Fit Living

Good nutrition and exercise don't just slow down muscle loss and aid with weight control, they also help a woman guard against heart disease, stroke, a broken hip because of osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, cancer, even the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Those risks increase with family history, inactive lifestyle, and eating a poor diet.

3 Good Nutrition and Anti-aging Secrets
It's a simple recipe for optimal aging: Good nutrition plus regular exercise.

As a woman ages, her body naturally loses muscle -- and body fat accrues more easily. Triggering these changes are alterations in a woman's hormonal balance, says Kathleen M. Zelman, LD, RD, MPH, WebMD's director of nutrition.

Good nutrition and exercise don't just slow down muscle loss and aid with weight control, they also help a woman guard against heart disease, stroke, a broken hip because of osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, cancer, even the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Those risks increase with family history, inactive lifestyle, and eating a poor diet.
3 Good Nutrition and Anti-aging Secrets

The following nutrition tips and anti-aging secrets can help women age gracefully.

1. Keep weight gain at bay: Cut back on calories, get regular aerobic exercise, and do strength training -- like lifting hand weights. The more muscle the body has, the more calories it can burn, says Zelman. And there's an added bonus: belly fat melts away when you exercise.
2. Keep bones strong: Get adequate calcium and vitamin D. Vitamin D is critical to calcium absorption in your body. While the body can synthesize vitamin D from sun exposure, as the body ages it's less able to process the sun's vitamin D.
3. Prevent heart disease and more: Enjoy the bounty native to Mediterranean countries -- plenty of seafood, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and olive oil. Red meats are eaten less often and wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts. The good nutrition found in a Mediterranean-style diet is thought to lower heart disease risk, because it is low in calories and fat, especially trans fats and saturated fats.

9 Healthy Nutrition Basics

Advice on proper eating can be confusing. Here are some basic tips for good nutrition:

1. Take a daily multivitamin for your age group. These will compensate for gaps in your nutrition picture. Women over 50 need less iron than younger women.
2. Boost calcium and vitamin D. That means three to four 8-ounce servings of low-fat dairy every day. If you are lactose intolerant, try hard cheese, yogurt, fortified products like orange juice, canned salmon, broccoli, and legumes. Take 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium daily if you are not getting adequate calcium in your diet.
3. Eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes. These will give you plenty of disease-fighting antioxidants, more fiber, and less sodium.
4. Get enough fiber. Whole-wheat pasta, cereals, and breads, oatmeal, brown rice, popcorn, and fresh fruits and vegetables all are high in fiber.
5. Eat the right proteins. Get a balance of lean protein (like skinless chicken), fatty fish like salmon (with omega-3 fats), and vegetable protein.
6. Enjoy a vegetarian meal a few times a week. A plant-based diet is low-calorie and dense in vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting antioxidants.
7. Cut salt intake. Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure.
8. Choose fats wisely. And keep them to a minimum. Avoid trans and saturated fats, like those found in butter, margarine, salad dressing, fried foods, snack foods, and sweets. "Good fats" include many vegetable oils like olive oil, some nuts, and fish, such as salmon and tuna.
9. Curb the sweets. Limit the soft drinks, sugar, and sweets; they can be loaded with calories and have little nutrition.

Want to do your part to keep your body vibrant, strong, and healthy? Make these simple steps for good nutrition a part of your life as you age.
The following nutrition tips and anti-aging secrets can help women age gracefully.

1. Keep weight gain at bay: Cut back on calories, get regular aerobic exercise, and do strength training -- like lifting hand weights. The more muscle the body has, the more calories it can burn, says Zelman. And there's an added bonus: belly fat melts away when you exercise.
2. Keep bones strong: Get adequate calcium and vitamin D. Vitamin D is critical to calcium absorption in your body. While the body can synthesize vitamin D from sun exposure, as the body ages it's less able to process the sun's vitamin D.
3. Prevent heart disease and more: Enjoy the bounty native to Mediterranean countries -- plenty of seafood, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and olive oil. Red meats are eaten less often and wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts. The good nutrition found in a Mediterranean-style diet is thought to lower heart disease risk, because it is low in calories and fat, especially trans fats and saturated fats.

