10 Things That Will Make You Stronger in Midlife

Entering midlife can make you feel more vulnerable than you've ever felt and there is mounting scientific evidence that the lifestyle decisions you make in midlife can dramatically impact your health in your senior years. Here are some things that you can do to get on the right track.

1. Educate yourself about exercise and diet.
Crack a book or two to get a glimpse of what you're going to need to do to improve. The power of exercise and diet cannot be overstated. It is your responsibility to figure out what you need to know. When I am approached by the average, middle-aged novice in the gym, I can't help but sense the expectation that I should be able to explain everything that person needs to know in a short 2 - 5 minute talk. That is optimistic at best. It takes years to build a strong, healthy body and it can take a long time to explain how to do it. Start educating yourself as soon as possible and use multiple sources. The fitness industry is ripe with disinformation designed to separate you from your money. Don't believe everything you read, but read it nonetheless.

2. Build a working relationship with your doctor.
Most of us have a love / hate relationship with our doctors; we love to hate them. To make it through midlife and beyond, you will need help from people in the medical fields from time to time. One of the people you need to get to know is a competent doctor who you trust with your life. You need to have a working relationship with this doctor. That means he/she is someone with whom you can work to get to the bottom of your health issues. Liking each other is secondary to this.

3. Exercise with weights.
The effects of resistance training on older adults has been well documented. If you want to prevent major muscle atrophy and lower bone density in your senior years, it's time to start pushing some weight. You NEED to get clearance from your doctor before starting any exercise program and you NEED to educate yourself (#1 and #2). Most people underestimate how easy it is to get hurt doing weight lifting without proper training. Unfortunately, many of the trainers in commercial gyms are barely more than salespeople with a perfunctory understanding of weight training. The fact is that learning basic, compound movements with weights and doing these movements three times per week is the equivalent of the fountain of youth. You must find a way to do this.

4. Do some cardio.
Cardio work is second in importance to resistance training for midlifers, but it is still important. Adding 15 to 20 minutes of low impact cardio at the end of your workout can do wonders for your heart and help reduce body fat. Remember to use the cardio formula to find your target heart rate. 220 - your age = max heart rate. Target heart rate = max heart rate X 0.65. You can go higher than the target but stay under your max. That's why it's called MAX heart rate.

5. Stretch.
Stretching and mobility work can help keep you moving like a well oiled machine. If you are training two to three times per week, you are going to be sore. Make sure to take time after workouts to stretch and do mobility work on days off to increase blood flow and range of motion. Some of my associates even do light yoga workouts on their days away from lifting weights to stay limber and pain-free.

6. Eat right.
Controlling what you put in your mouth has to be one of the most difficult things you can do in midlife. Let's face it. You've probably been eating that way for decades and old habits are the hardest to break. Most of the fitness gurus recommend multiple meals every 3-4 hours with a good mix of macro-nutrients in each meal as the gold standard for a healthy diet. That simply means a little protein, carbohydrate, and fat in each meal. One of the recent changes has been the advent of organic food being better for us because of reduced exposure to chemicals. If you aren't eating right, you must change as soon as possible. If you can keep the good habits for at least six weeks, they will become permanent.

7. Supplement your diet with protein and creatine.
These two supplements have been around long enough and studied enough to safely state that they work. They can help you in the fight to keep muscle and functional strength. I don't recommend spending too much on supplements, but protein synthesis needs a hand as we age. Many diet texts state that at least 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is a good thing for active, healthy people in midlife.

8. Get enough sleep and rest.
Sleep is one of the three things we need to get stronger. We must train, eat, and sleep in order to grow. If any of the three are lacking, we don't grow like we should. While it's natural to feel like we need less sleep as we age, I assure you that while engaged in resistance training you will need every bit of eight hours sleep per night. You should treat this just like diet. You've been doing the same sleeping ritual for decades, but now you need to get eight hours per night while training. Find a way to make it happen for six weeks and it will become habit.

9. Quit smoking.
This is arguably the hardest habit to break. As amazing as it sounds there are still people around who don't believe smoking cigarettes will kill you in an accelerated and painful way. While I understand addiction (I'm a former smoker), there are a lot more cessation methods around today than there were a few years back. But nothing will work until you really want to stop. In the end, it's all up to you.

10. Drink less.
All things in moderation and a wise man knows his vices. There are some studies pointing to the health benefits of wine in moderation. Many health gurus say we shouldn't drink at all. I think we should weigh the consequences of our actions against the quality of our lives... and then have the glass of wine anyway.

In closing, this list is not exhaustive, but it contains the "Big Bang for the Buck" items that could make your golden years a lot better. Remember that one of the things everyone wants late in life is the ability to get around on their own or at least to be able to get up on their own. Make these changes and fight to remain mobile.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7536884

www.GregLobb.com

The Importance of Nutrition in Our Daily Life

Whenever we take any food or nourishing liquids, our body digests and absorbs the simple but essential minerals, vitamins, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and water from these food or nourishing liquids and converts it into the bloodstream and energy that help our body to grow and keep it healthy.

