Healthy Lifestyle

Overview - What is a balanced diet?
Our body requires 40-60 different nutrients to maintain health and well-being. The secret towards a balanced diet really means having these different nutrients in appropriate amounts through the foods we eat. Over-eating any one type of food even the kinds we call "healthy" could be harmful. Find out all about healthy eating here. How much nutrients are needed by the body? The Recommended Dietary Allowances provide the average daily levels of the major nutrients that are adequate to meet the nutritional needs of practically all healthy persons.

The Healthy Diet Pyramid translates these nutrients into foods. It tells you how much food you need to eat in order to get just the right amount of nutrients your body needs.

You will find some useful recommendations and tips below to help you and your family plan healthier meals and adopt a healthier diet.

Using the Healthy Diet Pyramid
The Healthy Diet Pyramid is a guide, to help you plan and eat a well balanced diet each day. In general, you should select more food from the base of the pyramid (the carbohydrates), and less from the top of the pyramid (fats, oils, sugar, salt).

Rice and alternatives - Placed at the base of the Pyramid are rice, noodles, bread, pasta, cereals, porridge, lontong, chapati, naan, idli, thosai & biscuits. These foods are excellent sources of complex carbohydrates, vitamins & minerals & dietary fibre. You should consume at least five servings daily, preferably including one serving of wholegrain products.
Fruit - This group consists of fresh, dried, frozen, canned fruit and fruit juices. They are rich sources of vitamin A, C, potassium, fibre (excluding fruit juices) and flavonoids. Take two servings a day, especially the deeply or brightly (yellow, orange) coloured ones.
Vegetables - This group consists of leafy, non-leafy, cruciferous and root vegetables. They are rich sources of vitamins A, C, folic acid, minerals such as calcium, iron, potassium, fibre and phytochemicals. Take two servings a day and include one serving daily of dark green or yellow-orange vegetables.
Meat and alternatives - This group includes meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk, milk products, nuts and seeds. These foods are excellent sources of protein, calcium, B-vitamins, iron and zinc. Take at least two servings a day.

Once you’ve decided to become more active, the next move is creating an exercise program that will work for you. This process can be broken down into four simple steps: a) Set some goals

Ask yourself what you want to achieve. Are you hoping to lose some weight, lower your blood pressure or increase your stamina? Choosing the right goals will make a big difference in your ability to stick with your program.

b) Measure your fitness level

Before you begin any exercise program, it is important to gauge your current level of fitness. This will help you to determine a safe and realistic starting point and fine-tune your personal fitness goals. There are several simple assessments you can perform to figure out where you are on the fitness spectrum. One of these is your body mass index (BMI), a mathematical calculation that gauges your body composition. Determining your resting heart rate and taking a one-mile walking test will give you an indication of your cardiorespiratory fitness. Other self-tests can help you measure your muscle strength and flexibility.

c) Choose your activities

The best form of exercise is one that you will stick with. In addition to incorporating all the necessary fitness components (resistance training, aerobic activity and stretching and flexibility exercise), the ideal exercise regimen should suit your lifestyle, schedule and present fitness level. Think about what forms of exercise you enjoy (you may love biking but hate swimming, for example). Also consider other factors. For example, do you prefer to exercise indoors or outdoors? Do you prefer exercising by yourself, or do you find that exercising with others is more motivating?

d) Make a commitment to exercise.

This may be the hardest step of all. Work, family, school and other obligations can all eat into your exercise time. In addition, frustration, boredom or even something as seemingly harmless as a minor cold can throw you off track. Arming yourself with techniques to help you stay motivated and recover from setbacks can make all the difference.

Components Of A Basic Exercise Program

A well-rounded exercise regimen should include activities that develop the three major areas of fitness: resistance training, aerobic activity and stretching and flexibility exercise. Below are the starting points for a basic fitness program:

• Resistance (strength) training. Try to perform about 20 minutes of resistance training (such as lifting barbells, doing calisthenics that require working against your body weight or using weight machines) twice a week. A basic program would include eight to 10 different exercises using the major muscle groups of the legs, trunk, arms, chest and shoulders.

• Aerobic activity. Incorporate 30 minutes of brisk walking (or its equivalent) on all or most days of the week.

• Stretching and flexibility exercise. Perform 10 to 15 minutes of stretching at least two times a week. A basic stretching routine would include eight to 10 exercises working all the major muscle groups.

Current research shows that to reap the health benefits associated with exercise, you should burn between 700 calories (bare minimum) and 2,000 calories (optimum disease-fighting benefit) per week in moderate aerobic activity. (Exercising beyond the 2,000-calorie mark is not a waste of time; you may still see improvements in appearance and athletic performance.) Here is one possible way to meet this recommended caloric expenditure:

• Walking briskly (about four miles per hour) burns approximately 100 calories per mile.

• Thus, to burn 700 calories in a week, you need to walk a total of seven miles, or about an hour and 45 minutes.

• And to burn 2,000 calories in a week, you need to walk 20 miles, or about five hours. In addition, you should supplement your aerobic activity with resistance training and flexibility exercises.

How Hard Should You Work?

To gain the benefits of aerobic activity, you need to work hard enough to rev up your breathing and heart rate. However, today’s emphasis is on longer and more frequent sessions of moderate activity, rather than on few bursts of high-intensity exercise, as recommended in the past.

There are a number of reasons for this shift. First, it appears that to reduce your risk of disease, your total quantity of aerobic activity is more important than the intensity of that activity. In addition, moderate activity is safe for just about everyone, whereas vigorous pursuits, such as running, carry a higher risk of muscle and joint injuries. Also, high-intensity activity may place too much stress on the heart, especially for individuals who are middle-aged or older or who have cardiovascular disease.

