Heart attack happens when a blockage in your coronary artery causes part of a persons heart muscle to be starved of blood and oxygen. It requires immediate medical attention to limit the amount of permanent damage to a persons heart muscle. Fortunately, precautionary measures can be taken to reduce the likelihood of a heart attack happening in the first place. New results presented at a meeting of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) in Chicago, make a strong case for taking fish oil pills.

Scientists today have revealed that taking fish oil pills halves the risk of dying from a heart attacks.

Significantly, it slashes the risk of suffering one by almost a third, said Dr JoAnn Manson.

The findings are based on a study of 25,871 over 50s in the US who were tracked for an average of more than five years.

Those taking the supplements were 50 per cent less likely to die from a heart attack over the follow up period.

They were also 28 per cent less likely to have one.

The Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL) found the fish oil pills were particularly effective for people who do not regularly eat fish.

It also found those who took vitamin D supplements slashed their risk of dying from cancer by up to a quarter.

Lead author Dr Manson, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said: "Whether vitamin D or omega-3 supplementation is beneficial for the prevention of cancer or cardiovascular disease (CVD) in general populations is a subject of ongoing debate.

"VITAL was designed to fill these knowledge gaps."

Fish oil pills were "associated with significant reductions" in total and fatal heart attacks of 50 and 28 per cent respectively, she said.

Dr Manson added: "Vitamin D was associated with a suggestive 17 per cent reduction in

cancer mortality, which strengthened to a statistically significant 25 per cent reduction in analyses excluding early follow-up."

However, this only applied to participants of normal weight with a BMI (body mass index) below 25 - and not in those who were overweight or obese.

Dr Manson said: "The pattern of findings suggests a complex balance of benefits and risks for each intervention.

"Additional research is needed to determine which individuals may be most likely to derive a net benefit from these supplements.

The participants were randomly assigned to take one gram of fish oil or 2,000 IUs (International Units) of vitamin D daily, or a placebo.

According to the NHS, the three main ways to prevent a heart attack are:

To lower blood pressure, the NHS recommends staying active: Regular exercise can also help you lose weight, which will help lower your blood pressure.

Find out the key symptoms of a heart attack here.

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Heart attack: Taking this supplement could stave off the life-threatening condition - Express

All of us feel tired sometime or the other. A hectic lifestyle, late nights, long work hours and stress can bring down your energy levels as can certain health disorders. But if you are unduly tired at all times, the fault may lie with your unhealthy diet. Nutritional deficiency can cause chronic fatigue and leave you listless and drained of all energy. In other words, if you are not eating healthy, you will have a low energy level.

A proper balanced diet is essential for overall health and optimum energy levels. It is important to eat nutrient dense foods that contain fibre, healthy fats, carbs and proteins. Antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are essential if you want to maintain your energy levels throughout the day. These foods can infuse you with energy and keep you going till bedtime. Keep away from processed foods and carbonated drinks and beverages. Caffeine can give you an energy boost but too much can leave you feeling sluggish.

Let us take a look at some deficiencies that can bring down your energy level.

Any deficiency in this mineral can bring down energy levels. It can also leave you feeling depressed. Magnesium is essential for musculoskeletal health and it rejuvenates the nervous system and boosts energy production. Avoid stress and exercise regularly. This will boost the absorption of magnesium by your body. Green leafy vegetables, nut and seeds and legumes are good sources and you must include them in your daily diet. You may also go for magnesium supplements but do so only after consulting a doctor. You can also go for Epsom salt baths. Here your body is able to absorb the magnesium through your skin.

Lack of enough vitamin D is one of the main reasons why people are so tired these days. Most people hardly have the time or the inclination to get outdoors and soak in the sun, the main source of vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can cause muscle fatigue in people and this can make them tired all the time. This has actually sapped the energy of many people today. Hence, it is important that you push yourself to go for a walk and spend some time in nature.

You can also source it from fatty fish, egg yolks and fortified foods. Supplements are another option. But, if you can replenish the vitamin D levels in your body naturally, why go for supplements? Keep that as the last option.

According to the World Health Organisation, iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world. This deficiency can leave you drained of all energy. It may also make you anaemic by slowing the production of haemoglobin. This affects cellular growth and repair. This deficiency is very common in people following a vegan lifestyle and menstruating women. Be sure to eat more of green leafy vegetables, meat and poultry and legumes as these are a good source of iron. You may also go in for fortified foods like cereals and drinks. Also include vitamin C rich food in your diet because this vitamin helps your body to easily absorb iron. Or, you can take supplements after consulting your doctor.

Researchers from Duke University Medical Center have identified a mechanism that allows cells starved of iron to shut down energy-making processes that depend on iron and use a less efficient pathway involving glucose. It shuts down the energy hub of the cell, the mitochondria, which takes glucose and turns it into cell energy fuel, or ATP. If you are low on ATP, you will become tired and lethargic.

