The Fitness Pyramid

Eighty-Five percent of Indians recognize that regular physical activity is important to good health, but only 40% lead active lives. It is very difficult for many of us to get started on a regular exercise program. We all know it is best for us, we all know we would feel better, yet we continue to procrastinate. A very common dilemma is the time factor. However, if you think long and hard you will likely find you do have some time - if you give up something else, such as that one hour soap opera you tape everyday. Alternatively, you could decide to exercise while watching that one hour program. When you get right down to it, there truly is no good excuse. On that note, following are some guidelines for you to help you ease into an exercise routine that fits comfortably into your life. 

Think of physical activity as a pyramid. Start with a basic level of activity - walking, housework, etc. Then you work your way upward through a variety of more challenging activities. This is the "fitness pyramid".


Here is how you can climb the fitness pyramid:


Level 1: Enjoy an active lifestyle 


Get physically active. Your activity doesn't have to be organized or continuous - 10 minutes of walking and 20 minutes of housework truly do add up.


By accumulating just 30 minutes of activity a day, you slow or stop the loss of function that comes with a sedentary lifestyle. You also increase your chances of living longer and improving your quality of life.


Level 2: Do aerobic workouts


Now that exercise is a part of your life, build regular workouts into your routine. An effective aerobic program includes at least 20 minutes of continuous, rhythmic activity three or more times a week. Consider walking, jogging, cycling or aerobic dancing. Exercise at an intensity that elevates your heart rate into the target zone of 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate (Maximum heart rate = 220 - your age). 


You can exercise outdoors or in a gym using exercise equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes and cross-country ski machines.


Your routine should be enjoyable and comfortable. Increase intensity and duration gradually. This will help you avoid injury.


By challenging your cardiovascular system, you begin to actively fight the effects of aging and reduce your risk of heart disease and other degenerative conditions.


Level 3: Start strength training


Adding weight training to your workout gives you the benefits you can't get with aerobic exercise alone. It protects and builds lean muscle mass; promotes healthier, stronger bones; and raises your body's metabolism so you burn fat faster - even while you're resting.


A typical weight-lifting routine should include 8 to 12 exercises targeting all the major muscle groups. Do up to 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise. Schedule at least two strength sessions a week with at least a day of rest in between.


Level 4: Stretch to increase your flexibility


Inactive muscles become shorter, and their range of motion gets more limited. Reverse that process by doing gentle stretching exercises before and after workouts and at other times during the week.


A five to ten minute routine should include all the major muscle groups. Do static stretches that ease you into position, then hold them for 15 to 30 seconds.


Flexibility training prepares our bodies for the tasks we perform throughout the day, such as lifting and reaching. You dramatically reduce your risk of back problems when you increase your flexibility.


Level 5: Compete for peak performance


Getting involved in competitive recreational sports isn't essential for fitness, but it increases many people's enjoyment of an active lifestyle. That psychological benefit pays off physically.


If a sport challenges you and engages your mind, you're going to stick with it. Find something you do well and enjoy and most important of all, have fun with exercise. It does not have to feel like work.

Achieving the Milestone called Weight Loss

Millions of people around the world are facing various health problems due to obesity or overweight. Therefore, you can easily find number of institutions, organizations and advertisements about how to lose weight. Some attracts people for losing weight quickly and others promise to lose weight naturally. However, the basic purpose of people joining such institutes is to lose weight and get relief from diseases. It has been scientifically proven that obesity alone is a major cause of life threatening diseases such as diabetes and heart attacks. Hence, it becomes essential for an individual to have a healthy weight to stay away from such dreadful diseases. It is always advised to have a detailed game plan before achieving the milestone called weight loss. Following are some of the factors that will help you to aim at the target.

Stay Practical 

As it has been already discussed that there are innumerable organizations who promises you to achieve weight loss in least possible time. However, you must not forget that achieving a healthy body needs dedication and patience. Even if you achieve weight loss in short span of time, it may not stay with you for a long time. Therefore, the first thing you need to understand is that weight loss is not impossible, but also not an easy task. People who want to lose weight shall set practical and realistic goals. 


The first thing you need to know before starting any weight loss program is to have your BMI (body mass index) with you. You must be aware whether you are categorized into overweight range or obese range. An individual is said to have normal weight, if his body mass index falls in a range of 19.0 to 24.9 (according to the National Institute of Health). If you fall above this range (above 25.0), then you are considered as overweight. People with BMI more than 30.0 are said to be obese and they must undergo weight loss program to stay away from diseases. 

