Welcome to Gaia! ::

neonascence

Back to Guilds

Musings on organic gardening, frugal living, the environment, self-sufficiency and whatever else strikes our fancy. 

Tags: gardening, environment, organic, permaculture, green 

Reply Health & Beauty
[Fitness] :: Advice for everyone! :: Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]

Quick Reply

Enter both words below, separated by a space:

Can't read the text? Click here

Submit

Emily Stevens

PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:44 pm


You may want to read all the other posts for advice since all I do is complain. Thanks everyone that gave such helpful advice!


Hello everyone.

These are the topics that I'd like advice on and to discuss:

• Fitness
• Health
• Diet

From that, I'll explain each one a bit more.

• Fitness

I currently am obese (according to Wii Fit) and so I'd like to drop down to the normal range... which is losing about 50 - 70 pounds for me. However, there is no gym in Hope and the closest one is in Columbus which is WAY too far for anyone to walk. I do Wii Fit about 3 times a week for half an hour each time but you really can't call that exercise. Aside from that I sit at the computer and draw and that's about it. Also, I would love to go outside and jog around the neighborhood but I am extremely (EXTREMELY) self-conscious and am worried about people watching me and what they think. People tell me that no one's going to watch and no one's going to care and if they do then that's their opinion, but it doesn't help at all. I'm really stuck on what to do and would love some advice.

• Health

As of now I do not eat any fruits, period. I also eat very little vegetables. The only thing I eat is frozen foods because I have to cook it myself and I do not really know how to cook on a gas stove that well, though I try to when I can. The reason that I do not eat any fruits is because I haven't found any I like, besides kiwis. It's not that I don't like the taste, it's their texture. It just makes me want to gag. I like kiwis but don't eat them because they're like oranges, if you understand. The texture is similar. When I do eat vegetables it is VERY rarely, and is only potatoes or corn, both of which are not that healthy (because of the way it's prepared; butter and such). I'd like some advice on fruits and such. Possibly an easier way to eat them besides just raw, and maybe supplements such as vitamins?

• Diet

Okay... what exactly is a diet? I know it's basically eating only healthy food and little of it... but I'm not really sure how to diet. I've started trying to eat less than I use to, but it still consists of non-healthy food. I would go get healthy food, but I don't know what to get, and the Dollar Store doesn't carry much variety.

- - -

Thank you to anyone that can give me some advice. I know this is pretty personal and there's not much to say (I don't think) but anything is appreciated!
PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:21 pm


My advice broken into sections...

• Fitness

Wow, is WII fitness a source you want to trust?
I highly suggest going to a doctor or nutritionist to get a second opinion.

And you dont need to go to a gym, hell, go to YouTube and steal some work out programs that target all your muscles, OR whatever area needs the most help.

You're going to have to cut the umbilical cord to the computer, and take walks - - progressing to running over time. Make sure to do warm ups before hand, and cool downs after wards.

• Health

Also, you DO need to eat healthier, eating fruits and veggies is where you get energy and daily nutrients from...And if its a texture problem, you need to get around it..try juices?


• Diet

Diet has a couple definitions.
It can be a daily diet: what you normally eat, no necessarily good or bad.

Or a diet aiming to lose weight, following a low calorie/ low fat diet.
And YES, the dollar store has some nice stuff, and even in a can!
Like canned fruit slices? Fruit juices in the cooler section?

If you're serious about being healthy, you need to get over texture problem, and expand outside the Dollar Store...

PiercedPixie2
Crew


onicoe
Captain

PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:45 am


I'll follow the same format and build on PiercedPixie's advice.

Fitness

You don't have to start out with jogging. Just take an hour's walk around the block. Walking for a half-hour to an hour just three times a week has been proven to have health benefits. Nobody cares about people walking, almost everyone does it around the cities and towns. They might glance to see if you're someone they know but other than that they won't pay attention. Personally, people I pass on the street either make eye contact and smile or simply ignore me.

I second the youtube videos. There are some good ones on almost every subject from weight lifting to yoga. If you can save up any spare money and buy two dumbells (5 or 10 lb depending on how much you can lift) You can do weight bearing exercises in your own bedroom.

Similarly a cheap jump rope is good exercise to do in your backyard. You can try checking out craigslist in your area for fitness items.

I also have some pdf files on bodyweight (using your own body) exercises that I can upload if you are interested.

Health

Try buying frozen vegetables instead of prepared food. You can thaw them in your fridge and make a salad out of them, or toss them frozen into a pan with some oil and seasonings and make a stir fry to go over pasta or rice.

You could also mix fruit in a blender with some ice and milk and honey for a breakfast smoothie. Or simply a tasty treat whenever.

What I want to say is that you obviously have access to the internet. Try searching recipe databases for anything that looks interesting, or at least to give you ideas on how to prepare your food. I like to use google and do a search of "___ recipes" and browse through whatever pops up.