This vitamin is usually found in animal products. Hence, vitamin B12 deficiency is more prevalent among people who follow a vegetarian or a vegan diet. This vitamin is essential for the level of energy in your body. It actually absorbs the energy from foods that we eat. It maintains the health of your nervous system stay healthy and stimulates the formation of red blood cells. It also leads to better integration of folic acid in your body.

An under-active thyroid gland may leave you feeling tired all the time. If you have this condition, your thyroid gland is not producing the required amount of thyroxine. This leads to hormonal imbalance, a slowing down of the metabolism and low energy levels. There are medications to treat this condition. You may also try to deal with your condition by adding selenium rich foods to your diet. Have a lot of nuts and seeds, eggs, meat and green leafy vegetables. Avoid broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage as these foods can adversely affect thyroid function.

Chronic insomnia may also lead to very low energy levels. If you cant sleep at night despite being tired, you may need to see a doctor and find out why. This is not natural, and it will keep you devoid of any energy during the day. It will affect your normal routine and bring down productivity. This could be due to certain health complications. So, it is better if you see a doctor and find out the root cause of your insomnia.

This is certainly contradictory, but if you rest throughout the day, you will only feel more tired by the end of it. So, get out and get some exercise. This will energise you and also improve your mood and make you fit. This is true even for people suffering from chronic fatigue.

Published: September 20, 2019 9:07 pm

Read the rest here:
Low energy level - It may be due to deficiencies - TheHealthSite

I tried Gwyneth Paltrow's personal diet and exercise routine. Here's how it went. I decided to embark on this project because I wanted to see if I could handle two hours of exercise a day.

THE EXERCISE ROUTINE

Gwyneth exercises for two hours a day: one hour of cardio and one hour of weights.

Before this experiment, I was pretty sedentary. I didn't do much exercise. When I'm feeling super lazy, I'll go on occasional runs.

So for the week, I started on Monday, I skipped Friday because Gwyneth only does six out of seven days, and then I carried through on Saturday and Sunday as well.

I would exercise after getting home from work. I got a medicine ball and a big pile of handheld weights, and I would go to town on those every night. A lot of it was lunges, some Russian twists, things that I kind of remembered from my varsity swimming days.

I'm a decent runner that wasn't too hard for me. I would hop on the treadmill, sometimes I'd go outside.

I was pretty much at a loss on how exactly to fill up an hour with weight exercises. So I was pretty much doing random stuff for at least 30 minutes of the time. I think that probably contributed to me getting hurt as well. Part of it was me just lying on the floor trying to recover, so I was definitely not working out the entire hour. There were breaks. And running to get water and petting my dogs, who were very confused about what was happening.

I woke up very sore on Tuesday. So I was worried about how the rest of the week was going to be. Thursday morning, I woke up, my shoulder was killing me, and I decided to skip the weights that day. Friday was my free day. Over the weekend, it was much easier to squeeze in two hours of exercise because you're off work.

THE DIET

Her diet consists of skipping breakfast, a low-carb lunch, and a decadent dinner. So I usually start the day with a bagel, then have either another bagel or slice of pizza, and then have whatever for dinner. All of this is punctuated with a lot of soda.

I decided to start skipping breakfast, made myself a giant salad that I ate for lunch throughout the week, and did whatever for dinner. She didn't get too into what she typically has for dinner, but she did mention occasionally having homemade french fries or a baguette drizzled with cheese.

Figured out I could melt Gouda cheese in a frying pan with some olive oil, and it didn't explode my kitchen. So I would have that. The nice thing about this was that it was kind of decadent, especially after a day of just salad. It was kind of like a treat at the end of the day.

We had our holiday office party on Thursday and I freaked out, ate a lot of chocolate, drank a lot of wine, so that's my bad.

THE CONCLUSION

So Gwyneth Paltrow's not exactly telling people to dedicate two hours to exercise a day. This isn't something that's part of her Goop line. She's just a pretty intense lady and this is how she exercises.

One of the advantages that Gwyneth Paltrow has over me is that she has a personal trainer. I don't have a personal trainer, and I believe I ended up pulling my shoulder.

This whole experiment has made me realize that I probably should fit more time for jogging and cardio exercise into my life. I think it's kind of kicked me off a bit of a junk-food habit for now, which is great. I did it, but I'm really glad it's over.

See the rest here:
We did Gwyneth Paltrow's diet and exercise routine for a ...

Healthy diet and exercise routine work in tandem to produce effective weight loss results. While the body withstands tiring workout sessions at the gym and uses up loads of energy, food replenishes the nutrients and energy lost. An all-inclusive diet plan will always strategise your meals according to the physical activities you indulge in. And, if you are into an intense fitness regime, it is all the more important to take care of your diet. A healthy diet boosts your weight loss goal while a not-so-healthy diet may affect it adversely. While devising your diet plan, it is important to know what you eat before you exercise that will prepare your body for the impending burn-out.