So, how can you tell what is moderate exercise? One of the best ways to judge your level of exertion is also one of the simplest — pay attention to how you feel. The earmarks of moderately vigorous activity include deeper than normal breathing, a faster heartbeat and, at the higher end of this range, light sweating. If you find that you are gasping for breath, your heart is pounding or you are perspiring profusely, you have exceeded the moderate level and moved into heavy exertion.

You can also gauge how hard you are exercising by measuring your heart rate. Moderate exertion falls in the range of 50 percent to 60 percent of maximum capacity. To get an accurate reading, it is important to count your heartbeats while you are still exercising, because your pulse goes down rapidly as soon as you stop.

Common Physical Symptoms of Stress

Short Term	Long Term
-faster heart beat -increased sweating -cool skin -cold hands and feet -feelings of nausea -rapid breathing -tense muscles -dry mouth -diarrhea -irritability -anxiety	-change in appetite -frequent colds -asthma -digestive problems -headaches -skin eruptions -sexual disorders -aches and pains -tiredness -heart disease -seizures

Stress affects the body in a variety of ways. For example, stress can reduce enjoyment of an occasion, can cause mood changes, and can cause severe health problems. Over time, stress is related to several chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure, migraine headaches, and a variety of other medical conditions. Stress can increase the risk of heart disease, hypertension, and even cancer. The good news is that the long-term effects of stress can be halted if a person effectively manages the events and responses to stress.
FACT: Stress is one of the leading causes of anxiety disorders, which affect over 20 million Americans.
•       Are you suffering from an anxiety disorder?
•       Do you feel like you are constantly under a lot of pressure?
•       Do you feel as if you have no control over your situation?
•       Do you have problems falling asleep at night?
•       Are you unable to relax or "wind down" after a busy day?
•       When you think of words to describe yourself, do cautious, high strung, depressed moody or tense come to mind?

Managing Stress
There are numerous ways to reduce stress in your life; the correct answer is finding what works for you. Research has shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy can be effective in reducing stress. Not only do you learn to react differently to specific stress related activities, you learn to understand how your thinking pattern contributed to the stress and how to alter your thought process.
A few suggestions…
•       take time out for self
•       focus on personal strengths
•       know your limitations
•       let go of those things you cannot change
•       change the way you look at things
•       talk about the situation causing stress
Breathing and relaxation exercises are key to reducing negative stress. One form of this is yoga. Yoga is a form of meditation with one’s self that consist of stretching exercises and deep breathing techniques. Over 6 million Americans have tried Yoga as a form of relaxation. Exercise is extremely important in reducing the affects of stress on the body. It enables the body to cope with stress more effectively. An overall approach to improving every day life has proven to be the most effective method to managing stress.
Humor is another way of dealing with stress. Having the ability to find humor in a stressful situation and being able to laugh about it, releases all the tension that is building inside. Even if the situation cannot be made light of, think of something else that will make you laugh.
Healthy lifestyle changes could also reduce the level of stress that a person may experience. A few suggestions include reducing caffeine intake, making new friends, finding time for sleep, and eating healthy. Healthy lifestyle changes help manage stress as well as your overall being.
Contacting your physician is another avenue to consider. More and more health insurance companies are now covering alternative medicine, such as acupuncture and stress reduction programs for their subscribers.

With the wide array of counseling services, self-help materials, and medicines available today, smokers have more tools than ever before to help them quit successfully. Remember, tobacco addiction has both a psychological and a physical component. For most people, the best way to quit will be some combination of medicine, a method to change personal habits, and emotional support. The following sections describe these tools and how they may be helpful for you.

•       Help With Psychological Addiction

Some people are able to quit on their own, without the help of others or the use of medicines. But for many smokers, it can be hard to break the social and emotional ties to smoking while getting over nicotine withdrawal symptoms at the same time. Fortunately, there are many sources of support out there ?both formal and informal.

•       Quitlines – Telephone-based Help to Stop Smoking

Most states run some type of free telephone "Quitline," which links callers with trained counselors. These specialists help plan a quit method that fits each person’s unique smoking pattern. People who use telephone counseling stop smoking at twice the rate of those who don’t get this type of help. With guidance from a counselor, quitters can avoid common mistakes that may hurt a quit attempt.

Telephone counseling is also more convenient for many people than some other support programs. It doesn’t require transportation or childcare, and it’s available nights and weekends. Counselors may recommend a combination of methods including medicines, local classes, self-help brochures, and/or a network of family and friends.

Smokers can get help finding a Quitline in their area by calling ACS at 1-800-ACS-2345.

•       Support of Family, Friends, and Quit Programs

Many former smokers say a support network of family and friends was very important during their quit attempt. Other people who may offer support and encouragement are coworkers, your family doctor, and members of support groups for quitters. You can check with your employer, health insurance company, or local hospital to find support groups.

•       Help With Physical Addiction: Nicotine Replacement Therapy

As mentioned earlier, the nicotine in cigarettes leads to actual physical dependence, which can cause unpleasant symptoms when a person tries to quit. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) provides nicotine – in the form of gums, patches, sprays, inhalers or lozenges – without the other harmful components of tobacco. It can help relieve some of these symptoms so that a person can concentrate more on the psychological aspects of quitting.

How Nicotine Replacement Works : Nicotine substitutes treat the very difficult withdrawal symptoms and cravings that 70% to 90% of smokers say is their only reason for not giving up cigarettes. By using a nicotine substitute, a smoker’s withdrawal symptoms are reduced.