Sports entail physical activities that are usually carried out for some “recreational” functions such as self-satisfaction, entertainment, competition, etc. It uses physical activity that is why most fitness experts regard sports as one way of staying fit and healthy. It can also be considered as one way of physical fitness; the only difference is that sports fitness is more inclined to the development of skill or ability. However, like physical fitness, sports fitness is also capable of toning down the body fats of a person. Because of its rigid and strict health program, a sports enthusiast is able to maintain a well-balanced lifestyle in order to cope up with the strenuous demands of sports.

In sports, people should learn how to value their health. Otherwise, they can never endure the kind of energy that is required when playing sports activities.One way to get healthy and have fun at the same time is to pursue sports fitness. You can get your workout on the basketball court or baseball field. You can enter swimming competitions or run marathons. These exercise routines involve other people, interaction, and FUN!

So, let’s say you’ve decided to get your exercise through sports fitness.Here are some tips for ensuring a fun and healthy fitness program for you:

1. Consume lots of water/ fluids

Water is, indeed, the most important element needed by the body. Excessive perspiration, without any means of replenishing the lost fluids will result to serious health problems, and even death.Therefore, for people who are into strenuous exercises and trainings, it is best to always drink lots of water.

However, for sports enthusiasts, water may not be enough to replace the kind of fluid lost. Hence, it would be better if they would have sports drinks instead. Aside from the fluid, sports drinks have tow additional important ingredients needed by a person who is into sports fitness: carbohydrates and electrolytes.

Electrolytes are usually lost during strenuous physical activity, and this can only be replaced through sports drinks. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are also needed by the body during rigid workouts to provide more energy so that the body can cope up to the demands of the activity.

2. The good old theory – Eat your Fruits and Vegetables

People who are into sports fitness require more intakes of vegetables and fruits. This is because the body is craving for more vitamins and mineral supplements. It makes the body stronger and healthier enabling it to cope up with demands of the activity.

3. Calcium intake

People who are into sports fitness should have calcium present on their diet. This is to provide stronger bones to the body.Since the body is more exposed to greater physical activities, it is important to have stronger bones in order to avoid fractures or certain bone diseases like “osteoporosis.” Calcium can be found in different vitamin and mineral supplements. They are also abundant in foods like sardines, tofu, dairy products, etc.

4. Warm Up

This kind of activity is needed in order not to strain the body. Hence, before playing the sports that you have always love, it is best to do some warm-up exercises first.

Indeed, engaging into sports activities is one great way of being physically fit. The best thing about it is that in sports, you get to enjoy the best of both worlds!

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Pilates is similar to Yoga in some ways as it brings about a balance between the mind and the body and in doing so is highly effective at reducing and eliminating stress. Pilates emphasizes on physical conditioning and there’s nothing quite like it. Pilates uniqueness lies in the fact that all movements originate from the commonly overlooked “core muscles” that lie deep in the abdomen and surround the spine. Pilates often focuses on isolating these muscles in order to engage them effectively. This improves the blood circulation and thus helps maintain your internal bodily health and improve the tone and texture of your skin. Unlike some forms of resistance training that can add size albeit quite small to muscles, Pilates can help you to become strong while remaining lean, alternatively helping you to become lean if you’re carrying excess weight.

Although both Yoga and Pilates provide many benefits, Yoga’s focus has always been on how to make you feel, with the added benefit of stretching and strengthening muscles.  Pilates’ primary focus is to tone muscles effectively and shaping the way you look and carry yourself. If you are looking for an agile, rejuvenating workout that will provide as much of a lift for your brain as your body, then Yoga is the way to go. If you’re interested in a more dynamic system of muscle conditioning, and want to improve your core strength, Pilates may be the answer.

Pilates is rightly regarded by many people as one of the best forms of overall body fitness and conditioning and this is exactly the reason why so many professional athletes add Pilates training to their regular fitness training. The balance between strength and flexibility creates a healthy, vigorous and symmetrical workout for all muscle groups resulting in a leaner, more balanced, and stronger body.

As we age, one tends to lose is good posture and Pilates can go a long way in addressing that problem. Good posture also helps with the energy flow through the body and it is common for people who start doing Pilates to have a lot more energy.

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Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.[2] Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused solely by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness. Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited; on average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their thin counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass.

