Some of my friends believe they can make better choices to attain maximum health and yet I see them regularly exercising and eating wisely. These are two very important actions in the scheme of health and living longer. After seeing parents and relatives die young from smoking, heart disease, diabetes and obesity, they vowed to make personal choices that correlate with better health.
Other people I know do not exercise and eat wantonly. A common breakfast choice by one particular person is a bacon/sausage omelet with a side of pancakes. This person is more than 100 pounds overweight, has high blood pressure, out-of-control diabetes and has had a heart attack. His choices and health issues provide a view of factors seen in many who contribute to current world statistics placing heart disease as the leading cause of death in women and men.
Coronary artery disease, also called atherosclerosis is a disease in which arteries narrow because of metabolic abnormalities related to lifestyle choices. In the United States, 18% of all deaths are from coronary artery disease. Inflammation is a large component of this disease in conjunction with the accumulation of LDL-cholesterol fat inside blood vessels. Increasing weight leads to Type 2 diabetes and diabetes contributes to the disease process.
You have probably read or heard this scenario so many times you find it boring. Some people say they have tried everything and can’t lose weight. Losing weight is not magical. It doesn’t matter what time of day you eat, whether you drink water before, during or after meals. It doesn’t matter whether your largest meal is in the evening, whether you graze all day, or eat one meal per day. What matters is how much you eat and what you eat. In other words, it is important to balance your food intake with your energy output.
We all need to eat for energy. Without proper food, our body processes are impaired. But when we eat more food than we burn off each day, the body stores that extra food as fat. If the stored fat isn’t burned, it continues to accumulate — that is how the body evolved to survive during times of sparse food.
Consider these examples:
If you eat one scoop of ice cream (about 400 calories) in addition to your daily calorie needs, you must walk one hour just to burn off that extra 400 calories. If you don’t exercise to burn the extra fuel, your body will store the calories as fat.
Even eating one extra little banana per day (about 100 calories) can add up. In one month you will have consumed 3100 more calories than you needed to maintain your energy needs. At the end of one year, your scale will show you are up by 10 pounds.
One weekly meal that includes a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a shake (about 1500 calories) can put you on the road to obesity. Over a year, without significant additional exercise, that daily fast food meal alone can add up to a 20 pound weight gain per year.
The first step in taking control of your health is to learn how. Making a healthy lifestyle change is within your power. By making healthy changes in your diet and adding exercise to your daily routine, you will begin the road to better health and possibly even extend your life. Just like adults, obese children show signs of early heart disease. Teaching kids to eat right and exercise can also reverse the negative effects of their overeating.
Your Heart is a health guide. Scientific studies over many years support healthy food choices like the Mediterranean diet and vegetarian eating, too. Choose to eat healthy.
Make 2014 the year for better health choices for you and your family. Don’t smoke. Avoid sweets and all fried and fatty foods. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables and add exercise to your day.