9 Healthy Nutrition Basics

Advice on proper eating can be confusing. Here are some basic tips for good nutrition:

1. Take a daily multivitamin for your age group. These will compensate for gaps in your nutrition picture. Women over 50 need less iron than younger women.
2. Boost calcium and vitamin D. That means three to four 8-ounce servings of low-fat dairy every day. If you are lactose intolerant, try hard cheese, yogurt, fortified products like orange juice, canned salmon, broccoli, and legumes. Take 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium daily if you are not getting adequate calcium in your diet.
3. Eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes. These will give you plenty of disease-fighting antioxidants, more fiber, and less sodium.
4. Get enough fiber. Whole-wheat pasta, cereals, and breads, oatmeal, brown rice, popcorn, and fresh fruits and vegetables all are high in fiber.
5. Eat the right proteins. Get a balance of lean protein (like skinless chicken), fatty fish like salmon (with omega-3 fats), and vegetable protein.
6. Enjoy a vegetarian meal a few times a week. A plant-based diet is low-calorie and dense in vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting antioxidants.
7. Cut salt intake. Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure.
8. Choose fats wisely. And keep them to a minimum. Avoid trans and saturated fats, like those found in butter, margarine, salad dressing, fried foods, snack foods, and sweets. "Good fats" include many vegetable oils like olive oil, some nuts, and fish, such as salmon and tuna.
9. Curb the sweets. Limit the soft drinks, sugar, and sweets; they can be loaded with calories and have little nutrition.

Want to do your part to keep your body vibrant, strong, and healthy? Make these simple steps for good nutrition a part of your life as you age.

Water exercise is highly recommended for arthritis because the water provides resistance to help strengthen muscles, while the buoyancy relieves pressure from the joints.

Arthritis encompasses more than 100 related diseases of the joints. Typical symptoms include pain, stiffness, swelling, joint deterioration and deformity. In the United States, it is estimated that between 30 and 60 million people are living with arthritis.

The most prevalent forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. This article will focus on osteoarthritis as it is by far the most common form of the disease, and it usually affects people over the age of 50.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease, thought to be the result of wear and tear on the affected joints. Repeated injuries and/or surgeries are also considered to be contributing factors.

The joints most frequently affected are the hands, wrists, hips, knees, lower back and neck. With osteoarthritis, the cartilage between the bones can deteriorate to the point where there is little or no remaining cushion between the bones of an affected joint. In advanced cases, the bones actually rub against each other causing friction, further cartilage deterioration, pain, swelling, stiffness, and/or joint deformity.

Traditional treatments generally include pain-killing drugs, steroid injections into the joints, or surgical joint replacement.

Recent research and clinical trials have confirmed the importance of exercise in the treatment of arthritis. Major medical teaching institutions and pharmaceutical companies are now recommending exercise therapy as part of the treatment for arthritis. For example, from Johns Hopkins University:

* Regular exercise can keep the muscles around affected joints strong, decrease bone loss and help control joint swelling and pain.
* Regular activity/exercise replenishes lubrication to the cartilage of the joint and reduces stiffness and pain.
* The therapeutic importance of exercise and physical activity in the management of arthritis is new to many patients and physicians.
* Patients with arthritis need clear messages (from their doctors) about the benefits of exercise.
* Lack of physical activity/exercise is associated with increased muscle weakness, joint stiffness, reduced range of motion, fatigue and general deconditioning.
* Exercise needs to be directed at the entire body and not just the joints that are affected with arthritis.
* Strengthening the muscles surrounding affected joints helps to relieve pressure on the joint and cartilage

To strengthen your muscles, resistance training is required. Water exercise is also highly recommended for arthritis because the water provides resistance to help strengthen the muscles, while the buoyancy relieves pressure from the joints. Swimming laps, water walking or water aerobics are good examples.

The Fitness Arthritis and Seniors Trial (the largest clinical trial to evaluate the effect of exercise on arthritis) included 439 adults aged 60 and older found that those in the study that exercised regularly had significant improvements in symptoms of physical disability, improved physical performance and reduced pain.

Daily range of motion/flexibility exercises are a very important factor pertaining to the health and maintenance of joint cartilage. Cartilage does not have blood vessels to provide nutrients, and therefore, it requires regular compression and decompression to absorb nutrients and stimulate remodeling and repair.

Maintaining a healthy weight is also very important for joint health, as the more you weigh, the more pressure is placed on your joints and cartilage.