It’s is not easy for anyperson to lose weight quickly let alone an obese person, but a recent study proves that even those who lose little weight by portion control (essentially eat less) and exercising regularly better their cardiovascular health.

“Losing 20 or so pounds might seem daunting to some people, but we showed that even a more modest weight loss can yield heart and vascular benefits,” says study co-author Lisa de las Fuentes. “You don’t necessarily need to lose 50 pounds to improve your heart function,” added Fuentes, cardiologist at Washington University School of Medicine-St. Louis.

The researchers studied 60 moderately obese people, aged between 22 and 64 years. The subjects were instructed to eat low-calorie diets and to exercise for about three and a half hours per week, principally walking. On  an average, they lost weight for about six months, reaching a maximum loss of nine percent body weight or 22 pounds.

Maximum cardiovascular benefit lagged behind weight loss, with the greatest improvement coming six to 12 months after the study began.

Here are some facts about Obesity and how it affects our life:

• Nearly two-thirds of men and one half of women are obese or overweight
• Obesity is 2nd largest cause of cancer after smoking
• Obese people on average live 9 years less

Additional Reading: F as in Fat 2009 – Trust for America’s Health

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Most people tend to hold in patterns of tension emerging from daily stress, lack of exercise, bad posture or other grim habits. These patterns make us stiff thus freezing many of our movements. As everything in a human body is connected, stiffness and restricted movements in turn affects our mental flexibility, interfering with our thoughts and our physical actions.

There is no doubt about the fact that Yoga is one of the best remedy to remain young. Not only will it help to improve your health but it will also help to make you look a lot younger. Yoga exercise routines improve blood circulation and circulation is an important factor in maintaining good skin. By maintaining a better skin condition you will inherently look a lot younger as poor skin condition is one of the sure signs that you are aging. The increased circulation that is brought about from Yoga raises the temperature of the blood and pushes it towards the surface of the skin.

In doing so it carries more oxygen and nutrients to the skin giving you a healthier glowing complexion.

Through regular practice of yoga, especially the inverted postures, the gravitational effect is reversed, resulting in reduction of facial wrinkles, and improving skin tone, giving it a natural glow. The inverted yoga posture is also believed to prevent premature graying of hair, because while adopting such a posture, the blood circulation to the scalp is increased. Also during this posture, the pressure exerted on the blood vessels on the neck is removed, and hence the blood flow to the scalp is doubly increased.

Doing the correct asana will help you to achieve and maintain a better posture. Yoga not only helps with the elasticity of your body through stretching the muscles but it also improves your strength and posture as well as helping you to achieve a better state of mind and relaxation.

The transformation impact of yoga on the nervous system, results in a positive mental and emotional attitude. Regular practitioners of yoga usually feel more enthusiastic, optimistic and creative, and as they get older, they begin to develop an ageless appearance.

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The study showed that flexibility of running as exercise form actually makes running harder to stick to for most women than soccer, which requires a fixed time and place.

“What is really interesting is that the soccer players differed from the runners in their motivation,” said associate Professor Laila Ottesen.

“The runners were motivated by the idea of getting in shape and improving health. But the soccer players focused on the game itself and were motivated by the social interaction and by having fun with others.

“As it turns out, the soccer players got in better shape than the runners, and that combined with the social benefits makes soccer a great alternative to running”, she added.

The study involving 100 untrained adult premenopausal women, showed that women who played soccer have continued their soccer training as a group whereas few of the women in the running group continued running after the study.

“While playing soccer, the women have high heart rates and perform many sprints, turns, kicks and tackles, making soccer an effective integration of both cardio and strength training”, said Krustrup.

“Our study shows that the 16 weeks of recreational women’s soccer causes marked improvement in maximal oxygen uptake, muscle mass and physical performance, including the endurance, intermittent exercise and sprinting ability,” explains the expert.

“This makes soccer a very favourable choice of exercise training for women,” he added.

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Yoga is a science that has been practiced for thousands of years. It is based on ancient theories, observations and principles about the mind and body connection which is now being proven by modern medicine. Substantial research has been conducted to look at the health benefits of Yoga – from the Yoga Postures (Asanas), Yoga Breathing (Pranayama), and Meditation. Regular practice of asanas, pranayama and  meditation can help such diverse ailments such as asthma, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, blood pressure, chronic fatigue, diabetes, digestive disorders, varicose veins and  heart conditions.

