Men's Health and Weight Loss Tip #1: How to Regain Your Prime
and Never Lose It Again
Guys, let's face it.
Aging is an inevitable process for all of us. However, you don't
have to take it "lying down". As a matter of fact, you can
literally manage the whole ordeal and either hang on to your
body's prime condition or regain that which has been lost for
years following a few very basic principles.
Eating Habits
The first and most important aspect of your prime maintenance
program has to do with what you allow to enter your body via
your eating habits. You know what they say---"garbage in,
garbage out"---and it couldn't be more true than when it applies
to your longevity and how good or bad you will age over the next
few decades.
One thing that you will want to start doing immediately is to
wean your body off of its cravings for and dependence on sugar.
Sugar has a very insidious way of speeding up the aging process
by weakening your body in a number of ways. In fact, Nancy
Appleton, Ph.D., and author of "Lick the Sugar Habit" outlines
the following detriments of sugar intake:
-immune system suppression
-upsets the body's mineral
relationships
-can raise the body's triglycerides
-reduces the body's ability to defend itself against bacterial
infection
-causes a loss of body tissue elasticity and
function
-contributes to copper deficiency
-interferes
with calcium and magnesium absorption
-can weaken the eye
sight
-can cause general premature aging
-causes tooth
decay
-contributes to obesity
-can cause gallstones
-can cause heart disease
-can cause appendicitis
-can
cause M.S. (multiple sclerosis)
-can cause varicose
veins
-can lower vitamin E levels in the blood
-increases cholesterol and systolic blood pressure
-can
cause cataracts
-deregulates bowel movements
-can cause
myopia (near sightedness)
-can compromise the lining of the
capillaries
-can make the tendons brittle
-can
contribute to Alzheimer's disease
-can lead to the formation
of kidney stones
-feeds cancer
-the body changes sugar
into 2-5 times more fat than it does starch
-may induce cell
death
Need I say more about sugar?
Good. Let's move on.
Another thing that you'll want to get a handle on is alcohol.
Not such a bad thing in moderation, excessive alcohol
consumption inhibits the youthfulness and vibrance of the body
by making it more susceptible to a number of diseases and
infections which debilitate its ability to function.
Of course, some of the same diet intake strategies that are
affective in weight loss help to maintain prime condition as
well. Not making a habit of eating late or consuming a lot of
dairy and animal fat products will help to both keep you trim
and preserve the functioning of your arteries in order to help
your body keep control of its blood pressure and cholesterol
levels as well, measure which will protect you from developing
heart problems.
In addition to things that you will want to restrict from you
diet, there are several that you will want to make sure to
supplement it with or at least make sure that you get plenty of
in your regular intake.
First on this list is water. Cliche as it may sound, there
wouldn't be enough room to discuss all of the things that it
does to keep the body's systems clean and operable. Not to
mention the aesthetic benefit that it has on the clarity of the
skin.
Antioxidants will definitely need to be a part of your daily
food regimen. These substances fight the aging effects of
free-radical damage to the body. Some of the more popular
antioxidants include:
-Green Tea
-Vitamin A
-Vitamin B
-Vitamin C
-Vitamin D
-Vitamin E
-Selenium
-Soy and
Isoflavones
-zinc
Two of the easiest ways to add anti-oxidants to your diet are to
drink green tea daily and to use soy milk with added isoflavones
in the place of where you would use regular milk or cream.
Body Tone and Mobility
You may or may not be currently putting your body through
regular resistance training. However, doing so get more and more
important as you get older. Once past the age of 35, our bodies
lose approximately 1% of their muscle mass annually. Since it is
this muscle mass that gives your body its shape, form, and much
of its strength, you will want to use resistance training to
prevent atrophy and preserve as much of the actual muscle tissue
as possible.
A second way in which resistance train helps you is that it
keeps the bones strong and able to take abnormal amounts of
pressure. This "practice" for the bones will come in handy in
keeping them away from breaks and fractures that are very common
as well as debilitating in older people.
Even more important than resistance training is your body's
flexibility. Nothing contributes more to optimal mobility than
having flexible joints and muscles.
What's more is that a regular stretching routine not only adds
to mobility but also helps to guard against 3 of the most common
injuries---those to your back, knees, and hip area. Many of
these injuries are the result of a rigid body being twisted into
positions beyond its strength capacity or its range of
flexibility to the point that something "snaps". Once any of
these areas suffers major damage, it is generally never the same
again.
The third major ingredient in preserving prime body tone and
conditioning is cardiovascular activity. The benefits of such
activity are obvious: a stronger, healthier heart and minimized
body fat, the latter of the two helping the body maintain its
most attractive shape and tone.
Preserving What You Have
When someone said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure", boy were they on target.
Taking the best care of your body's condition before it
begins to give you problems is the absolute most important part
of any strategy to regain---or maintain---your prime.
Much of what has already been discussed has dealt with taking
care of yourself through diet and exercise. However, there are
additional things that demand attention cosmetically in order to
"put the icing on the cake" in all of this.
Getting the proper rest so that your body may recuperate
properly is of the utmost importance. Sufficient rest alone does
a great deal to retard at least the appearance of aging.
You'll feel a heck of a lot better as well.
Other things can be done include staying out of the sun to avoid
excessive skin damage, and following at least a basic washing
and moisturizing regimen to keep the face clean and fresh. Good
grooming also goes a long way as well with looking and feeling
your absolute best.
The Final Word
Finally, it is imperative that you keep at least a once-a-year
appointment with your doctor for an annual checkup. This is the
best way to catch any deficiencies that may slip through the
cracks with everything that you've got going on to keep yourself
in peak condition.
Even with lots of effort being put into your body's maintenance,
a few things are bound to slip through due to your individual
lifestyle, habits, and genetic predispositions. Therefore,
keeping tabs on your vital signs and being on the lookout for
common killers like heart problems, cancers, and auto-immune
deficiencies are paramount to your success.
Keeping all of these things in mind AND in practice will not
only help to restore and retain your prime, but will help you to
enjoy the absolute best overall quality of life that you
possibly can.
To Your Best Body,
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach YourBestBodyNOW.com