August 09 2010
Below is a list of frequently asked questions
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What is healthy eating?
How can I include healthy, budget-friendly foods in my menus?
What’s the difference between physical activity and exercise?
Should I just jump right in and start exercising?
How Can I Make Snacks Healthy?
How Can I Eat Healthy at Fast-Food Restaurants?
What should I know about Multivitamins and Supplements?
How does exercise affect stress?
How Can I be Safe While Exercising in the Heat or Cold?
How Can I Make Physical Activity Fun?
How Can I be Physically Active at Work?
How Can My Child be Physically Active at School?
How Can I be Physically Active at Play?
What is Healthy Eating?
Healthy eating is about three things-variety, balance, and moderation.
A variety of foods from the five food groups should be eaten in order to get all the nutrients your body requires to be healthy.
Food choices should be balanced during the day to receive sufficient amounts of each type of food in each of the five food groups.
Food should be eaten in moderation. Eat appropriate amounts of food without excessive fat, sugar, and salt.
Source: US Department of Agriculture (http://www.choosemyplate.gov/)
How can I include healthy, budget-friendly foods in my menus?
Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive. Healthy, budget-friendly foods include:
- Grains/Bread: Whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice, and oats
- Fruits and Vegetables: Look for fresh, in-season or frozen produce. Fresh apples, bananas, broccoli, carrots, and celery are inexpensive year round
- Meat/Meat Alternates: Beans, lentils, ground turkey, skinless chicken legs or thighs, eggs, tuna canned in water, peanut butter, and low-fat yogurt
- Milk: Low-fat and fat-free milk are healthier options for children 2 years and older, and cost the same as whole and 2% milk
Items like sugary cereals, cookies, snack cakes, toaster pastries, muffins, French toast sticks, and processed meats like chicken nuggets and corn dogs are less healthy, and more expensive than the budget-friendly foods listed above.
Source:
Healthy Eating For Life (www.healthyeatingforlife.org)
What's the difference between physical activity and exercise?
Both terms refer to the voluntary movements you do that burn calories. Physical activities are activities that get your body moving such as gardening, walking the dog, raking leaves, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Exercise is a form of physical activity that is specifically planned, structured, and repetitive such as weight training, tai chi, or an aerobics class.
Physical activity and exercise are both important and can help improve your ability to do the everyday activities you enjoy.
The bottom line? There are many ways to be active every day. Find something you enjoy doing, include it in your regular routine, and try to increase your level of activity over time.
Source:
US National Institutes of Health
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Should I just jump right in and start exercising?
No. First check with your doctor before starting any physical activity, especially if you:
- are over 35
- have been inactive for a long period of time
- smoke
- have any kind of a medical condition.
Also, follow these five phases of exercise to help minimize injuries and improve flexibility:
- Warm-up (walk around or start the activity at a slow pace for about five minutes to get your heart rate up)
- Stretch
- Exercise
- Cool-down (a reverse warm-up; you want to bring your heart rate down)
- Stretch again
Source:
US Department of Agriculture
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How Can I Make Snacks Healthy?
Snacking has become very popular among both adults and children. In fact, some studies have reported that over 95% of the women and children in this country have at least one snack a day. There is nothing wrong with snacking, as long as it is done properly. Snacks that contain high amounts of fat, sugar and sodium should be avoided because they can negatively affect health. There are plenty of options for healthy snacks and many of these are very easy to make. Here are some snacking tips:
- Plan snacks as being part of your daily food intake.
- While shopping, allow children to pick out the fruits and vegetables they want for a snack. If they help pick out the food, they will be more likely to eat them.
- Have a designated "snack spot" and keep it stocked with healthy ready-to-eat snacks.
- Offer snacks at regular times to avoid snacking constantly throughout the day.
- Plan snacks to make up for missed servings of fruits, vegetables or dairy so that the daily requirement is fulfilled.
There are a variety of ways in which snacking can be both simple and healthy. Here are a few ideas:
- Raw vegetables that are easy to eat and carry such as: celery, baby carrots, broccoli or cucumbers. They can even be served with low fat dip.
- Fresh fruit can be sliced or halved for convenience such as: apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, melons, pears, plums or strawberries.
- on-sugared cereals or snack mixes made with popcorn and whole grain cereal.
- Low fat yogurt
- Cheese sticks
- Granola bars
- Whole wheat crackers
Source:
University of Illinois Extension
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How Can I Eat Healthy at Fast-Food Restaurants?
One of the major barriers to eating healthy that many people find is that they think they do not have the time. Often, when this is the case, they resort to eating at fast food restaurants. Although many of these restaurants are expanding their menus to include healthy food choices such as salads, wraps and fruit, they are still offering many unhealthy foods. One of the biggest problems with eating the less healthy choices is that the serving sizes are much larger than what they actually should be. For example, most fast food chains offer larger sizes of hamburgers, soda and french fries that are often 2 to 5 times larger than the original size. If you were to eat one of these larger meals, it can contain almost the amount of calories that you should be consuming throughout the day and not just in one meal. Not only do fast food restaurant serve larger portions, but often sit down restaurants serve larger portions as well. For example, if you ordered a pasta dish, it is often 2 to 4 times larger than the normal serving. It is also not uncommon to find that the amount of pasta in a restaurant sized dish is 1 pound. This is the same amount of pasta you get when you buy a box in the supermarket. However, eating out sometimes cannot be avoided; here are some tips to help you make healthier choices when doing so:
- Avoid "upsizing" your meal at fast food restaurants
- Try eating at a fast food restaurant that specializes in soups, salads and sandwiches
- When ordering a dish at a sit down restaurant, split it in half right away and take half home so as to avoid eating the whole plate
- Don't feel as though you have to clean your plate when eating out
- Drink water or juice instead of soda
- Don't let the bread basket sit in front of you while you wait for your food. Take one piece of bread and ask the server to take the rest away.
