Ask Ade: Creating a physically active lifestyle

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 09/26/2007 3:25 PM  |  Life

Do not be afraid, dear readers, I am not harboring any wild ambition of turning you into the Hulk, or even a bodybuilder. It is exciting enough to be able to reach a wider audience.

First, I would like to share with you my limited knowledge and experience of the lifestyle that has brought me to good physical health and shape by offering fitness and nutrition content. Second, by reading this article, I hope you can gain insight into what I consider to be the most powerful tool you can use to improve the quality of your life.

Many of us are swimming in a ""sea of business"" and tend to take our physical health for granted. For example, how many of us consider our health to be more important than money? I would guess almost all of us. The rationale behind this is quite simple: you can lose your money but so long as you have your health you can try to get it back again. But if you lose your health (get sick), it is unlikely you will be able to buy it back.

With that in mind, how many of you routinely skip breakfast, outside the monthlong spiritual journey of Ramadhan, just to get to work on time. Why do we do this? The answer is very simple. While the consequences of skipping breakfast are not instant (rumbling stomachs aside), being late for work will probably make your boss mad right away. But in reality, skipping breakfast is a major cause of overeating at your next meal. It actually causes your body to experience a sudden jump in insulin level. And this my friends, if you do it over and over again, will cause your pancreas -- the organ that produces insulin in response to the type and amount of carbohydrates that you eat -- to give up, and uncontrollably produce insulin in large amounts every time you eat, no matter how little you eat. This is the cause of type II diabetes, a condition where your body does not properly use the insulin it makes, which can cause it to ""prefer"" storing and accumulating fat.

The Fitness Lifestyle

So, what exactly is the fitness lifestyle? It is a lifestyle that I passionately promote, as I see it as the answer to many of the health problems we face today. It is a lifestyle that incorporates three elements in balanced harmony: exercise, diet and rest.

What I mean by exercise is any type of physical activity that allows you to work your two primary and most important muscle groups: the skeletal muscles and the heart muscle. The skeletal muscles are stimulated by resistance training, while the heart muscle is stimulated by cardiovascular activities better known as aerobics.

Resistance training is a major vehicle for reaching many physical goals. Whatever your physical goal may be, I can guarantee you that resistance training will lay the foundation and provide a platform of health for you. Yes, I know resistance training is better known as a muscle-building activity. But it has also been used by health practitioners around the world as a tool to prevent bone loss, provide therapy for stroke and injured patients and even improve sports performance. Resistance training is also beneficial in raising your metabolism, hence you body is better at burning more calories even during rest.

Aerobics activities like jogging, cycling, swimming and group exercise in a studio are better known for their fat-burning benefits. It is indeed the type of activity that stimulates the release of fat cells from our body and coverts them to energy. However, let us not forget that aerobics is also known for its heart-strengthening benefit. Aerobic activities, especially the high-intensity ones, are used by many people to strengthen their heart muscle.

Diet, on the other hand, is probably one of the most misunderstood terms in fitness. So many people perceive the word ""diet"" as cutting the amount of food you eat. The actual meaning of the word is managing your food intake. In fitness, managing your food intake is just as important as the physical activities I mentioned above. There are diets for muscle or weight gain, there are also diets for maintaining your body weight and fat loss or losing weight.

Though often overlooked, rest is just as important as the two elements I mentioned before. We often hear that we need eight hours of sleep every day. I agree we could all do with more shut eye, but let us concentrate also on getting better quality sleep.

There is no better time to begin your journey to good health. To ask fitness or nutrition questions please email me at ask-aderai@yahoo.com Have a great one!

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