Be Fit Fitness Blog

There’s nothing worse than winter tomatoes. They are tasteless! They lack the natural juiciness and flavor because they are picked green and allowed to ripen or try to ripen while in transport or on the supermarket shelves. For this reason, they are not and cannot be as nutrient rich as they should be. With the increased population demand for food and with the concretization of land and the decreasing amount of farmland, this is the end result. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about this in winter.

That is why I can’t wait for the warmer months and summer to return when I can again grow my own vegetables. Many people are used to store bought vegetables that they forget or don’t know what freshly ripened vegetables really taste like and even smell like!

Here are my reasons why one should grow their own vegetables, consider vegetable gardening:

- vegetables are more tasty, juicy because they are allowed to ripen naturally on the vine
- you don’t need to use pesticide, so you know your vegetables are pesticide free
- vegetables are more nutrient rich
- convenience, you just go outside and pick the ripe vegetables you need and when you need them
- extra vegetables can be frozen for the cold and winter months and used in cooking for example, tomatoes, peppers, beans….
- gardening is great exercise, a great full-body exercise workout outdoors without feeling like you are exercising
- gardening is relaxing and a great way to relieve stress. It brings you in tune with your environment and you learn to appreciate where your food comes from and how it grows.
- alleviates the strain of crop production on our existing farmland because you are maximizing land use.

Nowadays, even for people living in apartments or condos, you can still grow your own vegetables. Some apartments/condos have rooftop gardens and some cities also have community gardens. I remember while visiting Greece, I went to the rooftop of the hotel where I was staying at to get a better vantage point for picture taking and I noticed that they were growing vegetables for the hotel restaurant!

My article began with a discussion focused on how terrible tomatoes taste in winter and how through home gardening vegetables can be more nutritious, tasty and beneficial to your overall health and fitness.

I was watching the news the other day and they had an excellent feature on Rapper Fat and how, why he decided to lose a lot of weight - a turnaround real life story from a celebrity. At one time he mentions that he was well over 400 pounds (I think he said around the 450 to 460 pounds) and eating everything he could get his hands on (steak, lobster all at once…) since he had the money to do so.

One may ask, why the change in attitude and decision to lose weight?

Sometimes tragic events in our lives help put reality into perspective. They make us realize, see more clearly and dictate what we really need to do.

In Fat Boy’s case, his closest friend who was also younger died of a heart attack. It was at this point that he decided to change his lifestyle. He didn’t want to go the way of his friends and he wanted his children to have a father who was alive.

So Fat Boy decided to eat healthy, eat smaller portions and to exercise. I saw a video of him on TV and now he looks amazing. He’s at or closer to his ideal healthy weight. He’s lost a lot of pounds and he is now committed to his new lifestyle. He also no longer has diabetes which he had since he was 14 years of age. Other health problems always arise from obesity.

Even if someone has a heart attack and survives the problem is that you will have to be on medication either for the short or long-term. The medical community, drug companies vouch that these drugs are safe but if you read the huge list of the side effects on the label, there are many possible side effects. In my opinion and from a logical perspective, these drugs in the long-term just cannot be good or healthy for you. My best advice is to try to live healthy and to avoid these possible future health problems. It’s your best bet and chance to live a longer and happier life!

To conclude, sometimes we unfortunately need reminders to change the way we live. We constantly hear reminders of the dangers of being obese in the news, from governments and medical studies and the negative effects it has on society and family, friends. Fat Boy has been able to lose weight. His example just goes to show that by exercising, eating healthy and sticking to your goals and being patient, anyone can lose weight and achieve a healthy weight naturally.

BTW, he also decided to keep the “Fat Boy” name because it’s easy to remember adn branding is very important to a person’s success - it’s all in the name. Just ask Lady Gaga.

Here is a checklist of all the ideas that I have thought of to show you how you can reduce the amount sodium in your diet substantially. These days, many people consume too much sodium a day and this can have a negative impact on your health and it ends up costing the health system or your pocket book a lot of money in the long-term.

Do not buy prepared frozen prepared foods as they contain a lot of sodium. Even the frozen products that say they contain less amounts of sodium, they still contain too much!

Do not buy frozen meats or fish. Buy meats or fish that is fresh and freeze yourself.

Do not buy prepared meals from grocery stores.

Do not add salt when you are cooking. As flavoring, use fresh or dried herbs and spices instead.

Cut down on the number of times you eat at restaurants because you don’t know how much salt they add to foods. It’s always best to prepare your own meals. However, nowadays, some restaurants are indicating what goes into their meals.

Compare labels for the sodium content of products.

Always opt for the non-salted variety of your favorite product. For example, instead of salted peanuts, buy unsalted peanuts.