A study conducted by the researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia suggested that consuming carbohydrates can increase your strength to endure rigorous exercises and help you perform better. The findings of the review paper were published in the 'Journal of Nutrition'.Nancy Cohen, a professor specialising in nutrition said, "By eating carbohydrate-rich foods that are low in fat and low or moderate in protein, you can make sure you have enough muscle glycogen as fuel for your physical activity."

(Also Read:6 Delicious Homemade Protein Shakes for Weight Loss)

Carbohydratesimprove performance during workout

If you exercise for more than one hour, then you should consume one to four grams of carbohydrates per every 2.2 pounds (one kilogram) of body weight. Eat your carbohydrate-rich meal at least one hour before you start exercising.

(Also Read:Post Workout Foods: 5 Healthy Recovery Foods That Reduce Muscle Soreness)

For the morning workout regime, it is advised not to start off on an empty stomach as you are already fasting the whole night before. "While exercising on an empty stomach may burn fat, it does not seem to be beneficial in the long run. And, if the fatigue means that you are not able to exercise at full performance, then you will also not be able to sustain as effective a workout," Cohen added.

Another important thing to remember is to keep your body hydrated with lots and lots of water. "Sufficient fluids are also important. In general, you can consume 5 to 10 millilitres of water per kilogram of body weight in the two to four hours before a workout," Cohen added.

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Pre-Workout Diet: What You Should Eat Before An Intense ...

What is an article about creating the perfect diet plan doing on a site called A Workout Routine in the middle of a guide to creating the most effective weight training program?

I mean, this is obviously a site geared specifically towards workout related topics, so why the hell am I writing about diet stuff?

Well, Ill tell you why.

If your diet plan isnt what it needs to be, your workout routine will fail completely no matter how perfect it is.

That is not an exaggeration. You could be using the single greatest workout program ever created and it will get you absolutely nowhere if you arent eating in a way that supports your goals.

What Im trying to say is, your diet plan is equally as important as your workout routine (if not more so) in terms of getting the results you want to get.

So, what you need to do now is create the diet plan that will work best for you.

As you can imagine, fully explaining how to do that would require its own insanely comprehensive guide.

Until I get around to doing that, heres the ultimate mini-guide to how to create your perfect diet plan.

The most common recommendations for your daily calorie intake are:

Now let me explain what the hell that actually means.

Every person has a certain number of calories that they need to eat each day in order to maintain their current weight. This is whats known as your calorie maintenance level.

There are a bunch of complicated ways to estimate what your maintenance level is, but the quickest and simplest way is to just multiply your current body weight (in pounds) by 14 and 18.

Somewhere in between those 2 amounts will usually be your daily calorie maintenance level.

If youre more active and/or think you have a fast metabolism, then you should probably use the higher end of that range. If youre less active and/or think you have a slow metabolism, then you should probably use the lower end of that range.

If youre unsure, just pick a number in the middle. Well make sure its perfectly accurate later on. Dont worry.

Next, pick your goal

In order to lose fat, you must consume LESS calories per day than your maintenance level amount. Doing so creates a caloric deficit, and this forces your body to start burning your stored body fat for energy.

Meaning, a caloric deficit is a fat loss requirement.

As I mentioned before, the most often recommended caloric deficit is about 20% below your maintenance level. So, lets do some basic first grade level math.

For example, if your estimated calorie maintenance level is 2500 calories per day, youd figure out that 20% of 2500 is 500 (2500 x .20 = 500). Then youd just subtract that 500 from 2500 and get 2000.

In this example, this person would need to eat 2000 calories per day to lose fat.

In order to build muscle, you must consume MORE calories per day than your maintenance level. Doing so creates a caloric surplus, and this provides your body with the calories it needs to actually create new muscle tissue.

Meaning, a caloric surplus is a muscle building requirement.

As I mentioned before, the ideal caloric surplus for most guys is about 250 calories above your maintenance level, and around half that for girls. So, lets do some basic first grade level math.

For example, a man with an estimated calorie maintenance level of 2500 calories per day would add 250 or so calories to it and get about 2750.

In this example, this person would need to eat about 2750 calories per day to build muscle at an ideal rate.

Since our calorie intake is based on an estimate, its possible it can be a little off. Luckily, theres a very simple way to double check it.

Weigh yourself once per week first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything (or weigh in daily and take the weekly average). Then, just monitor what your weight does from week to week.

Basically, just consistently weigh yourself each week and make sure your weight is moving in the right direction at the optimal rate that I just described.

If is it, perfect! Keep eating that amount of calories each day.

If it isnt, then just adjust your calorie intake in 250 calorie increments until it is. Simple as that.