Know the Reasons behind Weight Loss 

Once you plan to join a weight loss program, you must know the reasons behind it. Every person joining a weight loss program has different purpose. The basic reasons behind weight loss are to achieve a healthy body and look good for many people. However, there are other advantages of losing weight that will help you to gain confidence and prevent you from dreadful diseases. 


Knowing the reasons behind weight loss will motivate you towards your goal. It will also help you to plan your daily routine such as including exercise regimen and healthy diet habits. As you work along the decided plan, you will stay positive and achieve the objectives set by you. 

Sincerely encouraging yourself 

Encouragement alone can help you to achieve any huge tasks in your life and so is the case with weight loss. Motivational factors solely depend on encouragement. Hence, you must sincerely encourage yourself to stay positive and determine towards the goal. Being sincere to yourself will ask you to do something more every time. It has been rightly quoted by someone that if you believe you can do it, you can definitely do it. Sincere efforts always lead to the road of success. Look after the daily routine and being determined can lead you to have a disease-free, healthy life.

6 ways to rapid weight loss

There are numbers of cases in which the diseases are the outcome of overweight or obesity. Some of the prominent diseases in this category are heart attacks, stroke, arteriosclerosis and diabetes. Person with such problems needs to take medications and precautions for rest of their life. To overcome such problems, doctors often suggest that you lose weight. People come out of the clinic with a mentality to lose weight as soon as possible. To achieve this target, people often make mistakes and try using different, unworthy, weight loss products. As a result, instead of losing weight they visit the clinic with some other additional health problems. Hence, it becomes your primary responsibility to act wisely and adapt to a better solution with a consultation from the physician. 


In the context of losing weight rapidly, people utilize various strategies and plans. The extra weight provides a bad feeling to an individual and affects overall quality of life. It has been found that an individual often experiences depression and other health risks by adopting faulty programme or products. To lose weight efficiently, the first thing that an individual is expected to do is to consult a doctor or physiotherapist. They will perform detailed physical examinations and offer you the best weight loss plan that suits your body. There are about six foolproof ways that can help you in weight loss and eventually result in disease-free body.


For rapid weight loss, one needs to know what to eat and what to avoid eating. People who want to lose weight rapidly must understand that they need to eat healthy food. Look after what have you been eating so far and categorize them into healthy and unhealthy foods. Once you are ready with this categorization, try to eliminate the unhealthy food from your diet. Observe the changes in your body after eliminating those foods from your daily diet. Do not loose heart if you get negative results in the beginning. All change takes time and so is the case with weight loss. Your dietician and physiotherapist can help you decide the healthy diet for you. 

Keep a Realistic Goal 

You need to understand that weight loss is not an easy task. It needs lot of dedication and patience. Talk to a specialist about arranging realistic targets for weight loss. Take the right decision and stay focused towards your target of losing weight. 

Listen to your Body 

Whenever you adopt a new diet or exercise, observe the changes in your body. Evaluate whether you have started gaining weight or losing it and decide accordingly. Add some exercises in your daily regimen which will help you increase your metabolism and rate of burning fat efficiently.

Fiber rich Diet 

Fat is a good source of food which is not digested in the body but gives a feeling of having a full stomach. Fiber rich diets do not allow fats to get absorbed in the body. These diets also help in maintaining a normal bowel movement. 

Avoid Fried Foods 

Fried food is a sure source of fat. Do not fry foods such as beef or white meat because these foods already have a lot of fat content. Make it a point to have grilled food instead. Because grilled food contains less fat. 

Drink plenty of Water 

Water is the most important part of any diet. On an average, every individual must have six to eight glasses of water on a daily basis. This will keep your body hydrated, flush toxins from the body and help you lose fat.


By following the above techniques and adding regular exercise, one can surely expect to have positive results.

Taking care of Teeth

Everyone is aware of the importance of teeth in our daily life. The primary function of teeth is to bite and chew the food that we intake. However, they are important in carrying out other activities, too. Teeth help in uttering some words and thus help us while speaking. People often feel awkward to smile or laugh openly due to unhealthy teeth. A cheerful smile is only complete if we have good and healthy teeth. As a matter of fact, structure and health of teeth contributes a lot to the facial appearance of a person. So, let us try to learn more about this wonderful part of our body. 