The nutrition value is more important for any individual's health. The food or liquids whenever we take it affect our body and health as well both. So it is very important that we should be more aware of the foods or liquids whatever we take in our daily life. A large number of diseases occur only due to wrong diet. Some certain diet may itself cause some disease or alter the course of a known disorder such as diabetes, heart or kidney disease.

Why Nutrition is important for us?
As we know that food and water is necessary to build up our body and keep it healthy. Every good food and liquid contains some important nutrition like proteins, carbohydrate, fats, some vitamins, minerals and water. These all play different role to keep our body healthy and build new cells in our body.

These are the important nutrition and their role in our body:


Protein:
Protein helps our body to build muscles and strong immune system. Basically proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids. There are 22 different types of amino acid and our body needs all these amino acid to function properly. Protein is abundant type of nutrient in our body that builds new tissues and repairs all damaged cells in our body. It also helps in formation of hormones and enzymes which play variety of roles in our body such as metabolism and sexual development. There are many types of protein that play different types of important role in our body. For example collagen is a protein and it gives the strength, elasticity and composition of our hair and skin. Some of the good protein sources are lentils, low-fat dairy products, tofu, nuts, seeds, peas, tempeh. Some common foods such as whole grain bread, potatoes, corn and pasta also have protein. Soy protein is the most essential and strong protein and it is equal to any animal origin protein.

Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates give us energy. This is an ideal source of energy for the body because carbohydrates converted more readily into glucose. It helps our body to supply the energy for the formation of cellular constituent. Carbohydrates are made up of three compounds Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen formed by plants. There are four types of carbohydrates are important - Sugar, Starches, Fiber and Gums. If carbohydrates taken regularly it doesn't cause any weight gain, unless like other food group.

There are two types of carbohydrates - Complex and Simple. Efficiency of carbohydrates can cause the production of ketones in the body, it can results into a condition known as ketosis. Examples of carbohydrates are breads, potatoes, pasta, soda, chips, candies/sweets, cookies/biscuits, puddings, cakes, sugar, bananas etc.

Fats:
Fat provides us extra energy. It is a nutrient and a particular amount of fat is necessary for our body. It doesn't always make us fat. It play role to insulate our bodies by giving us protection from sudden changes in temperature and also protects our vital organs. Fats consists of a wide group of compounds are soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in water. Fats provide 9 calories per gram. When dietary fat is digested, fatty acids are produced. It is also important for healthy skin and blood pressure regulation.

There are two types of fats Saturated (solid at room temperature) and Unsaturated (liquid at room temperature). To obtain an adequate amount of linoleic acid, one of the few fatty acids the body cannot produce on itself. Any adult needs one tablespoon of unsaturated fat daily. Saturated fats mainly occur in dairy products like butter, cream, cheese and some chocolates. The source of unsaturated fats are soybean, sunflower and corn oils.


Vitamins:
A vitamin is an organic compound, it regulate our body processes and plays an important role to make our body function properly. The term vitamin was derived from 'vitamine', a combination word from Vital and Amine. Today a chemical compound is called a vitamin. Our body needs vitamins as substances to grow and develop normally. There are 13 vitamins necessary for our body. Some of them are A, B, C, D, E, K, vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12. In our daily life we get all most all these vitamins form foods whatever we take. Our body can also produce vitamins D and K.

Each vitamin plays specific jobs. Any particular low levels of vitamins cause deficiency disease. For example, if we don't get enough vitamin D it can cause rickets. Deficiency of vitamin 'A' can cause Night Blindness.

If we eat a balanced diet we get enough essential vitamin automatically form our daily food or liquid. We don't even need to take any particular vitamin separately. Only in some cases we need to take a daily multivitamin for optimal health.

Minerals:
Minerals regulate our body processes and also make body tissues. Minerals make our body work properly same as vitamin play the role but it doesn't prevent weight loss. Although we get it form our daily foods, so we don't need to take it separately. Minerals boost our immune system. Some important minerals are Chloride, Calcium, Copper, Chromium, Fluoride, Iron and Iodine. These types of minerals can be found from our daily food or liquid supplement like salt, soy sauce, milk, vegetable oils, whole grains, cheese, nuts etc

Water gives cells shape and acts as a medium where body processes can occur. It is the well known yet most important nutrient our body needs. It is also the most abundant type of liquid found in our body contributing 70% of our total mass. It helps to dissolve and carry the essential nutrients to all parts of the body. It is also needed to help maintain the body temperature and aids to carry away the body's waste products.

Water:
In human body there are 70% of total mass is covered by water. Water gives cells shape and acts as a medium where body processes can occur. It is very necessary nutrient than available all nutrients. It is also the most abundant type of liquid found in human body. Water help maintain the body temperature and aids to carry away the body's waste products.

We see that nutrition plays a very important role in our lives, each food and liquid contains its own nutrition value which is very necessary in our life. It could help to extend or decrease our life span as well as define our degree or livelihood. It helps in our mental and physical development as well. We must should aware about the food and liquid what we take regularly. Popper food in our daily life leads to a lifetime habit toward a healthy extended life.

Check out this website http://www.eatyourveggie.com for more information about the vegetarian foods and recipes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4134468