It can easily be adapted by any person at any age and in any physical condition. However, some techniques are more suited for specific age groups. For example, some asanas that involve forward and backward bending are good for children aged 5 to 10 years. At about 10 years of age, the asanas that have an upside down position and deep breathing can be started. Relaxation is necessary for all, irrespective of age. People in all age groups can therefore practice mediation regularly. It is desirable that older people avoid asanas that involve excessive stretching.

Yoga has become extremely popular in recent years due to multiple benefits offered if practiced regularly.
One of the great things about yoga is the fact that it is very powerful at relieving stress irrespective of the type of work you do, your role in life or the type of food you eat. Yoga can help everyone play his or her roles more efficiently, more smoothly and more comfortably.

Releasing stress from the body boosts the energy levels and gives a refreshing feel to the mind and body. This in turn improves your mental as well as physical posture thus making you healthier, stronger and effectively younger. The limberness that developes from doing regular yoga exercises work wonders on aches and pains, having constant pain and the energy that it absorbs from your body, is very often mirrored on the face, making you appear tired and older.

Yoga teaches you to focus on living for the moment not in the past or the future. If you can learn to live for the now a lot of your stress will disappear. It is amazing how just a mind set can change your life. Yoga not only works out the tension in your body but prepares your mind to deal with daily stress. Your thinking will become clear and decisions easier to make.

The first time you start your yoga practice you will notice why you can use yoga for relieving stress. The tension in your body will melt away and you will come out of your practice feeling happy and relaxed. People who practice yoga tend to not have any problems sleeping or unwinding at the end of the day.

More and more individuals are now are realizing all the important benefits of Yoga and it is no longer sidelined as an old person’s activity. In fact many professional sports now use Yoga as a critical part of their training routines to reduce injuries, improve strength, temprament, concentration and overall health.

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Increasing flexibility will help reduce the aging process. As we age, lactic acid build up contributes to muscular fatigue resulting in loss of range of movements, but yogic stretching helps release lactic acid from the muscle cells into the bloodstream so that it does not deter muscular contraction thus avoiding many other problems such as strains, sprains, cramps and pulled muscles. Stretching also assists in shaping your posture, allowing you to have a more youthful tone as you age.

Having a good posture can certainly make you look years younger, this is where flexibility plays a key role if you want to look young for years to come. Regular stretching helps reduce any blockages in the body and help the blood to flow more freely. This in itself will help you to look younger and improve your body and skin condition. It also helps to reduce stress which is a major cause of aging. It is easy to incorporate stretching throughout the day as it can be done anywhere and at any time. By doing it on a regular basis the exercises become easier as the muscles become more accustomed to the movements.

A body which may have been quite rigid at the beginning of learning yoga will start to experience a remarkable flexibility in all parts, even those parts which have not been consciously worked upon. Correct yogic stretching develops the entire body. It only takes a few minutes of stretching every day to help flex your muscles, release stress, boost your energy level, enhance your skin tone, and gives you the freshness and beauty of a youth.

Stretching is very important for gaining flexibility of the body and this stretching can be done effectively with the help of Yoga. Yoga stretching can also help to have greater strength, flexibility, and range of motion while reducing injuries, aches, pains, stiffness, and tension. People who stretch regularly and maintain a flexible body tone are less likely to require joint replacement (like hip, knee etc…) as they grow older.

There are tones of benefits of having and maintaining a flexible body and the collective effects can be very beneficiary in years to come!

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Considering the damage it can do to your body, it’s no surprise that anger is described in such violent terms.
The effects of anger can last up to a week: Outbursts send one’s heart rate and blood pressure skyrocketing
and increase the circulation of stress hormones.

Excessive anger raises the risk for heart disease and possibly the rate of hardening of the arteries. Anger
can even trigger potentially deadly heart rhythms in vulnerable people. While you can’t always control what makes you angry, you can learn to manage your anger so it doesn’t damage you.

1. Ta ke a brea ther . Breathe deeply or visualize a soothing image until you calm down
2. Look for humor in the situation
3. Burn it off . Even a short walk can release physical tension and reduce stress hormones
4. Be asser tive , not aggressive. Directly address the problem, calmly and effectively. How can you resolve it now or prevent it in the future? If you can’t, let it go!
5. If your an ger is out of con trol,  get professional help.