Proper nutrition and hydration are important to the health and well being of every cell in our bodies. Studies have found that nutrients such as glucosamine, chondroitin, and fish oil (containing omega 3 & 6 fatty acids) provide a beneficial and nutritionally-rich environment that supports the natural growth and repair of joint cartilage and helps to reduce the pain associated with osteoarthritis.

Alternative medicine practitioners often recommend products containing nutrients such as glucosamine, gelatin and MSN to encourage the growth and repair of cartilage.

Foods rich in antioxidants, such as fruits and green leafy vegetables, will help to relieve inflammation by removing free radicals in the body that are often associated with inflammation. Avoiding saturated fats is helpful as they are considered to be inflammatory.

At this stage of our lives, it is most important to exercise regularly and remain physically active.

It only takes a small effort to Be Fit Over Fifty.

Is it lack of money?

Lack of motivation?

Perhaps they lack the ideal workout plan?

Nope. It's TIME. Or rather the lack thereof.

"We know that 50% of the population don't exercise and the most commonly cited barrier to exercise is lack of time." This quote comes from exercise researcher Martin Gibala, a kinesiology professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Gibala put his theory to the test in a study that was published in the Journal of Physiology. In it Gibala compared a group who exercised "traditionally" -- 90 to 120 minutes per day -- with another group exercising far less: Only 20 minutes per day and only three days per week.

That's a whopping one hour per week folks!

Did you know that Jon Benson's "7 Minute Muscle" plan calls for only five 7-minute workouts with resistance training (weights or body weight) plus only 9 minutes cardio a few days per week?

And that actually works?

Yeah... you bet it does.

If you do the math, that's about an hour per week as well.

This is the "Level 1" workout. There are three levels depending on your goals and exercise tolerance.

Find out more here -- brief is best!

Back to Gibala's study:

In just two weeks, both groups showed improvement in both exercise performance and oxygen uptake. (Remember, fat burns in the presence of oxygen.)

The kicker is that both groups were almost identical in their improvement. Why? Because the brief exercise group trained with greater focus and more intensity -- exactly how Jon suggests you train.

This is just one of dozens of studies that confirm the benefits of shorter but more intense workouts.

However, there is a catch: Train too hard and you will shut down your fat-burning furnace.

Your body perceives over-exertion done over an extended period of time as a sign of pursuit. It can trigger an ancient hormonal sequence that says, "I'm being chased by a tiger! Horde the fat!"

The body literally shuts down what it considers to be unnecessary activity in favor of self-preservation. And guess what? Burning off those hips and love handles is not a biological necessity.

You have to learn when to hit it hard AND when to rest and recover.

Finally, you have to put yourself into the proper mental state in order to see greater results in the shortest period of time.

Jon devotes an entire chapter to putting your mind into your muscle to make gains faster than ever before in "7 Minute Muscle." You can read more here --- brief is best!

Just remember these three key points:

1. Time is the greatest barrier to fitness.
2. Workouts can be short and very effective.
3. The body goes where the mind directs.

And now you know!

Pilates benefits are winning the hearts and minds of thousands of baby boomers all over the world as they take part in slower, gentler forms of exercise like Pilates. As we age, other forms of exercise like jogging or traditional workouts are no longer an option because of the stress it puts on joints. Pilates benefits are the perfect solution for baby boomers because it provides a full body workout without the wear and tear.

Basic Pilates includes stretching, lengthening for better posture and resistance training. You are working your body in a gentler way but getting the same results and in many ways the results are better.

Let’s step back in time to a place where Jane Fonda ruled the roost. Bounce, dance, high kick and over stretch yourself into fitness. And remember…feel the burn! No pain no gain!

Now jump ahead thirty years to present day. Those loyal aerobic class takers are aging and are a part of the fastest growing group in the USA, Baby Boomers. But now, they can’t jump up high, stretch down low, or run around the bases like they used to. They are aging.

The perfect fitness solution

Although men’s health and fitness has always revolved around more active activities such as sports and running, Pilates has everything a male baby boomer needs to stay in shape and even increases their level of fitness with less stress and risk to the body.

For female Baby Boomers, maintaining flexibility and strength as they age is important. Pilates is so gentle on the joints, it really does lend itself to an aging population.