The most common recommendation for the daily protein intake of healthy adults who are weight training regularly is:

Between 0.8 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. An even 1 gram of protein per pound is probably the most common recommendation of all.

So, for example, if you weigh 175lbs, youd shoot for about 175 grams of protein per day (or a little more if you prefer it).

High protein foods include chicken, fish, turkey, lean meats, eggs/egg whites, milk, protein supplements and to a lesser extent nuts and beans as well.

The most common recommendation for your daily fat intake is:

Fat should account for between 20-30% of your total calorie intake, with an even 25% probably being most common.

For that to make sense, you need to know that 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories.

So, for example, if your ideal calorie intake is 2000 calories per day, youd first figure out that 25% of 2000 is 500. Then, youd divide 500 by 9 and figure out that youd need to eat about 55 grams of fat per day in this example.

Foods high in the healthy fats that should account for the majority of your fat intake include fish, fish oil supplements, nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, etc.), seeds, and olive oil.

The most common recommendation for your daily carb intake is:

However many calories are left after a sufficient protein and fat intake have been factored in those calories should come from carbs.

Dont worry, its not as confusing as it sounds.

Basically, figure out how many calories your protein and fat intake will account for, and then subtract them from your ideal total calorie intake. However many calories youre left with to reach that ideal total those calories will all come from carbs.

Confused? Its alright, Ill show you an example in a second.

The majority of your carb intake should come from foods like fruits and vegetables, rice (brown, white, whatever), sweet potatoes, white potatoes (they are not evil), and various beans and whole wheat/whole grain products (unless of course you have issues digesting grains).

Now let me show you a step by step example of how to put it all together.

Lets pretend we have a guy who weighs 175lbs and has the primary goal of building muscle. Lets also pretend his calorie maintenance level is 2250 calories (just a completely made up example number).

Heres how hed create his diet plan

And thats it. The most important parts of this example diet plan are done.

This example person figured out they will eat:

Once again, these are all just completely made up amounts to show an example of how to set up your diet plan. Thats how youd do it.

And yes, even though the person in the example above had the primary goal of building muscle, the diet would have been set up the exact same way if they had the primary goal of losing fat instead. The only difference is that they would have created a caloric deficit instead of a surplus in step 1.

The process of putting it all together would remain exactly the same.

Now, you may be wondering about certain other aspects of your diet besides your calorie, protein, fat and carb intake.

The thing is you shouldnt.

In all honesty, nothing else is that important. Everything described above is what will account for 99% of your diets effectiveness. Everything else is just a minor detail.

All that truly matters diet-wise is ensuring that you eat the right amount of calories each day along with an optimal amount of protein, fat and carbs that ideally come from mostly higher quality sources.

After that, its all a matter of doing whatever will best allow you to make that happen. What I mean is

Thats all that matters. Everything else is either extremely insignificant or just a stupid myth that is scientifically proven to not matter at all (like how you must eat 6 smaller meals per day its bullshit).

Whatever is best for you, your life, your schedule and your preferences thats what you should do.

Well, in addition to what I just explained, theres really only a couple of additional tips worth caring about:

And thats it.

Thats the ultimate mini-guide to creating the diet plan that will best support your workout routine and overall goal.

(UPDATE #1: Ive now written the diet mega-guide. Its here: The Best Diet Plan)

(UPDATE #2: Ive also put together a new 9-step diet guide that you can download as a pretty PDF file and view on your computer, phone or tablet whenever you want. Its 100% free. Just click here and tell me where to send it.)

Well, at this point weve already covered every major aspect of how to create the workout routine and diet plan that will work best for you. All thats left to do now is put it all together properly and put it into action correctly. To ensure that you do that, lets start here

Sample Workout Routines Example Weight Training Workouts

(This article is part of a completely free guide to creating the best workout routine possible for your exact goal. It starts here:The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine)

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How To Create The Perfect Diet Plan For Your Workout Goal

A huge benefit that makes a keto diet very appealing to a lot of people is that they can lose fat without having to workout at all.

Who wouldnt love this in their life? You lose the weight you want while not having to change your lifestyle much at all. All youre really changing is your eating habits and everything else can stay the same way.

What about those of you that want to workout and exercise?

Is this even realistic on a ketogenic diet?

The short answer is yes, its very much possible to workout on keto without experiencing a loss of physical performance.

Now, lets get into the longer answer.

Most people understand that eating carbs will provide your body the energy it needs to push through a workout.

This is true, but when youre on a keto diet, your carb intake is definitely restricted.

How can your body make it through a workout when it doesnt have the proper fuel it needs when youre on a carb restricted diet?

Having this concern is understandable. The good news is that even if you want to be extremely active, you dont need to have those extra carbs to have successful workouts. Your body is going to find a way to use what it already has as a source of its energy, namely the fat on your body.

You should have grasped the concept by now that a keto diet allows you to have very few carbs, however, the body does need some amount of carbs during certain types of exercise.