I actually prefer my fruit fresh as it becomes too sweet when cooked. You seem to have problems with the soft texture of ripe fruit? Have you tried apples that are crisp and give a crunch? Or is it all fruit?

Find what is in season and what is cheap and experiment. You don't have to use the whole fruit or vegetable in a dish. Try, say, half of a zucchini raw in a sandwich or with dressing and cook the other half to see how it tastes different. Make a point to eat what you make so you don't waste food. You might change your mind after the first few bites.

Diet

I'm going to say a diet is what you eat. It's your patterns and habits of the food you daily prepare and consume.

Most people (and it seems you too from the comment on how to diet) see the word "diet" to mean "I'm going on a diet to lose weight". That's not a viewpoint I agree with. You'll only end up sabotaging yourself in the end.

Focus on changing your habits to create a "diet for life". Lifelong eating habits that are nutritional and good for you. This doesn't mean cutting carbs or not eating sugar or only eating a slab of raw beef once a week. It means making informed choices to sustain your body and your health. Focus on whole foods : grains, beans, fresh fruits and vegetables, meat & seafood, and dairy (milk, eggs, cheese). These are your basic food groups. Try include a little of each every day.

Try to find healthier alternatives to the processed foods you eat. Make your own mac & cheese instead of using a box of Kraft mac & cheese. Instead of buying potato chips make your own tortilla chips by cutting up tortillas and brushing them with a little oil and seasoning and baking until crisp.

These are just suggestions to give you ideas. You don't have to change all at once either. Find one aspect of your diet that you would like to better and focus on that, then move on to the next thing you don't like, and so on. Start with trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, even if it's just an extra serving a week. That's still one more serving than you what you used to eat. Maybe months from now you'll think "hey I eat a lot of ___ and I'm not too happy about that" Then work on changing that. You see?
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:37 am


Yeah... I guess I'll go walking today to see how it turns out. Ignoring people is best, I suppose.

Well, I think mom's going to go grocery shopping this weekend or next, depending on we get money, so I'll go with her and pick up some fruits and vegetables and try to find some healthy stuff.

I assume trying to change from eating fat-filled stuff to healthy stuff is like quitting smoking cold turkey. Curse today's society and their McDonald's! :]

Alright, well... thanks for the advice. I'll definitely try it out more.

Emily Stevens


sunsetsmile
Crew

PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:45 pm


Hi! So, how did the walking go? That's one of my favorite things to do anyway, "exercising" or not. It's just nice to get out of the box into the real world, breathe, listen to the birds---anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!
PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:02 pm


sunsetsmile
Hi! So, how did the walking go? That's one of my favorite things to do anyway, "exercising" or not. It's just nice to get out of the box into the real world, breathe, listen to the birds---anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


Indeed! Give me some fresh air!

onicoe
Captain


Emily Stevens

PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:51 pm


It was pretty good actually. I walked with my mom so it wasn't completely boring.

I didn't today though... I've been so busy cleaning and such I didn't have time.

I'll charge my iPod when I go to my dads to get it so that I won't be bored out of my mind. D:

That's mostly what keeps me from walking, haha.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:19 pm


So, how's it going? Are you enjoying the walking more? Finding new things you like to eat? Getting stronger? Whenever I see your avatar, I hear the music from "Rocky"!!!! Don't give up! We're all cheering you on! biggrin

sunsetsmile
Crew


x Aihpos x

PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 2:24 pm


thank you for posting your answers ladies o= I am also trying to lose weight and this is helpful. heart I absolutely love this guild.
Oh and, my form of exercise is DDR xD No really, that game gets you tired. After I finish a song I do sit ups and arm circles, and a bit of stretching. Once a day for an hour 3nodding

----------------
Singing-Along to: Daft Punk - Superheroes / Human After All / Rock'n Roll
via FoxyTunes
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:24 pm


x Aihpos x
thank you for posting your answers ladies o= I am also trying to lose weight and this is helpful. heart I absolutely love this guild.
Oh and, my form of exercise is DDR xD No really, that game gets you tired. After I finish a song I do sit ups and arm circles, and a bit of stretching. Once a day for an hour 3nodding

----------------
Singing-Along to: Daft Punk - Superheroes / Human After All / Rock'n Roll
via FoxyTunes


Sounds like fun to me! That's the secret, doing something fun. Good for you! biggrin

sunsetsmile
Crew


onicoe
Captain

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:07 am


I've always been curious about ddr. But I have two left feet. xd

Glad these suggestions are helpful.
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:22 pm


A few notes on "diets" :

No matter what your size is, a healthy body is affected by what you eat, not neccessarily how much you eat.

