Probably nutrition and exercises are the most important things that enable our body and immune system to stay strong and healthy. There are various ways to keep yourself healthy and fit and you don’t have to suffer from training endlessly in the gym or limit your eating habits. All you need to do is, first of all, understand what food is healthy and important for your health, and what is not. Nutrition and exercise is important in developing a strong body and immune system. Consuming the proper portions of food will build a strong immune system, and body. Eating properly will also promote a better mental well being, and over all good health. There are guidelines you can learn, and nutrition labels you can observe so that you may understand and use nutrition wisely.
Exercise is also very important for your body structure and vital organs. Exercise done properly and consistent can help you control weight, and also promote over all good health. There are two types of exercises that benefit the adult learner. Aerobic exercise helps improve cardio vascular and cardio respiratory functions. Aerobic exercise is also a good way to loose fat, and keep a lean body. Strength exercise helps build muscle and lose body fat. Strength exercise also helps improve strength, balance, and flexibility in joints. There are plenty of hints and ideas to sticking to a nutrition and fitness plan. The first step to starting is to make that gradual change. Set your goals and boundaries to a plan that fits your lifestyle and age. It is ok not being able to change your diet and fitness goals all at once. You make a difference by making small changes now, and then notice the big changes to your body and health in the future.
Nutrition and Exercise for Adult Learners
Nutrition and Exercise can be a valuable instrument in an adult learner’s life. Proper nutrition helps build a strong immune system (which can help fight diseases), mental well being, and over all general good health. Exercise can help control weight, relieve stress, build strength/flexibility, and increase awareness. Nutrition can be maintained easily through what you eat, how you eat, and when you eat. Exercise can be started slowly and increased gradually to help maintain strength, flexibility, and decrease stress.
The key to understanding and using nutrition wisely is to first realize you will need to make a lifestyle change. Once you know a lifestyle change is needed you can begin to understand more about how to eat nutritiously. The foods you eat can be broken down into different categories. Each category has a proper portion that should be consumed daily. "The different categories and servings sizes are as follows: fats, oils, and sweets use sparingly; milk, yogurt, and cheese limited to 2-3 servings; meat, poultry, dry beans, eggs, and nuts limited to 2-3 servings; vegetable group 3-5 servings; fruit groups 2-4 servings; and bread and rice 6-12 servings.”
Carbohydrates are one of the most important sections of food, but can be easily overindulged. Your muscles and brain are primarily fueled off of carbohydrates. You should include a daily portion of carbohydrate in your diet to ensure that you maintain good muscle, good liver function, and to improve performance and delay fatigue. Carbohydrates are broken down into two groups simple and complex, both groups metabolize into glucose. Simple carbohydrates are sweet and contain one or two sugar molecules. Examples of simple carbohydrates are glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Complex carbohydrates are long chains of sugar best known as starch (ex: brown rice, corn, and shredded wheat). "To keep carbohydrate intake at a healthy level you should consume between 6-11 servings of complex carbohydrates a day."
When starting a nutrition program it is also important to understand fat. Fat helps keep the metabolism working for muscle activity, protects vital organs, and insulates. On a daily basis only 30% of your daily calories should be fat. The two types of fats are cholesterol and triglycerides. Cholesterol is typical found in foods coming from an animal, such as egg yolks, seafood, meats, and dairy. Many people talk of saturated, polyunsaturated, or monounsaturated fats. These three are actually called triglycerides. On the Georgia State University's Department of Kinesiology and Health website they explain these fats like this:
Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature and come primarily from animal products like meat, poultry, butter, and whole milk. Also, some oils like coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils are high in saturated fats. Dietary saturated fats have the greatest impact on total blood cholesterol. Saturated fat should not exceed 10% of total fat intake. Polyunsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature and are found in vegetable oils such a safflower, sunflower, corn, and soybean oils. Monounsaturated fats are also liquid at room temperature and are found in vegetable oils, such as olive and canola oils.