Dont get me wrong, your carb intake will still be very restricted but youll be allowed more carbs than the keto user that isnt very active. This is because your body will need the carbs as an initial energy boost. Your body is still going to burn through the carbs quickly so that little extra carb consumption will not have much of an impact on your keto progress.

If youve been on a keto diet for at least a few weeks, you should be in an extended state of ketosis. This means that your body is finally at the point where it should be burning fat instead of sugar.

Typically, when youre exercising, your body is going to burn the sugar it has before anything else. When youre in ketosis, your body is going to run through that excess sugar very quickly. This means that your body has to turn to its fat stores for energy.

The ketones your body will be producing while in ketosis will give your body the energy it needs to make it through any workout you do.

If you are just beginning a keto diet, then working out right away may be difficult. Your body is in a transition phase and will probably feel groggy or weak. After entering ketosis, you should notice that your energy levels are changing and you feel a bit more normalcy when you exercise.

Most people that are highly active will have a faster metabolism than those that arent as active. This usually means that the active people are going to eat a lot more food than the less active people. Your body is burning through its resources faster so you need to replenish what youve lost.

A lot of the times when people dont see weight loss, its because they are feeling the need to eat, especially after rigorous activity. Yes, its important to refuel your body, but at the same time, you need to make sure youre putting the right amount in your body. This is where a lot of people face problems.

People will put in the work at the gym, but once they finish their workout they eat too much because they feel like they need to stuff their face. They dont have anything guiding them other than their stomachs.

On a keto diet, you are going to be counting your macros based on your activity level. This is going to help you stay on track with your fat loss goals. A positive about the keto diet is that even though your metabolism will be fast, you arent going to feel the need to eat as much as you usually would after a workout. You will have an appetite that will keep you from eating like youre at a buffet.

Ketogenic diets are designed to help you lose fat. This, in turn, is going to cause your weight to drop significantly as well.

Working out is going to help you lose weight and in most cases, working out consistently while eating the right foods will help you lose fat.

When you combine the two, exercise and eating the right foods, your fat loss will be accelerated. You will see the number on the scale drop at a slightly faster rate than you would if you were to not work out at all.

Again, its important to emphasize that exercise is not required for fat loss on a keto diet, but it can definitely help speed up the process.

There are some myths out there that say if you workout while on a keto diet, your performance during the workout will suffer greatly. This is 100% false.

Yes, there is going to be a very brief period of time where your performance will suffer a little bit. This usually tends to happen during the initial stages of a ketogenic diet where your body is going from being a sugar burner to a fat burner.

Tests have been done on athletes that measure their performance before and after starting a keto diet. When the tests were concluded, it was found that the performance of the athletes was about the same as when the tests were initially done.

Its important to note that these athletes lost weight, fat, and were able to keep their muscle mass about the same. This is the goal for most people working out and when theyre able to do it while reaping all the benefits of a keto diet, its all worth it.

If you are wanting to workout and do a keto diet, go for it. Dont let any myths about how it might negatively affect you deter you from being active.

You just have to follow your macros for the diet to be completely successful with working out. The diet is more important than working out. It will be tempting to eat certain things that arent keto friendly because youll feel as though you need it, but in the end, those foods are only going to hurt you and your keto progress.

Remember, your goal is to lose fat and working out can definitely help you with that, but when combined with a keto diet, the match could be one that was made in heaven.

Read the original:
Ketogenic Diet 101: Working Out While on a Keto Diet

Most of us think of self-care as something that’s expensive and takes a lot of time, but it really shouldn’t be that way. Instead of looking at self-care as indulgence, we should think of self-care as meeting our basic needs. When you simplify it this way, it’s easier to create a routine so it becomes part of your daily life, not a deviation from it. Even if you invest a little in comforts and tools for everyday self-care, it’s easy to stay within your budget with cost-conscious shopping.

Put Your Physical Needs First

The reason we have a concept of self-care in the first place is that we’re so accustomed to doing things for others that we often put our own needs last. Psychology Today explains how failing to make our own needs a priority is damaging to ourselves and those around us. At a very basic level, practicing self-care starts with meeting our physical needs, including eating well, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough rest.

If you have a hard time getting quality sleep at night, take a good look at your bedroom and see how you can switch things up to make it a more relaxing space. You can usually find good deals on cozy bedding, comfortable pillows, a supportive mattress, and sleep gadgets at popular stores like Target. Plus, you can save even more money by using Target coupons and promo codes when you shop.

Schedule It

Along with our physical needs, we need self-care in all aspects of our lives, including social, mental, spiritual, and emotional self-care. If this sounds like a lot to make time for, the best strategy is to work self-care activities into your regular schedule. To do this, Life Goal Mag recommends keeping a simple routine and staying flexible.

