How Is Health And Nutrition Related To Exercise?
Posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Health, nutrition, exercise. Are they necessarily related?
Okay, that’s a good question. Will you have success in any one of these areas without practicing them all?
We’ve all been, or know someone who has been on a diet which consists of some magic pills, canned drink, or other food fad. What happens? Do you lose the weight? Maybe. Do you keep it off? Never. And why? Because the other two elements may be missing – nutrition and exercise.
If you diet without nutrition in mind, your health could be at risk. If you exercise without proper nutrition, your health could be at risk. It appears that the only way to have a healthy body is to combine nutrition and exercise.
According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when we talk about weight loss, we have to talk about not only dietary changes, but HEALTHY dietary changes along with regular physical activity. The CDC states ” The key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight isn’t about short-term dietary changes. It’s about a lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular physical activity, and balancing the number of calories you consume with the number of calories your body uses.”
At our age we should know that maintaining a healthy weight is not all about looking good in our jeans. It’s about good health now and as we age. As my sister the runner says, “We are creating the bodies we’ll take into our old age.”
Most of us will try to lose weight by decreasing our caloric intake. That will work at first, but evidence shows the only way to maintain that weight loss is to exercise regularly. There you go – health, nutrition, and exercise – together again.
The CDC also states that along with maintaining our healthy weight, physical activity done regularly helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes beyond the benefits you get from the weight loss alone.
So, yes, it’s important to lose weight, but losing weight alone won’t give you the healthy body you need. A regular exercise program that includes strength training, combined with a nutritious diet, will be the ticket to a healthy life.
Most people of a certain age see a few pounds start creeping up year after year. Many people don’t realize just how many pounds they have added over the course of some years because it’s a pound one year, then two pounds the next, and so on.
Start by asking yourself the hard questions. Are you overweight? Is your weight causing you health problems? Are you exercising and not losing any weight? Are you dieting and not losing weight? If this sounds like you, consider what the CDC has to say about the necessity of combining nutrition with exercise in order to become healthy.
If you are curious about your own weight and how it is affecting your health, check out your BMI (body mass index) with this calculator provided by the CDC. Once you know, the rest is up to you. Start a fitness program today that includes nutrition and exercise together to improve your health now and for the future.
p.s. Want a convenient exercise program you can do right in your own home with very little equipment? Check out this simple 10 minute fitness program that includes cardio and strength training exercises by clicking on the graphic or the link here: Scott’s FatLossQuickie fitness program
Along with the exercises, of course Scott and Angie offer nutrition tips and recipes to give you a fitness program that includes all the elements – health, nutrition, and exercise. Start today developing the strong healthy body you want to take into your old age!
