EXERCISE.
Food has a great significance for healing. If we eat harmful food for
many years, it does no good to our body and can at some stage cause
diseases. On the other hand, if the diet is replaced early enough with
a healthier one, it can reduce the problems and even heal some
diseases. Many may have experienced this.
Another
important factor is exercise, since mere diet does not always
guarantee good health. We also need a suitable amount of exercise and
need to reserve time for it. It is good to note that everyday routines
can include a lot of exercise during one year. If we walk up stairs
every day for 2 minutes instead of taking the lift, it adds up to over
12 hours of exercise per year, which is already quite a lot. If we
walk 700 meters back and forth once a week instead of taking the car,
it adds up to 12 hours of exercise per year.
Exercise
is important for better health. The benefits appear especially in the
prevention of cardiovascular diseases, because exercising improves the
condition of these body parts. Exercise is also useful for people who
try to lose weight. They can reach their objective easier with the
help of exercise. Let’s look at these both separately:
Effect on
the heart and circulation.
A good idea of the significance of exercise versus immobility is given
by a study made in Gothenburg. Swedish men were put into their beds to
rest for five days. When the muscle power of the heart was measured
both after and before the study, it was observed that the pumping
ability of the heart decreased by as much as 26 per cent during the
five-day rest. This indicates that if we do not move at all, activity
of the heart will decrease.
On the
other hand, if we move even a little regularly (it has been presented
that even ½ - 1 hours of daily exercise would be sufficient; this can
include chores like vacuuming, carrying shopping bags, clearing snow
off roads, chopping wood and such), it immediately decreases the risk
of heart diseases and increases the amount of good HDL cholesterol,
which prevents veins from calcifying. Research has indicated that the
amount of good HDL cholesterol increased already after about 2.5 hours
weekly walks.
Also, the
following example shows the usefulness of walking for the heart. The
people in the example ate quite fatty nutrition, but when they walked
enough, they remained healthy, despite their diet:
(…) Mann was
interested in these people, because they ate enormous amounts of fat,
but had hardly any heart diseases.
Mann got a
permission to make autopsies after members of the tribe died. The
cause of death wasn't a heart disease, but Mann in any case examined
their hearts and observed that their heart veins were in as bad
condition as those of modern Americans.
He
observed something else as well. The arteries in the hearts of the
Masai tribesmen were twice as big as those of the Americans because
these people walked tens of kilometers a day. Walking kept the veins
in good condition. The Masai people were in good condition in spite of
their fatty diet. (32)
Effect on
weight.
Exercise is beneficial also for those who are trying to lose weight,
because all exercise consumes energy and fat. All activities that
consume energy more than we can get from food, automatically lead to
losing weight. A general rule is that if we get about 500 kilocalories
(kcal; for example one grill flank portion has 350 kcal, and a
donut 290 kcal) less energy per day than we consume, we will loose
about half a kilo a week. Correspondingly, if the energy deficit is a
little smaller, losing weight is also little slower.
This is
well illustrated by the next quote. It indicates how slight changes in
diet and increase of exercise can easily cause you to lose several
kilograms. Already after one year the change is noticeable:
- Walking is
the best. It is the easiest, nicest and cheapest, although it takes
time. Walking consumes six kilocalories a minute, 360 kilocalories an
hour, if we walk quite briskly; something like six kilometers an hour.
If you could walk an hour per day and eat 140 kilocalories less than
you normally do, you would use up 500 kilocalories more than before.
Seven times five hundred is three thousand five hundred. That amount
corresponds to half a kilo of fat. After a week, you will weigh half a
kilo less. This time next year, you will have lost all of your extra
twenty kilos. It may feel like a long time in the future, but think
about what you did this time last year, and you'll notice that it is
just like yesterday! When you begin to see the results, time will pass
quickly.
(...) It is
true. You can make it sound so easy; yes, there must be some truth in
it, Donna thought. (33)
THE HEALTH
OF THE TEETH.
The food we eat also has an impact on the condition and health of our
teeth. Most teeth diseases do not appear by accident; they are usually
caused by the food we eat and bad tooth hygiene. If we pay a little
attention to both of these, we can avoid unnecessary problems with our
teeth. Important points include:
Sugar.
Ordinary sugar that is in lemonades
(up to 45–60
pieces in 1.5l bottle; many juices also have a lot of sugar, but they
are easy to dilute with water),
sweets and pastries, makes them dangerous for the teeth. They do not
contain important nutrients, just calories. This is the largest cause
of cavity formation in the teeth. It is easy for bacteria to form
glutinous ingredients from sugar, which then attach to the surface of
the teeth and form plaque. Other ingredients do not cause that big of
a danger, with the exception of sour ingredients found in, for
example, soft drinks, sport drinks, and juices. For example, protein
and fats do not damage the teeth at all. In the same way, eating food
containing fiber is useful, because it keeps the teeth and gums in
good condition.
The
importance of brushing our teeth
can surely not be exaggerated. If we brush our teeth regularly at
least two times a day, plaque cannot form on the teeth. It is
certainly wise to brush them immediately after eating food that
contains sugar to prevent acid attacks. Chewing gums containing
xylitol can also be good after meals.
The time
between meals.
One defense against cavity formation is to keep the times between
sugary meals long enough. Whether it is a question of the children's
sweet day, munching pastries or soft drinks containing sugar, it is
good to eat them with the main meal and not too often. If we eat them
constantly throughout the day, it is extremely bad for the teeth and
bacteria can easier destroy our teeth. Instead, if the times between
meals are kept long enough, there is no danger of this.