If you use these ideas, you can substantially reduce the amount of sodium that you consume on a daily basis. Basically the fresher the food is and the more control you have over the ingredients of your meals before processing, the less likelihood that the food will contain sodium.

In France a research study was conducted between the correlation of exercise, nutrition and breast cancer. The French researchers found that women who exercise and eat a low fat diet i.e. no saturated fats decrease the chances of getting breast cancer. The reason is that cancer cells seem to grow in the fatty tissue of a woman’s breasts. By reducing these fatty tissues, you possibly eliminate an ideal environment for the cancer to grow and you stand a better chance of not contracting this disease.

Other researchers refute this study claiming there is not enough evidence to support these findings. It’s possible that this could be true especially if other factors play a role in developing breast cancer like our polluted environment and stress in. I guess further and continuous study is necessary over the long-term.

Regardless of whether you believe either side, it’s a good idea to stay healthy by exercising regularly and throughout your life, eliminating the bad fats from your diet, avoiding overeating and eating foods high in antioxidants and Omega 3.

A lot of people have trouble falling asleep or going to sleep once they hit the pillow. There are of course those people who just lay down and are quickly asleep. It’s very important that you get good night’s sleep for your health, well-being and especially for those people who exercise on a regular basis. Your body needs time to rest and recover from the day!

What are the reasons that people may have trouble falling asleep? Some of the common reasons are that you are under a lot of stress at home or at work. You have a lot of things to think about for the next day or you are just not tired!

To be able to fall asleep quickly, you need to clear your mind of all these problems and worries, otherwise you may not fall asleep for hours or have a restless sleep or sleepless night!

My simple and effective technique for falling asleep quickly:

The key to falling asleep quickly is that you must clear your mind of everything. Basically, you must prepare yourself to just sleep.

Lay down in your bed in a comfortable position. I always lay flat on my back with my head rested on a pillow in a comfortable position.

Now breathe in slowly through your nose and breathe out through your nose. By doing this, you relax your body and your mind by replenishing it with oxygen and this helps you to focus on breathing and thus clear your mind.

If you focus only on the breathing and stay relaxed, you will fall asleep.

This is my meditation technique towards falling asleep quickly and it’s 99.9% effective. I tell myself sometimes that I will count the number of breaths that I have to take before I will fall asleep, but I never can because I end up falling asleep. It’s probably in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 long deep breaths.

On the other hand, if your bed is uncomfortable, you may consider purchasing a new quality mattress or good pillows such as those Obus Forme pillows. I find them to be amazing, although they may take a day or two to get used to.

In summary, I find this the most reliable, healthy and effective way to fall asleep naturally. Getting the right amount of sleep is critical to your health and well-being. It can be very frustrating and annoying if you cannot fall asleep. You may also want to consider taking Yoga classes. It also has many health and exercise benefits for both body and mind.

Since we live in a very fast-paced world, many people opt to purchase processed foods because of its convenience and the time saving involve in meal preparation. Processed foods can include those found at fast foods restaurants, frozen foods and pre-packaged foods. All of these types of foods contain too much sodium, in excess of what the daily intake of sodium should be plus many additives with strange names. Even restaurant foods and those healthy choice frozen and processed foods can contain too much salt and sodium. As you probably are aware, sodium in excess of the daily recommended amounts can cause many health problems, particularly heart problems.

To add to this, I also wonder how much sodium the prepared meals from those diet centers contain.

Of course there is a way to avoid all this unnecessary sodium and still eat healthy and delicious meals and it is to prepare your own meals. If you do it wisely, it can be quick and not very time consuming to do. Start by planning your meals for the week when you go shopping. Simply prepared dinners can be just as delicious as fancy ones which take a lot more time. What I like to do with certain foods is to pre-cook for a few days and store it safely in your refrigerator for 2 to 3 days like rice and chicken. So all you have to do when it is time to eat is to reheat when you are ready to eat. Other meats like fish and beef can be cooked quite quickly on the day you want to eat it. Preparing salads also doesn’t take very long. So basically in 30 minutes or less you can have a healthy and hot dinner ready to eat. Also, try to avoid adding salt to your cooking. Substitute salt with spices and herbs. It’s much healthier and tastes great!

Other meal preparation and meals tips:

For lunch, try opting for tuna and salads instead of deli meats whenever you can. They contain a lot of sodium plus other preservatives.

For breakfast, choose the cereals that contain the lowest amounts of sodium.

In summary, eventually governments will legislate companies and restaurants to substantially reduce the sodium content in their processed foods to much lower levels. In the meantime, these are just some of the ways to reduce your sodium intake.

As you may already be aware, Alzheimer Disease and dementia are on the rise amongst seniors these days, but there are a number of ways that you can prevent yourself from getting this disease in your senior years.