One example is to keep a flexible schedule for physical activity. Exercise meets your physical needs, but it’s also good for your mental health, and it can even be social. Whatever activity you enjoy, set a regular time for it. At the same time, give yourself tools to adapt when your schedule gets thrown off. So, if you normally go to a certain exercise class but have to miss it on occasion, consider investing in affordable gear like free weights so you can work out at home on those days.

Try a New Hobby

The idea of trying something new may seem like an extra strain on your time (rather than an everyday necessity), but finding a new hobby may just be the self-care strategy you’re missing. This is because many of us get caught up in our everyday habits without even realizing how much time we waste on things that don’t make us happy. One prime example is the amount of time we spend on social media. Thankfully, taking a social media break is absolutely free!

Picking up a hobby is an excellent way to replace those unhealthy habits and meet basic self-care needs. For example, doing something with your hands, like creating art, knitting, or gardening, can be incredibly relaxing. The trick to starting a hobby affordably is to always shop smart for supplies, whether that means going to discount stores or using online coupons.

Another cost-conscious idea is to make a hobby of doing DIY projects, like this DIY herbal eye pillow from Medium. Making something useful is a perfect way to care for your mental health because the end product gives you such a sense of accomplishment. You get even more benefit from making something that aids relaxation, like the eye pillow. Plus, you can usually purchase supplies for less money than buying brand new products.

All of these strategies are geared toward being intentional about how you spend your time. Your time is valuable, and the way you choose to spend it on a regular basis is what self-care is really all about. Making these strategies part of your everyday life is affordable, simple, and essential for your well being.

Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay

We all know that diet and exercise are the most important factors to be healthy and in good shape.

But if that result is not appealing enough, here is another benefit: eating healthy and exercising are also a form of heart disease prevention.

Diet and exercise are the perfect match for heart disease prevention

I was reading a magazine recently, that stated something like: "To keep the heart in good health we need to focus on increasing the energy consumption by doing healthy physical activity, besides eating the right foods, but there is an idea of physical activity that is similar to that of drug therapy, which is mistakenly considered more documented. Physical activity, however, if conducted on a regular basis, is like a medicine".

The same magazine was saying that with 30 min of physical activity a day we can highly reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Walking, which is the easiest physical activity, provides the following benefits, assuming that you do it for at least 30 to 60 minutes, 3 to 5 times a week:

All this thanks to the ability of heart and lungs to use oxygen to produce energy, and to remove it from the blood by making organs work more and with less effort.

Don't just do-it-yourself though, don't start running/biking/swimming like crazy out of the blue.

It is important to do a medical examination before you start your diet and exercise. Always stop if you experience sharp pain or tightness in the chest, stomach pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, tachycardia, excessive fatigue or severe headache.

These are usually signs that something is not right and you shouldn't push your body that far.

When it comes to heart disease prevention, one of the best things we can do is follow a healthy diet to keep our blood levels, especially cholesterol levels, within the healthy range.

Those who practice sport should follow a balanced diet, but it also needs to be proportionate to the sport they play. It's not healthy to eat too much, but it's also not recommended to run out of energy.

Try to calculate your caloric needs based on gender, age, intensity and duration of physical activity

Remember that you need proteins for the muscles (to develop them and to repair the damaged fibers).

Carbohydrates are the source of energy in the first phase of physical activity, while fat is the reserve of energy used for aerobic activities of long duration.

As diet and exercise have to work together for heart disease prevention, the question comes natural: which foods should I eat when I do sports or physical activity?

If you're training your strenght and you are doing weight lifting to build muscle, then you need a high protein intake to promote muscle growth. This article that I was reading suggested a 55-25-20 diet type (55% carbs, 25% protein, 20% fat).

Honestly, I think a 40-40-20 diet works best, at least for me. If you tend to gain weight easily, definitely go for a 40-40-20.

For other sports that require speed and sprints like athletics, biking, swim race, ski race, long jump etc. it's important to have lots of energy, which translates into higher carbs intake in your diet.

Carbs provide quick and long-lasting energy, therefore the best diet for these kinds of sport is a 60-20-20 balance.

The last type of physical activity is resistance. For sports like long distance running, biking, swimming, cross country ski, you need more carbs and fats to guarantee lots of energy reserve, and low-fat protein foods like milk, yogurt, lean meat, ham, eggs, fish and legumes.

The balance of this type of diet should be 50-15-25

The final step of this diet and exercise guideline is about drinking. What and how much should we drink?

Water is the essential drink for pre and post workout or exercise, but not during exercise.

This may sound shocking to you, but here is the reason: drinking during exercise increases sweating (with possible further loss of minerals) and it may cause cramps, muscle fatigue and lower muscle response.

So what to do when you're at gym sweating like crazy, craving a glass of water?

Well, I don't care if I sweat (you know, showers are fortunately available!). Actually I am lucky, I don't sweat at all, maybe because they keep the temperature quite low at the gym where I go...but anyways...I like to have my bottle when I work out.