Key Pilates Benefits for Baby Boomers include:

• Pilates can slow down the signs of aging by making your joints and muscles more pliable thus making every day movements easier.

• It is a gentle type of exercise that leaves your body feeling relaxed but also provides the full body workout that other traditional workouts do.

• The deep breathing that accompanies Pilates exercise can oxygenate your blood and leave you feeling exhilarated after a workout.

• Pilates assists in continuing your fitness goals when you’re at an age when your body is not capable of doing what it used to do.

• It increases joint movement, overall mobility and bone density which is especially important as you age.

• Pilates decreases stress and tension, joint inflammation, swelling and stiffness to provide a better quality of life for you.

Winning Formula for Men and Women

These are all great reasons for any Baby Boomer to join their local Pilates class. Pilates benefits are effective for both male and female Baby Boomers. The great thing about Pilates is that it is not gender oriented. Anyone can do it and anyone can get great results. Because Pilates is a progressive discipline, you may not be able to do some of the exercises. As you continue on, they become easier and easier.

Try it and see how Pilates can enrich and change your way of life.

Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art that consists of a series of very slow, gentle, and continuous movements, is highly suitable as a low-impact exercise activity for senior citizens. Practicing the ancient art enables older people to develop stronger muscles and increase both their balance and concentration. Therefore, this low-impact activity helps the elderly regain physical functioning that may have been lost during periods of inactivity.

One recent study involved 72 people between the ages of 65 and 96. One group was given an hour-long class twice a week for a period of six months while the second group was promised a four-week class at the end of the study. Even with this low-impact program being held only twice a week, significant improvements emerged after just three months. More importantly, benefits improved additionally as the study moved to six months of participation, a clear indication that additional health gains could be derived from a longer periods of participation.

These findings contrasted with previous research on exercise programs that suggested much longer periods of time were needed to show significant improvements. At the completion of the study, the Tai Chi students demonstrated increased confidence in their ability to perform more vigorous exercises. Also in sharp contrast to previous research regarding exercise programs where data indicated that half of all sedentary people are unable to maintain their newly adopted exercise program, only 18 percent of participants in the Tai Chi class dropped out of the program.

The research from the study appears to indicate that Tai Chi is a more attractive form of fitness activity for an aging population. In fact, class members called the lessons a positive experience, with many reporting wide ranging benefits that increased personal energy and while also relaxing them at the same time.

In considering Tai Chi as an exercise method, consider the following results of this second study published in a recent article in the Journal of Advanced Nursing. A study of fall-prone senior citizens, living in residential care with an average age of 78, examined 59 individuals. Twenty-nine members of the test group were given a 12-week Tai Chi course, three times a week. Thirty members of the test study formed a non-exercise control group.

The twenty-nine member group involved in Tai Chi showed significant improvement in their physical fitness. Among the many improvements were stronger knee and ankle muscles, increased mobility and flexibility, and perhaps most importantly, better balance. After the exercise program had finished, the time taken by the Tai Chi group to walk six meters had fallen by 25 per cent, while the control group took 14 per cent longer.

The exercise program used in the research consisted of a 35 minute total workout. Subjects began with 10 minutes of warm up then followed that up with, 20 minutes of Sun-style Tai Chi movement. To complete the workout, the active group finished with five minutes of cooling down exercises. While involved with the exercises, traditional instrumental music was played as an aid to help the group maintain the slow and continuous movements that Tai Chi demands.

Prior to the 12-week exercise program and then again after it had been completed, both groups underwent a number of physical tests to assess their muscle strength, balance and confidence in avoiding falls. The study’s participants also reported any falls that they experienced during the 12-week period. While 31 per cent of the exercise group said they had had a fall, the non-fitness oriented group reported a 50 per cent fall rate. These numbers contrasted significantly with those from data taken the year before the research was done. While the control group had an almost identical 57 per cent fall rate the prior year, the exercise group had reported that 66 per cent of them had had a fall.

Even a low-intensity exercise such as Tai Chi has enormous potential for increased health in seniors. Because it helps older people avoid falls through the development of balance and muscle strength, the martial arts exercise would also help keep seniors from the bone fractures that often accompany such falls. Perhaps most importantly, it is precisely the low-impact, modestly strenuous activity that is actually reasonable for previously sedentary seniors to do without overloading their bodies with too much physical stress.