The Fitness/Diet Combination for Ultimate Health and Wellness

As far as I can see it is all a matter of mathmatics, if you consume more calories than you burn you will eventually become the size of a small continent, so if you like to eat, and lets face it who doesn't, then you must increase your activity to burn off the extra, simple. Anyone who blames anything else is kidding themselves, they are just eating more than they are burning.

So you have two choices, either reduce the amount of calories you eat, or up your daily exercise to compensate.

We've all heard it before. In order to be healthy, we must eat our fruits and vegetables and get physical exercise everyday. It's become the mantra of fitness buffs everywhere, and is touted so often that many of us have become deaf to the words. However, no matter how much you might hear the fitness/diet partnership preached you would be wise to heed the words of these gurus and even try to follow some of their instruction. The truth is that fitness and nutrition go hand in hand for a healthier lifestyle as well as a better quality of life overall. And while it may seem silly to worry about the long term effects of poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyles while we are young pups in our twenties, by the time middle age hits we will begin to concern ourselves with things like risk factors and cholesterol numbers. It is best by far to start early with fitness and nutrition and leave the fretting about unhealthy choices to someone else.

You Don't want to

end up like this

Get Moving

The first part of the fitness/diet combination consists of daily physical movement. This can be in the form of walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. It can also mean using a piece of cardiovascular equipment at the local fitness center or indulging in a regular game of racquetball. Aerobic exercise like this should be done at least five times each week for 30 minutes at a time to ensure a healthy cardiovascular system and weight maintenance program. You can up the benefits of your cardio workout by adding strength training two or three times each week. This can be through the use of a few free weights in your basement, or with the help of machines at the gym. It is best to begin with a personal trainer to ensure that your positioning is correct during your weight lifting exercises. This will help you to avoid injury in the early phase of your program. Raise your weight amounts gradually, and never do strength training on back-to-back days.

Eat Healthy

The second element of a fitness and nutrition program is eating smart. All of that hard work in the exercise realm won't do you much good if you are still grabbing a fast food lunch most days of the week. The United States Department of Agriculture has recently revised their food pyramid guide to help the general public make nutritious meal choices. The idea behind this updated pyramid is that you make good food choices every day from all of the major food groups, and that you support those healthy choices with physical exercise. To find out more information about the USDA food pyramid, you can go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/. The most important factor to keep in mind when choosing a nutrition program is to allow the bulk of your diet to consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grain carbohydrates. Low-fat dairy and lean meats and poultry can round out much of your menu, with refined sugars and fats making up only a small portion of your daily food intake.

Fitness and nutrition are more than simple slogans that have been thought up by health nuts - they are the best choices for a happy, healthy lifestyle. Think fitness and diet and enjoy the healthy benefits that they bring.