As can be seen by this small paragraph there is a lot to learn when dealing with fat. "The reason it is so important to understand fat is because the over consumption of fat is believed to be one of the leading causes of obesity, heart disease, and different types of cancer." (Univ. of Ga. Website)
Protein can also get very complex. The reason is because proteins are composed of amino acids and there are twenty different kinds of amino acids. Out of these amino acids there are non-essential and essential ones. Non essential amino acids can be made by the body, whereas essential amino acids cannot be made by the body and can only be consumed through food. The essential amino acids are isoleucine, lysine, methionine, phenylanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. To pack all of the essential amino acids into your diet (this can help with growth and repair of body tissue), you must eat things that are made up of complete proteins. An example of complete proteins are found in eggs, milk, meat, poultry, and fish. The recommended dose of protein per average individual is .8grams per kilogram of body weight a day, for bodybuilders and athletes this number increases to 1.8grams.
The most important element to healthy nutrition is the very thing that makes up 50-75% of the human body. This element also helps with temperature regulation, cellular processes, and body composition. This precious element is water. Water in the body is lost everyday through urination, respiration, and sweat. Without water the human body can suffer from dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat cramps, and death. It must be replenished everyday. "Each person needs 64 ounces of water each day; this number increases if exercise or hot/humid environments factor in."
Nutrition labels are on every food product. When reading a nutrition label limit the number of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium you consume. Make sure you consume a lot of vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, iron, and dietary fibers. "If you pick foods with labels that have these qualities you will be on your way to eating healthier."
Next to nutrition, exercise is very important. Exercise helps the body as well as the brain. Exercising has many great benefits. The greatest one is reducing the risk of premature death. Exercising helps reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the chance of dying from heart disease. For the adult learner exercise can greatly reduce depression, anxiety, stress, and improve psychological well-being. Not to forget it maintains healthy muscles, bones, joints, body weight, and fat.
Exercise is divided into two types: aerobic exercise and strength training. Each one has its own benefits for the adult learner. Aerobic exercise mainly works on the improvement of cardiovascular/cardio respiratory functions (heart and lungs). This gives maximum cardiac output (blood pumped every minute), maximum stroke volume (blood pumped each beat), and reduced stress on the heart. All leading up to the maximum oxygen consumption for the adult learner, which in turn helps the brain work better. Aerobics also lowers high blood pressure, reduces body fat and increases HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). Strength training greatly reduces stress and reduces body fat. It also improves flexibility in the joints. In the adult learner it greatly improves strength, balance, and functional ability.
Exercising has many myths, but only a few benefits to the adult learner. As stated earlier, exercise is a way to burn calories. Exercise helps work every part of your body and helps the body to work more efficient. When exercising, there is a "no pain, no gain" concept. Sometimes it may get hard, but the adult learner has to push on and get through the pain to reap the benefits. "The trick is to slowly progress instead of jumping right in. For the adult learner it is never to late to exercise because just like learning, it’s never stops."
It is important to stick to a nutrition and fitness plan, especially while being under the stress of being an adult learner. The following are some ideas on how an adult learning can make gradual changes toward a better fitness and nutrition program.
Changes in a nutritional lifestyle have to be made over a gradual period of time to work effectively. One can start by changing the portion size of what they are eating. "Another guide is to pretend your plate is a clock and the time is 3 p.m. The section between 12 and 3 bordered by the big and little hands should be filled with meat or dairy servings. When your meat or dairy portion goes over that section, then you are eating too much of it. The rest of your plate should be filled with grains and vegetables."
Eating fat free foods are a good way to move toward your nutrition goals but be careful when doing so because manufacturers tend to replace the fat with more sugar and other substances that may be just as harmful as excessive fat. A good hint in substitution of fats, are to replace cup of oil with one cup unsweetened applesauce when following a cake recipe or using a non stick skillet sprayed with cooking spray such as PAM and fat free broth instead of one cup of high fat cooking oil when pan frying meat. You would be surprised at how good recipes taste even though you omitted some or all of the fat in the recipe.
When dining out a good tip would be to ask for the salad dressing on the side or ask that an omelet be cooked with one egg and two egg whites instead of three whole eggs. Another thing to remember is not to be afraid to ask questions when ordering your food at a restaurant. Most restaurants will cater to you diet needs.
Another thing is that it is not good to starve yourself before going to bed. Remember a snack will fuel your body for the 7 to 8 hour fast it goes through when you are at rest.
If you find it difficult to stick to an exercise program, remember that you can break activity down into different time frames. If you want to get in thirty minutes of activity but do not have thirty minutes to spare, try to walk briskly for ten minutes then plan on parking as far way in the parking lot when you go to the market or shopping mall to get in other activity. Walking up the stairs instead of the elevator at your workplace is another helpful way to get in some activity to your day.
