Health Network News

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Most people would change their weight, if given the opportunity. Fifty pounds here, twenty pounds there. But why is losing weight thought of as some magical transformation that is out of our control? Can’t we control our weight through simple exercise and diet? If these are so simple, why are they so hard?

Well, if you consider our standard of living, then the answer may be more apparent. Fifty or a hundred years ago, most of us would have had jobs that were much more bodily challenging, so we would have burned a lot more calories over the course of a day. Balance that to our jobs today, and you can certainly see the distinction. Most of us fortuitously sit at our desks all day, and grumble when we need to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Another normal trial that leads to the huge and growing obesity plague in our society today is the food that we eat. We simply don’t eat nearly as healthful as we used to. Back in the good old days, we would eat home grown, local food that was cooked new every night. Today, however, we are hard pressed to go a couple days without stopping by the burrito place or the ice cream stand on the way home from our jobs.

So, it is fairly unambiguous why it is getting more fun and easier to be plump and out of shape. But what do we do? As you would expect, we need to enhance the amount of exercise that we do, and cut the amount of unhealthy food that we eat. What’s the best way to do this? Most experts consider that slow and relentless is the best way. Sure, we’d like to take that special pill and wake up looking like those models on the covers of magazines, but we need to be sensible. A slow, steady method is generally the best.

As far as diet goes, simply cut back just a little bit on fast food, and try to eat a few more healthful things during the week. Stay away from red meat, and sugary carbohydrates. Eat more lean protein and complex carbohydrates like oatmeal and wheat pasta. It doesn’t take much, and diminutive changes can add up to a pretty important change over time.

As far as exercise goes, walking is probably the best that you can do. It’s straightforward, it’s mindless, and you’re likely already pretty good at it. You don’t need any unusual equipment or even special shoes. Just whatever sneakers you own now, and an open stretch of sidewalk, and you’re good to go. Most folks find that starting off by only walking ten or fifteen minutes every day is a great place to start. Pretty soon you’ll be building up some good momentum, and you’ll mechanically develop some fairly healthy habits.