That being said, it's not okay to go scarf 3 watermelons and promise yourself that you'll do 200 crunches later. You need to find the right amount of calories to go along with how many calories you normally burn per day. If you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight; and vice-versa. A normal adult burns about 2000 calories a day, and this varies with level of activity, muscle mass (muscle burns more calories than fat), and natural cholestorol. There are calculators online that measure from health, weight, sex, and age to tell you how many calories you should eat and how they should be distributed--type in "Daily Calorie Calculator" into a search engine and you shoudl find one. I eat constantly and I'm at a healthy weight without any regular (read: forced) exercising. Most of what I eat is low-calorie (raw fruits and veggies), and I walk most places in town so I burn off most if not all of what I eat.

Snacking is the ultimate calorie-smorgasboard (no idea how to spell that). Instead of chips and cookies and marshmallows, go for cucumber slices, bell pepper strips dipped in ranch dressing, carrots, watermelon squares, a handful of grapes (I think a cup of grapes is around 150 calories--they're the most calorie dense fruit that I've researched), pickles, olives (a small amount, though; they're about 5 calories apiece), cantoloupe, strawberries, things like that.. Small "munchie" type foods that are as satisfying as other snacks but much less disastrous. One medium-sized cucumber is about 45 calories, as compared to 110 or 150 calories in a handful of chips. "100-calorie packs" are quickly becoming popular, but you don't have to buy those wasteful pre-packaged yups to get them. Stock up on 1-cup tupperware/jars and research how many calories are in your favorite foods, then dish out accordingly. MSN's search engine pops up good conversions if you just type in "Calories in (inseart fruit/veggie here)" And if you really want chips, look at the serving size. I think 11 tortilla chips is about 110 calories, so take ten chips and break them in half, and you have 20 bite-sized chips whee

(Gosh I'm long-winded neutral )

Okay, on to what you eat:
Limiting calories isn't enough, because different foods absorb into your body in different ways. Simple sugars (Like the refined ones found in soda, cookies, doughnuts, and things like that) have already been broken down when they were isolated from the plant they came from. High fructose corn syrup (a favorite of drink manufacturers) has been stripped from the corn, boiled down, refined, concentrated, and then added to your product. All it takes to be absorbed into the system is a couple of seconds in your stomach acids. Conversely, the sugars in, say, a cantaloupe are still ingrained into the fruit's flesh, so the fruit has to be broken down and refined by your stomach and then converted by your enzymes and the cantaloupes into something that's absorbable by your body. Not all of the sugar in the cantaloupe can be converted this way, so you don't actually absorb all of the sugar that you ate. As a rule of thumb, the less processed something is, the better it is for your body. For example: Fresh peaches are better than frozen, frozen peaches are better than canned, and canned peaches are better than one of those commercial fruit pies, which--even if they're made from real fruit, the fruit has been stripped down, cut up, concentrated, and mixed with tons of preservatives.

Basic rules of fats and how they're absorbed: Saturated fats are the worst kind for your body. They're absorbed very quickly and typically contain trans fats and high amount of cholestorol. They also usually boost the amount of "bad" cholestorol in your body. Yes, your body needs cholestorol but it's perfectly equipped to make its own. Too much of anything is bad. The way you can usually tell saturated fats is that they're solid at room temperature (think butter, margarine, the fat you see in cuts of meat). The two other types of fat are polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat, and these two have different health benefits. Poly's lower the amount of "bad" cholestorol in the body, but are also prone to oxidation, which can cause an increase in free radicals in your body (so eat lots of antioxidants ^^). Mono's also lower the bad cholestorol and have been suggested to raise the good cholestorol. Poly's are harder to break down, therefore are absorbed slower into the body. Mono's are broken down much slower than saturated fats, but are still absorbed quicker than poly's.

Hmm... I've almost exhausted my immediate brain references...

One more thing: It's the shape and size of your body that counts, more than the number on the scale.

Everyone's body is different, so your healthy weight will look different than your best friend's or even your sibling's. Looking at your parents, grandparents, and siblings can give you an idea of your healthy shape, but you really need to pay attention to your own body. Generally belly fat, large ankles and wrists, swollen feet or hands, and facial fat are the only "bad" areas to have fat--and even then it can be genetics and perfectly fine for your health. Wide shoulders, big hips, big breasts, muscular thighs and arms, big feet, and being tall can all greatly increase your healthy weight. I'm 5'2" and 135 lbs, but I'm well proportioned according to my body frame. My mother is 5' even and she has a much smaller frame and less muscle than I do, so her perfect proportion is around 100 lbs. BMI calculators can give you a wide idea of how in shape you are, but if you're not jiggly in all the wrong places, you're probably healthy wink

o0 Mystic Mama 0o
Crew

Rainbow Nerd


Yanueh
Crew

Shameless Shapeshifter

PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:24 am


Quote:
• Diet

Okay... what exactly is a diet? I know it's basically eating only healthy food and little of it... but I'm not really sure how to diet. I've started trying to eat less than I use to, but it still consists of non-healthy food. I would go get healthy food, but I don't know what to get, and the Dollar Store doesn't carry much variety.