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Save money by learning and planning:

• Plan and shop for a week’s worth of meals at a time. You’re less likely to go out to eat or buy expensive convenience foods during the week when the ingredients for dinner are already in your kitchen.
• Keep a list of what leftovers are in your refrigerator and freezer. That way they won’t go to waste because you forgot they were there. And you can use the list when you’re planning next week’s meals.
• Watch grocery store ads for sales so that you can stock up on items you know you will use. You can sometimes save money by buying more of something. For example, some stores may give you a discount if you buy 12 cans of chicken broth instead of just 2 or 3.
• Learn how much food costs. That way you can tell when an advertised sale is really a good deal.
• Use coupons. People who invest time in saving and organizing coupons often save a lot of money.
• Learn how to grow your own vegetables. If you don’t have the space, see if there is a community garden in your neighborhood. Or try growing a few vegetables or herbs on your porch or in a sunny indoor room.
• See how many convenience foods you can cross off your list by planning something healthier and cheaper instead. For example:
  • Instead of potato chips, buy unpopped popcorn you can make at home.
  • Instead of ready-made desserts, make your own cookies, cakes, or muffins.
  • Instead of packaged snacks, buy crackers and peanut butter to make your own little sandwich snacks. Or snack on fresh or dried fruits.
  • Instead of sweetened cold cereals, buy oatmeal or other hot cereal.

Save money at the grocery store:

• Always shop with a list. Try not to buy anything that’s not on your list, but be open to unexpected sale items that you know you will use.
• Shopping with family members can cost you money if they talk you into buying things that aren’t on your list. Shop by yourself if you have to.
• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables when they’re in season. They are likely to be fresher and cost less.
• Buy frozen vegetables. They are picked at the peak of ripeness and have just as many—or more—vitamins and minerals as fresh. And they cost less.
• Buy store brands instead of name brands.
• Shop in the bulk foods aisle, where things like beans, rice, pasta, and other dried foods may be cheaper.

Save money elsewhere:

• Whole-grain bread is healthier than regular bread, but it usually costs more. If you have a bakery outlet in your community, you can buy day-old whole-grain bread there at a discount.
• Buy fresh produce at a farmer’s market or a produce stand. Prices are usually—but not always—lower there than at the grocery store.
• Many fruit orchards let customers pick the fruit themselves to save money.

Save money in your kitchen:

• Build up your cooking skills. Buy one good, general cookbook. Used bookstores are a good source.
• Invest in a slow cooker or Crock-Pot. With a slow cooker you can buy less expensive cuts of meat, because the long, slow cooking time makes them tender and very tasty. Plus, the dish cooks all day while you’re at work or busy with something else.
• Learn how to cut up a chicken. You can save money by buying whole chickens and cutting them apart yourself. And make soup with the bones.
• Make vegetables your main dish, and serve your meat as a smaller side dish. You’ll save money by eating less meat. You can also serve beans instead of meat.
• Make your own lunch, and take it with you to work.
• Use recipes you can double or triple, so you can freeze leftovers for later.
• When a recipe calls for milk, use dried fat-free milk. It’s cheaper and doesn’t need to be kept cold. You just add the milk powder to water to make only as much as you need.

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What is on A Nutrition Facts Label?

Food labels are designed to help consumers make healthy food choices. In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act went into effect. The USDA and the FDA developed these guidelines so that consumers would have access to useful nutritional information to help make smart choices.

But how do you make sense of a food label?

According to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, all packaged food products must contain the following information:

• Common name of the product
• Name and address of the product’s manufacturer
• Net contents in terms of weight, measure or count, and
• Ingredient list and Nutrition Facts

Reading Food Labels – the Bottom Line

Food Labels and Nutrition Facts enable you to compare products based on key ingredients. When comparing products, focus on those nutrients that are important to you.

• If you are concerned about your weight, you should compare products based on BOTH calories and fat.
• If you have heart disease or high blood pressure, you should focus on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. Choose products containing less than 20% Daily Values for fat, cholesterol and sodium.
• If you have diabetes, you should pay attention to the amount of carbohydrate, sugar added as well as fiber.

Source: How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label – FDA/Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition

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