The first is to keep your mind always active. This can range from engaging in creative and artistic hobbies to reading and doing crossword puzzles. Anything that makes you think and keeps your brain engaged.

Eating properly and nutrition also plays an important role in the onslaught of Alzheimer disease.

Regular exercise is probably the most important factor in preventing these types of diseases and it’s never too late to start.

These are just the three key ways to avoid this disease for seniors.

I discovered this by accident that drinking a cup of coffee soon after being bitten by mosquitos, relieves the itching from mosquito bites. On Wednesday I received a lot of mosquito bites, everywhere. It was a hot night so I decided to stop by Starbucks for a coffee. After finishing my coffee I noticed my mosquito bites were not itching anymore.

Well on Thursday I got bitten again a lot and on almost every part of my body by those voracious little buggers! The itching was almost unbearable so I decided to give my theory and observation a try. I drank a cup of coffee again and guess what, the itching disappeared! Sure the bites are still there but the itching is not.

So I have to wonder, is it the caffeine in the coffee that puts an end to the itching or relieves the itching or is it some other ingredient in the coffee?

I put a brief blurb about this helpful health tip on my Twitter page, but since Twitter is so very limited in what you can say, I had to elaborate it here in more detail on my blog.

If you lose your temptation for fatty foods you will lose excess weight or maintain your ideal healthy weight. We all know that the fast food industry has inundated with clever marketing and low prices of foods high in fat. The temptation for fast food is everywhere and it’s so convenient! Now let’s take a look at the burger
industry. All the pictures we see are of large, juicy and beautiful-looking burgers. They may look beautiful and tasty, but these foods are packed with fat, fat and more fat! Before you cave in to the clever marketing of the fast food industry, think about where all this fat will be stored in your body. Think of all the negative health effects this fat will have on you in the long-term.

The best and natural way to lose weight is to eat healthy. I’m talking about foods low in fat, lots of vegetables and fruits. Forget about all the diet pills out on the market. They can get very expensive for you and most only have short-term benefits. If you stop taking them and continue to eat unhealthy, you will gain all the weight back in a New York minute. Also, some diet pills have negative ramifications on your health and body like the recent issues concerning Hydroxycut which have been in the news lately.

Also, I recommend that during the warm seasons you grow your own vegetables if you have a backyard or access to a plot of city land or growing space. It’s really easy to do. If you are not sure how, visit Pick It Fresh for help.

By planting your own vegetables, you will have access to truly organic, convenient and extremely inexpensive vegetables which are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. The best thing about planting your own vegetables is that you can pick them right when you want to eat them. Therefore they have a higher vitamin and nutrient content than store bought vegetables because they have actually been allowed to ripen on the vine and in sunshine.

Also, homegrown vegetables taste and smell fresh unlike store bought vegetables which are picked before they ripen and just don’t have the smell, juiciness or taste of fresh vegetables. Store bought vegetables tend to be bland.

The other benefits of growing your own vegetables are that it gives you a chance to spend time outdoors, exercise a bit and it’s a great stress reliever.

If you are not sure of how you should be eating or need some nutrition help, check out Fast Track to Fat Loss or get your free weight loss DVD.

Free Fat Loss DVD

At the gym yesterday, they had a pretty sophisticated machine that will calculate your body composition. Basically, you just stand on it and hold the handles and it will print out a detailed body composition report. I guess it uses a variety of variables, algorithms and figures out ideal results for each individual.

The personal trainers were doing this free for the members of the gym. Since I was working out on machine right there, I was asked if I wanted mine done. I said sure, since I was curious to know my results and confirm the machine’s accuracy.

Here are my results:

Age: 44
Height: 5’9” (175cm)

Body Weight: 154.6 pounds (70.1kg)
My target weight range should be between 153.4 to 161.6 pounds. So I am well within the target range. Personally I feel the healthiest anywhere from 150 to 160 pounds.

Total Body Fat: 8.7%
This is an excellent result. For the athletic category I should be within the 6 to 13% range.

Fat-free Mass 91.3%

Total Body Water: 73%. Again an excellent number since I should be within the 72-68% range.

BMI 22 which is normal.

If you ever get a chance, get yourself tested on such a machine. From the numbers generated, I think it is very accurate.

For your information, here are the complete category ranges. So if you know your percentage body fat, you can get an idea where you fit in!

Body fat: 5-12%
Total body water norms: 72-68%

Body fat: 13-19%
Total body water norms: 67-60%

Body fat: 20-29%
Total body water norms: 59-54%

Body fat: 30-45%
Total body water norms: 53-45%

Body fat ranges:
Athletic 6-13%
Normal 14-19%
Sedentary 20% or more