People have already explained what a diet is, so I'll skip to what I've got to say about them...

There are various things I've learned over the years. The first is that different people have different optimum diets - one man's panacea is another man's poison. I believe in following the diet that works best for you, be it veg*n, omnivore, or even virtually carnivore. (The last one is rare, but it happens.)

That said, there is one factor common in healthy diets of any kind, and that is a lack of highly processed and refined foods.

Here's some advice that anyone can follow...
-Avoid "white" foods: white sugar, white flour, white potatoes, etc.
-Eat things as close to their natural state as possible - IE, eat oranges instead of drinking orange juice.
-Stay away from low-fat versions of products. Contrary to popular belief, with the exception of trans-fats there is no such thing as a "bad" fat. Fat is a long-lasting source of energy that keeps you full and running longer. When low-fat versions of products are made, the fats are replaced with processed sugars - eeeeew!
-Years of selective breeding has produced fruit that is basically junk food from the trees! Avoid table grapes, apples, and bananas. Go for citrus, melons, and berries. (Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples, I understand, are better in this regard.)

A website I recommend for your perusal is the Weston A. Price Foundation.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:11 am


~Fitness

For my fitness, I go to the gym and walk my dog for half an hour. I know those options aren't really open to you but think about what shape you want to be in. I do a lot of cardiovascular things like the treadmill and walking because my I have asthma and need to build my lungs and heart up before I try any form of fitness. After I build up more of an endurance I can strength train and therefore build up some muscle endurance. A good way to get all of that and more is to do martial arts. If theres a martial arts studio in your area I recommend trying it out. My parents used to teach karate at a school before I was born and then got me into it.
I don't do karate anymore because it wasn't my thing but there are so many different forms of martial arts that you are sure to find one the suits you. I did. I tried kali and got really good at it. (kali is filipino stick fighting) I haven't done it in a while though because it's expensive..hehe..
If you find yourself being stationary to much then moderate when you do the WiiFit and when you sit and draw. Do a quick workout in the morning and then one during the middle of the day then one at night.

~Health
I'm guessing the WiiFit goes by BMI. To stay healthy you need a balance between exercise and diet. I'll get more into food under the 'diet' section. If you are finding you have health problems related to being overweight or not having the right vitamins in your system look at the organic section of your local supermarket for natural supplements. They have something for all problems. Try teas too.

~Diet
A diet is literally what one normally eats. It doesn't have to mean it's healthy or not. What you're looking for is a healthy diet. If you are serious about the exercise I do not recommend low carb
dieting.
Low carb is basically cutting out more carbohydrates from your diet which are basically sugars. However, you need to find natural sources of sugars and shy away from things like high fructose corn syrup.
If you don't like fruits or vegetable because of textures, try all natural/organic juices. Theres one brand I usually get, that has both vegetables and juice in it but you can't taste the vegetables at all. (~I can't remember what the brand is but it's not V8...lol.)

*edit*
I remember the name now it's Bolthouse juices.


If you don't eat meat, you probably do though based on the other foods you eat, lower the portions of meat on your plate in relation to natural grains and accompany it with a vegetable. If you don't eat meat then you will need to find a source of B12 which can be found in some cheeses and fortified cereals. For dieting, I recommmend a calorie counting diet.
These two sites can help
The Calorie Counter
(for food)
Calorie Calculator
(to figure out how many calories you should eat.)

When calorie counting, don't go to much above or below what your intake should be. I like the caloric dieting because you still get the amount of nutrition but you portion out meals.

luulamax


Yanueh
Crew

Shameless Shapeshifter

PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:50 pm


Quote:
~Diet
A diet is literally what one normally eats. It doesn't have to mean it's healthy or not. What you're looking for is a healthy diet. If you are serious about the exercise I do not recommend low carb
dieting. Low carb is basically cutting out more carbohydrates from your diet which are basically sugars.

As someone who has been actively practicing and studying low-carbing since '03, I DO recommend it. Like any diet, it's not for everyone, but it's not to be treated as a menace to your health, either.

Trust me: most of the people who knock low-carb diets are pathetically ignorant - even the so-called "diet experts" who, as far as diet goes, are still in the dark ages.

There is nothing, nothing wrong with moderating your carbohydrate intake. In fact, your body does not need to consume even one gram of sugar to survive. However, it does need protein and fat. Here's a neat little fact: the body has a cool trick that seems to have escaped the attention of 90% of "diet experts" out there: gluconeogenesis. Your body can actually convert protein into all of the carbohydrates it needs.

Take it from someone in the foxhole: low-carb diets do work, and they can work wonders.
Reply
Health & Beauty

Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]
 
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum