.   This gives you a lower heart rate which Is good for your heart and your health.   Your heart just doesn’t have to work as hard to get oxygen and nutrients to the cells in your body. Exercise recovery – do a sprin...