News :
Eating habits vital to fitness regimen
STAR TRIBUNE, July 5 2005 -- Fitness
is the one goal most exercisers have in mind, but getting there takes
more than attention to one thing. Complete fitness is a combination
of various components, including muscular strength, muscular endurance
and flexibility.
We need all three, so we do the resistance, aerobic and
stretching work necessary to get and keep these variables as they should
be. But what about eating? Do the fork and spoon variable make an impact?
Yes. You can be aerobically fit and have bad eating habits.
You can gain muscular strength and have bad eating habits. You can be
the most flexible person in the world and still have bad eating habits.
In the final analysis, as long as you keep exercising you
can maintain and even improve your fitness level. Body composition,
the fourth component of fitness, however, suffers when we raise our
forks and spoons a bit too often.
And as a result, our ratio of lean tissue to fat tissue
often leans more toward fat than we care for. And while poor eating
habits can indirectly affect all components of fitness, body composition
suffers the most when we don't eat right.
You can't burn off existing body fat or keep from gaining
additional body fat, if you have poor eating habits. There's generally
a lot we can do to improve our dietary habits, but here are several
ways to help you achieve a leaner healthier body composition.
* Eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains every day. They're
generally low in calories, and are a good source of energy.
* Eat less fat and be sure to eat within your daily calorie
needs; anything more will just be stored as fat.
* Eat a healthy breakfast. It will get you off to a good
start and stave off mid-morning bingeing.
Avoiding binges is also good reason to not skip meals.
Doing so will just make you too hungry to eat sensibly when mealtime
finally rolls around.
* Eat more fiber. It's good for you and it takes your body
a long time to process; which means you stay fuller for a longer period
of time.
* Stay away from quick-fix scams to lose weight. Dietary
habits need to be reasonable and maintainable for a lifetime. Short
of that is simply failure waiting to happen.
* Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. If you're
exercising as intensely and as frequently as needed for fat loss, your
body will need plenty of water.
* Avoid large quantities of no-fat or low-fat foods. Tracking
fat consumption is important, but don't forget it's total calories that
determine weight loss or weight gain.
If your goal is to recalibrate your body composition ratio
and get leaner, these habits can help you reach your goal. Keep in mind
that fat tissue is increased by inactivity and by eating above calorie
needs. So keep your body moving, except for those fork-and-spoon exercises
-- keep those at a minimum.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service)
Wellness specialist Eugenie Jones writes for The Sun in
Bremerton, Wash., and may be reached by e-mail at eugeniek@comcast.net.
(source : www.jacksonholestartrib.com)