I don't drink plane water, I mix it with something called Xtend, which contains minerals and glutamine, very useful to recover fast during exercise.

Another good advice is to drink vitamin C, like orange juices (made from real oranges) to increase immune system, always at risk for who practices sport activity. In fact breathing with your mouth wide open increases the chances to catch viruses and germs.

Return from Diet and Exercise to Diet Types

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Diet and Exercise for Heart Disease Prevention

The CRON-diet (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition)[1] is a nutrient-rich, reduced calorie diet developed by Roy Walford, Lisa Walford, and Brian M. Delaney.[2] The CRON-diet involves calorie restriction in the hope that the practice will improve health and retard aging, while still attempting to provide the recommended daily amounts of various nutrients. Other names include CR-diet, Longevity diet, and Anti-Aging Plan. The Walfords and Delaney, among others, founded the CR Society International to promote the CRON-diet.

The CRON-diet was developed from data Walford compiled during his participation in Biosphere 2.[3]

Proponents of the CRON-diet believe that everyone has what they call a "set-point": a weight, specific to an individual, at which each naturally stays when they eat their usual daily diet. Proponents believe that the set-point is determined through heredity and childhood eating habits. Proponents recommend that adherents remain 1025% under their set-point, suggesting that this is necessary for the diet to be maximally effective.[4]

A guideline that proponents use to determine an individual's set-point is to measure that person's body fat content. Proponents state that this should be 1015% for females and 610% for males.[5] Proponents suggest the use of skinfold test tools (they specifically recommend the "Fat-O-Meter"), certain digital scales, densiometry, and/or bioelectrical impedance analysis to determine the body fat content. Proponents then use the current weight and body fat content to determine the goal weight (below the set point), and plan and follow a preliminary diet until the goal weight is reached.

Next, the proponent determines the level of caloric restriction they wish to implement in their regular eating pattern. Proponents recommend a goal of restricting intake by 20%.[5] The actual daily amount eaten depends on the adherent's basal metabolic rate (BMR). A common daily intake is 1800 calories per day.[6]

The Walfords propose three meals in their book, but variation is possible. Adherents can vary the number of meals they eat per day in order to fit their schedules: typically, this is achieved by combining calorie-dense and calorie-lean foods in different ways.[7] Proponents also use "supplements", which refers to vitamin pills as well as certain high-nutrition foods (which are necessarily calorie-lean).[8] The Walfords describe these foods as "nutrient super-chargers"; examples include kombu, brewers yeast, wheat bran, wheat germ, shiitake mushrooms, non-fat dry milk, soybeans, and tofu. These "nutrient super-chargers" are used frequently to boost meals' nutritional density.[7]

The Walfords propose that adherents eat three meals per day. They suggest that adherents cook eight meals on a specific day of the week, and then freeze these meals to use during the entire week. They refer to this process as the "Quantity-Cook-and Freeze Option", and the meals themselves as "One-a-day MegaMeals". They suggest that adherents use two "Free-Choice Recipes" for the other two courses per day.

Adherents may compose their own meals. The Walfords caution that such meals must be planned exactly and contain all the required RDA nutrients. There are computer tools available to plan meals, including the official Dr. Walfords Interactive Diet Planner and the unofficial CRON-o-Meter.

Link:
CRON-diet - Wikipedia

This is a little lesson explaining the effects that nutrition and exercise have on each other.

I. Diet modulates weight.II. Exercise modulates body composition.

1. Nutrition quality will improve how fast you lose or gain weight.2. Exercise intensity will improve how fast your body composition changes.

Nutrition and exercise also have a big impact on health. Sleep also strongly impacts the results and health very strongly as well so quality of sleep is important.

Everything can be derived from these sets of statements. Lets look at a couple of common examples.

1. You are obese and want to slim down.

Losing weight depends on nutrition. This is also why six packs are said to be made in the kitchen.Simply put: you need to eat less calories to drop weight.

Starvation mode is a misnomer as if you eat extremely few calories your body will naturally drop weight, but the body can decrease metabolic rate by modulating thyroid hormones. This can also have some not-so-great effects on your organs.

Recommendation: It is best to stick with an energy deficit of somewhere between about 300-500 calories less than your TDEE per day, and your body will tend to drop .5-1 lbs per week or so.

Exercise is going to help modulate body composition while the pounds come off. For example, if you end up not exercising while on a caloric deficit, your body will indiscriminately drop muscle mass as well as fat mass.Eating enough protein and training will tend to prevent the loss of muscle mass during weight loss. Aim for 1g of protein per pound and 3x a week strength training while losing weight.

2. You are at a healthy weight for your height, but want to tone up and gain muscle mass while losing fat.

Toning is generally a misnomer built on the use of using light weights to tone. This is false.

