One hundred years ago, Americans didn’t worry much about keeping fit. In those days, 40% of the population was reaping and sowing, herding and mowing its way through life on pre-industrial farms. In coastal cities men were loading and unloading ships from dawn to dusk without a crane in sight. Builders, lumberjacks and railroad men hammered nails and sawed wood with their muscles, not power tools. And for those doing the washing, cooking and scrubbing at home, life wasn’t so dainty either. Have you ever picked up one of those antique 8 lb. solid-metal weights that gave ironing its name? In that bygone, sweat-drenched era, staying in shape wasn’t an issue. Working out? They never heard of it.
Imagine what people from that strenuous era would make of modern day Americans, sitting most of the day—in the car, at the office, in school, on the sofa—eating, and eating, and eating.
The old energy-balance equation, ‘calories in vs. calories out,’ is seriously out of whack, as the rising rate of obesity proves.
We have two epidemics in this country. One is ‘obesity’ and the other is ‘physical inactivity.’ Why should we be concerned about fitness? Because as bad as it is to be overweight, it may be just as bad to be inactive. In fact, some health authorities believe it is worse. The health risks of obesity—diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure and certain cancers, among others—are familiar to most people. But physical activity has its own benefits above and beyond what it can provide for weight control.
To begin with, exercise works wonders for the heart: improving the lipid profile, reducing the risk of heart disease and restoring function after a heart attack. It helps tremendously in maintaining bone health, whether you are young or old. In addition, it helps moderate blood pressure in people with hypertension, it can significantly relieve depression and anxiety, and it appears to help maintain cognitive function in old age. Exercise seems to be so beneficial to cancer patients that oncologists have begun advising them to do their best to get moving.
Why then has obesity hogged the limelight that ‘physical inactivity’ also deserves? It’s partly because being overweight is a more conspicuous problem. You can see it with your eyes and you can measure it on a scale. Fitness isn’t so easy to size up.
Fitness is not a matter of being skinny; it’s a matter of being healthy. There are seven components to fitness—body composition, cardio-respiratory function, flexibility and range of motion, muscle strength, endurance, balance, and agility and coordination. Assessing them requires treadmills, calipers, piles of gym equipment and lots of money.
It doesn’t require gym memberships or fancy equipment to get the activity your body needs. The answer is walking. Using pedometers, researches found that the average Amish man took 18,425 steps a day and the average Amish woman took 14,196 steps. A typical American, by contrast, takes about 5,000 steps per day.
Federal recommendations for exercise have boiled down to this: 30 minutes a day, five days a week. And while 30 uninterrupted minutes are preferable, three 10 minute bursts also do the trick. Walking at about 3 to 3.5 miles per hour is moderate. If you can’t maintain a conversation and your heart is beating rapidly, then you’ve probably crossed into vigorous.
So pick up a pedometer now and begin a fitter and healthier lifestyle by eating nutritious meals and moving forward, one step at a time!
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As a certified nutritionist and fitness trainer, Rochelle’s unique approach to weight management combines diet, exercise and behavior modification in a warm, understanding and relaxed environment—tailoring personalized nutritional and fitness plans suitable to the individual. She educates her clients on the importance of eating healthy and regular physical activity.