- Have a snack before you go out to eat. This will keep you from overeating at the restaurant.
Sources:
Mayo Clinic
Young and Nestle (2003)
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What should I know about Multivitamins and Supplement?
You might find that you are not getting all the vitamins and minerals that you need in your diet, so you might want to consider taking a multivitamin or supplement. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but there are some important things to consider when choosing an appropriate multivitamin or supplement for you or your children. One of the most important things to remember when choosing a multivitamin is that they are age specific. If your children are taking a multivitamin, make sure they are taking one that is specially designated for children. Their vitamin and mineral needs are different than those for adults, so they should not take a multivitamin that is designed for adults.
The Food and Drug Administration oversees safety, manufacturing and product information of supplements. One thing to look for when choosing a supplement is to see if it is FDA approved. If it is not, you should avoid taking the supplement because its safety has not been approved for use. When buying and taking a multivitamin or supplement, you should read all the labels, follow directions and heed all the warnings. However, the most important thing is to talk to your physician before beginning any supplementation to make sure that it is appropriate and they will also be able to give you.
Source:
Food and Drug Administration
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How does exercise affect stress?
Feeling stressed? Go work out!
A fitness program helps take your mind off the car payments, the boss, the kids, and in some cases the fate of the free world. People with high levels of health and fitness who experience high stress have less sickness than fitness-challenged people with similar stress levels.
Source:
LifeTips (http://exercise.lifetips.com)
How Can I be Safe While Exercising in the Heat or Cold?
There might come a time when you want to exercise outside ignoring the weather. However, there are some precautions you should take if you decide to exercise when it is hot or cold outside. When exercising in the heat:
When exercising in the heat:
- Make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids before, during and after exercise. This will help prevent dehydration.
- Wear light colored clothing. Dark clothing attracts the heat.
- Wear clothing that is of a light-weight, breathable material. Cotton is perfect to wear because it is light-weight and non-constrictive.
- Avoid wearing layers of clothing.
- If you start to feel ill or over heated while outside, discontinue exercise and seek a cool place to recover.
- Young children and elderly adults should avoid being outside in the extreme heat because they can suffer from a heat illness easier than other individuals.
When exercising in the cold:
- Layer clothing so that you are warm. The innermost layers should be thin and get increasingly thicker as you add more clothing.
- Make sure you are dressed so that you can take off layers if you get too hot.
- Wear other cold weather items such as a gloves and a hat.
- Avoid being outside in the cold when it is raining or snowing. This can increase the risk of getting a cold illness.
- Make sure you have proper footwear appropriate for the weather and that you have thick socks to protect your feet.
- Do not forget to stay hydrated while exercising. Even though it is cold and you may not be thirsty, your body still needs its fluids replaced
- If you start to loose feeling in any of your extremities or body, you should discontinue exercise and seek and warm place to recover.
How Can I Make Physical Activity Fun?
Physical activity may sound like more work than play. But the opportunity is in your hands. Lots of family activities feel more like fun than work. Just be a little bit more creative and you will find a way to health with fun for you and your family.
Here are some tips on how you can make it fun!
- Choose an activity that’s fun and try to involve the whole family;
- Vary your activities, so you don’t get bored;
- Enjoy the relaxing time of doing gardening, yard work, and walking the dog together;
- Use different jogging, walking, or biking paths to vary your routine;
- Explore a new park or back road on foot or bicycle;
- Talk a family walk after dinner;
- Set goals and reward yourself when you achieve the goals;
- Build or join a community group to form clubs and organize special events. It is fun to compete, fun to win and fun to watch!
How Can I be Physically Active at Work?
- Take the stairs whenever possible instead of the elevator
- Walk or cycle part or all of the way to work.
- Park an extra few blocks from work and walk the rest of the way.
- Get off a train or bus stop one or two blocks early and walk the rest of the way.
- Stand while talking on the telephone
- Drop the phone and walk to your co-worker's desk.
- Start a workplace walking club.
- Take an active lunch break, go for a walk or to a noontime fitness class at the local fitness center
- Plan errands that require walking during your lunch hour.
- Travel in walking shoes so you can use layovers to walk through the airport.
- Conduct a meeting with a co-worker while walking.
- Take a 10-minute walk around your building or outside during your morning and afternoon breaks.
How Can My Child be Physically Active at School?
- Physical education, provided at school, is an ideal way to encourage activity and develop fitness among children and, for many children, will be their only preparation for an active lifestyle. For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), and the American Heart Association all recommend comprehensive daily physical education for children K-12.
- Promote collaboration between physical education and classroom teachers.
- Involve interested teachers and parents in extracurricular physical activity programs.
- Encourage and enable parental involvement in physical activity.
- Provide physical and social environments that encourage and enable physical activity.
- Encourage your children to be active during recess time by playing games with their friends
How Can I be Physically Active at Play?
- Play and recreation are important for good health. Look for opportunities to be active and have fun at the same time.
- Plan family outings and vacations that include physical activity (hiking, backpacking, swimming, etc.)
- See the sights in new cities by walking, jogging, or bicycling.
- Make a date with a friend to enjoy your favorite physical activities. Do them regularly.
- Play your favorite music while exercising, something that motivates you.
- Dance - with someone or by yourself. Take dancing lessons. Hit the dance floor on fast numbers instead of slow.
- Join a recreational club that emphasizes activity.
- At the beach, sit and watch the waves instead of lying flat. Better yet, get up and walk, run or fly a kite.
- When golfing, walk instead of using a cart.
- Play singles tennis or racquetball instead of doubles.
- At a picnic, join in on badminton instead of croquet.
- At the lake, rent a rowboat instead of a canoe.