Exercise here is the most important for any significant body composition change. Depending on the different types of exercise, your body may see fit to increase muscle mass and/or burn off excess fat mass (in conjunction with proper nutrition). Generally, you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but how well you do this is predicated mainly on your percentage of body fat. If you have a higher body fat percentage, the easier it will be to lose weight due to much extra energy being available for the body to use to build muscle.

Diet is still very important because quality foods will produce faster body composition changes. This depends some on genetics (hence why some elite athletes can generally eat crap and get away with it), but even with good body composition changes with junky food may be at the expense of overall long term health.

Recommendation: Aim to get .7-1 g/lbs of protein and aim to only eat your TDEE in calories to maintain weight. Aim for at least 10 sets of exercises per muscle group to-failure or close to failure. Use heavy weights or difficult bodyweight exercises in the 5-15 repetition range.

3. The underweight person looking to bulk up with muscle.

Diet is the most important. This is a weight issue, and the person is looking to gain weight. Thus, they need to eat more.

This time around adding body mass will be variable according to the exercise (or lack thereof) because it affects body composition.

A. Lifting weights with a hypercaloric diet will tend to put on more muscle mass than fat.B. Eating more without exercising tends to put on all fat as seen by the obesity rates in America.

Recommendation: Aim to get .7-1 g/lbs of protein for your targeted weight with an extra 500 calories a day. Aim for at least 10 sets of exercises per muscle group to-failure or close to failure. Use heavy weights or difficult bodyweight exercises in the 5-15 repetition range.

Onto more details..

I. Regarding the quality of diet

Quality of diet is highly dependent on the genetics of the individual. Some people may be allergic to foods such as gluten or dairy, and consuming such food would be detrimental to overall health.

The one thing we can say is that improvements in the quality of diet directly leads to results in weight (maintenance, gain or loss) as well as quality of health. Since we literally are what we eat, if we take in junk food all the time our health is probably going to decline (even if we cant see it on the outside), and the body will probably gain weight as junk food has a high caloric value.

Healthy bodies operate better mentally, physically, and emotionally so it is VERY important to get high quality nutrients.

Recommendations: avoid food allergens. Consume lots of fruits and vegetables. Aim for a moderate about of starchy foods like rice and potatoes. May need more starchy foods if youre training hard. A fist size hunk of protein at most meals and extra if you need more. Supplements are to only supplement a healthy lifestyle. Whey can be useful if you need more protein.

II. Regarding the quality of exercise

High intensity or high power output exercise heavy lifting, intervals, metabolic conditioning, etc. tend to produce the fastest body composition changes. The stronger the stressors,the faster the body adapts. This is the SAID principle specific adaptation to imposed demand. Of course, high intensity exercise can easily lead to overuse injuries, so listen to your body and be careful.

Damage to your muscles and their growth/adaptation require energy to repair which will be provided by through diet. If the energy need exceeds than of which the diet provides (hypocaloric diet for the obese & isocaloric diet for those who want to maintain weight), then the body tends to metabolize adipose tissue to supply the energy. In essence, our bodies adapt to stress. The higher the stress the bigger the adaptation. This is why higher intensity protocols such as weightlifting and HIIT get stronger adaptations to them than lower intensity such as cardio or very light weights.

The regulation of body composition operates according to the law of diminishing returns (aka logarithmic scale). This means that the improvements will be much greater the higher the body fat percentage & with less muscle mass, but much lower as the body fat percentage drops & with more muscle mass.

One fitness myth is that you cannot add muscle and lose fat at the same time; this is wrong and occurs frequently in obese individuals who are losing weight while doing high intensity exercise. However, as the BF% drops into the teens and single digits, itoccurs much less if at all.

III. Regarding the reliance of diet and exercise to each other

In general, we would tend to say that overall improvement of weight and body composition is 80-85% diet and 15-20% exercise. This is because we are eating almost 21 times per week (maybe more) and only working out about 3-5 times a week.

These are the times that you will be affecting your weight and body composition, so they need to be used wisely. We often taking eating and exercising for granted, but if you want to make any significant weight or body composition changes these times must be taken seriously. Both quality and quantity matter.

This article was originally published August 19, 2009 on Eat Move Improve. Updated Dec 2016.

Questions about articles may be addressed to the Overcoming Gravity reddit.

Steven Low, author of Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength (Second Edition) and Overcoming Poor Posture, is a former gymnast who has performed with and coached the exhibitional gymnastics troupe, Gymkana. Steven has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland College Park, and his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Maryland Baltimore. Steven is a Senior trainer for Dragon Doors Progressive Calisthenics Certification (PCC). He has also spent thousands of hours independently researching the scientific foundations of health, fitness and nutrition and is able to provide many insights into practical care for injuries. His training is varied and intense with a focus on gymnastics, parkour, rock climbing, and sprinting.

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The relationship between diet and exercise Steven Low