To maximize weight loss and exercise goals, you need to avoid crash diets and overly aggressive exercise programs. Small, simple changes have a more lasting effect. For instance, instead of going on a food fast or severe calorie deprivation diet, make a pledge to have smarter food choices by eating healthier foods. Start reading food packaging labels. Labels are the key to weight loss and proper nutrition. From labels, you gain the knowledge of which foods are high calorie and which ones have too much fat or carbohydrates (sugar). More importantly, you can study the ingredients of food products so that you can avoid certain health and weight loss sabotaging components. You can exclude potentially harmful ingredients like high sodium levels, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and colors and hydrogenated oils from your diet when you read labels. As far as an exercise program is concerned, instead of stressing yourself out over finding the time for a two-hour gym workout each day of the week, try starting out with three to four 30-minute walks per week. Walking on a treadmill at the gym or outdoors is one of the best all-round exercises. Studies have shown that walkers are 50% healthier than non-exercisers. Once you make a walking routine an integral part of your week, it is then much easier to branch out into other forms of exercise, like circuit training or aerobics classes. The bottom line is that if you start making changes slowly and ease into a healthy lifestyle, the more likely your goals will take root and become a part of your life.
How Lack of Exercise Affects Health
A lack of exercise results in numerous health problems, starting from seemingly harmless weight gain to cardiovascular diseases and a much higher chance of suffering a stroke. Research has concluded that as many people die because of the effects of lack of exercise as the number that die from smoking.
This is why chiropractic exercises are strongly recommended to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle and avoid all complications that can lead up to a stroke.
The following problems can occur due to lack of exercise:
1. Obesity
Obesity is one of the major effects of a lack of exercise. Various health problems can surface due to obesity such as diabetes, breathing issues, high blood pressure and a far greater risk of suffering a heart attack.
Besides the physical effects, many psychological effects also accompany obese people. Low self-esteem that leads to depression can be a devastating experience.
It is no doubt that obesity can result from genetic factors, but a lack of exercise is usually a major reason.
2. High Blood Pressure
Being overweight can lead to hypertension. The blood vessels clog up which restricts blood flow. Hypertension exposes a person to various other risks, such as heart attack, kidney failure and many other ailments. A hypertensive individual is more likely to develop diabetes.
3. Decline in Brain Function
Exercise helps in increasing the flow of blood to the brain, while lack of exercise does the opposite. A brain that is deprived of blood cannot function normally as it would otherwise. The brain can also physically shrink due to the lack of blood supply – a research states that this ‘shrinkage’ can be avoided and mental abilities can be enhanced by regular exercise.
4. Reduction in Strength of Bones and Muscles
A sedentary lifestyle can weaken the bones and muscles, thus exposing an individual to a greater chance of injury as well as diseases such as arthritis. Lack of exercise can make a person more prone to fractures in case of a fall along with knee-joint and hip problems later on.
5. Increased Chances of Developing Cancer
Research was carried over several years and the results show an increased chance of cancer from a lack of exercise. Also, people who were physically fit when they developed cancer had a far greater chance of survival than those who had led a sedentary lifestyle.
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