Benefits of Exercise

Benefits of Exercise

Health Benefits of Exercise and Physical Activity:

• Reduce or maintain body weight or body fat

• Build and maintain healthy muscles, bones, and joints

• Reduce depression and anxiety

• Enhanced work, recreation, and sport performance

• Relieves insomnia

• Improves muscle tone, strength and flexibility

• Helps older adults become stronger and better able to move without falling

• Reduce the risk of premature death

• Reduce the risk of developing and/or dying from heart disease

• Reduce high blood pressure or the risk of developing high blood pressure

• Reduce high cholesterol or the risk of developing high cholesterol

• Reduce the risk of developing colon cancer and breast cancer

• Reduce the risk of developing diabetes Improve psychological well-being .

• Boosts self-image

Benefits of Aerobic Exercise:

• Reduced body fat and improved weight control

• Increased blood supply to muscles and ability to use oxygen

• Increased threshold for lactic acid accumulation

• Increased maximal oxygen consumption (VO 2max)

• Improvement in cardivascular/cardiorespiratory function (heart and lungs)

1. Increased maximal cardiac output (amount of blood pumped every minute)

2. Increased maximal stroke volume (amount of blood pumped with each beat)

3. Increased blood volume and ability to carry oxygen

4. Reduced workload on the heart (myocardial oxygen consumption) for any given submaximal exercise intensity

• Lower heart rate and blood pressure at any level of submaximal exercise

• Lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in people with high blood pressure

• Increased HDL Cholesterol (the good cholesterol)

• Decreased blood triglycerides

• Improved glucose tolerance and reduced insulin resistance

Benefits of Strength Training:

• Increased muscular strength

• Increased strength of tendons and ligaments

• Potentially improves flexibility (range of motion of joints)

• Reduced body fat and increased lean body mass (muscle mass)

• Potentially decreases resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure

• Positive changes in blood cholesterol

• Improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity

• Improved strength, balance, and functional ability in older adults.

Fruit and Vegetables

Eat in plentiful supplies…. The government recommend five pieces of fruit or vegetables a day (5 is a handful). Fruit and vegetables are cheap, easily prepared washed or cooked, full of vitamins, fibre and flavour.

These will fill you up and reduce the need to snack on sweet treats.

• There is more vitamin C in kiwi fruit and peppers than in several oranges

• Strawberries are so full of fibre they help clean your teeth as you eat them

• The energy from a banana will sustain you for much longer than the quick fix from a chocolate bar.

• Celery is the only known food with no calories, so you use more energy in the digestion of the food than it contains.

• Potatoes are full of slow releasing carbohydrates. But make sure you bake, boil but don’t fry.

• Peas are also full of slow releasing energy and also make great table football.

*Avoid Avocados, as they are high in saturated FATS.*

Wholemeal Products

These should make up a large proportion of your daily intake. Wholemeal, wholegrain or brown rice, pasta, bread and cereals.

• Green pasta made with spinach is also high in fibre and better than white pasta.

• The average body burns 1000-1200 calories per day even if you are inactive AT REST.

*If you eat less than 1000 calories a day you will slow your metabolism because your body is tricked into thinking there is a shortage of food.*

*White bread has a surprisingly large amount of sugar, and the traditional crest is also very bad for you.*

White meat, Fish and Pulses

Eat plenty of fish, skinless chicken, turkey, lentils, beans etc. These foods are rich in protein and low in saturated fats.

• The government recommends eating an oily fish 3 times a week. E.g. mackerel, salmon and sardines.

• Omega 5 & 6 oils are abundant in fish and are vital for a healthy heart, skin, hair and nails.

• Fish and white meat are cheaper than red meats.

Oils and Spreads

Utilise low fat spreads olive and sunflower oil in small quantities for shallow frying and spreading.

SNACKS, CAKES, CHOCOLATE, CRISPS, BUTTER, RED MEAT AND ALCOHOL (full of sugar). Use them in small amounts for treats (everything in moderation). Tasty with a quick energy “lift”, usually easy to hand and convient, unfortunately high in refined carbohydrates and saturated fats.

• Women are allowed up to 70grams and men up to 90grams of fat per day, if not dieting. Chocolate tends to contain up to 20-30 grams, add that to a pack of crisps, between 10-25 grams and your daily allowance is already used. This is saturated fat, which is bad for your heart, not the unsaturated fat found in foods like fish.

• Depending on your metabolism it can take upwards of 20 mins to burn off 1 Mars bar with energetic skipping.

• You can eat large quantities of fat and never feel full.

*To reduce the amount of fat on meats trim of all visible fat, remove chicken skin, fry mince and drain off the fat.*

Alcohol

Alcohol is fermented with sugar so therefore alcohol is another form of sugar. An empty calorie is a phrase often associated with alcohol; there is no protein, fibre, vitamins and no goodness. Your body will also use alcohol as it primary fuel source therefore not using the food you eat coursing an excess of calories.