Primary and Permanent Teeth 


Teeth are not present at the time of birth. The growth and development of teeth starts after few months of birth. The teeth that develop in the early stage of life (during childhood) are called as deciduous teeth. They are also popular by the name of milk teeth, primary teeth or baby teeth. Deciduous teeth are so called because like the leaves of deciduous tree, we lose them in later part of our life. There are about 20 deciduous teeth which starts growing from about 6 months of age. The entire growth of 20 teeth is over when you reach two and half years of age. These teeth are lost during six years to twelve years of your age. 


When you lose primary teeth, second lot of teeth starts developing which are known as permanent teeth. We have 32 permanent teeth at the stage of maturity. Almost every permanent tooth is developed when you reach 18-25 years of age. Permanent teeth take the space of primary teeth as they grow in the mouth. 


Composition of a Tooth 


Every tooth consists of two parts, the crown and the root. The crown is the part of the tooth which is visible to us. The root of the teeth is present inside the jawbone to provide strength.


Teeth comprises of three layers, enamel, dentine and pulp. Enamel is the hard covering which provides protection to the crown of the tooth. Dentine is the second covering that protects the nerve of the tooth. Pulp is soft middle part of the tooth that has blood supply and nerve endings. 


Tips for keeping your tooth healthy 


Almost everyone is aware of the importance of brushing the teeth on a regular basis. It is suggested to brush your teeth twice a day, especially after having dinner or before going to bed. 


Always use a small brush with soft bristles for brushing your teeth. Toothpaste containing fluoride shall only be used for brushing. However, make sure that you spit after finishing the cleaning procedure. Spend at least 3 minutes to brush your teeth. Brush your teeth gently and thoroughly and make sure that your brush reaches every part of the teeth. Rinse your toothbrush under running water after brushing. Always store your brush in clean and dry place. Avoid sharing the toothbrush as it may spread germs. Keep changing the toothbrush once in every two to three months. 


Some interesting facts 


It is possible to keep your teeth alive till you survive. Teeth are the hardest part of your body. We usually can not have teeth once they are lost and hence they must be properly cared. However, animals like sharks have three rows of teeth and they grow after losing one. Bottled water is not good for teeth as they do not have fluoride. Milk and cheese are good foods for teeth as they contain minerals that help to repair tooth enamel.

Know more about your Tongue

Role of Tongue 

Would you ever like to have a tasteless food in your meal? How would you feel if you find it difficult to feel the taste of your favorite food like jalebi, samosas, burger, and pizza and so on? Surely, you will choose to stay without food. So, who brings the taste to your food when they are eaten? Which organ of your body takes effort to give taste to your deliciously cooked food? Yes, you are absolutely right; it's the tongue that helps in understanding the taste of any kind of food. The tongue helps in distinguishing the taste and nature of food that we take. However, besides the taste, it also plays a vital role in articulating words. Our speech is incomplete without the use of tongue. Hence, when someone asks you the use of tongue, do not just reply taste but add one more function as speech.


Anatomy of tongue 


You can move your tongue in multiple directions. It is possible due to the presence of group of muscles which run in different directions. Underneath your tongue is a thin, soft and smooth skin called mucous membrane. Just have a look at your friend's tongue and you will see a lot of blood vessels and the mucous membrane. The tongue's muscle requires a lot of blood as they work throughout the day. 


Tonsils are present at the back of your mouth. There are two types of tonsils, lingual and palatine tonsil. Lingual tonsil is present at the back of your tongue. The two tonsils called palatine tonsils are present near the beginning of the throat, each at one side. Tonsils help in catching and destroying the germs which try to enter our body. However, when there is more number of germs, the tonsils get swollen up. That is how we get tonsillitis.


The tongue is fastened to the mandible (jaw bone) and to the front of the throat. Pharynx is present just behind the tonsils. It can be seen when you look past the tonsils. 


Working of Tongue 


Tongue is especially engaged in the work of tasting. However, it contributes in performing various other activities, too. It co-operates with cheeks and teeth for moving the food around the mouth, when you eat or swallow. Tongue also helps in digesting the food and cleaning your mouth and teeth, once you finish eating. The tongue muscles also push saliva and small portions of food into the oesophagus. Tongue and nose work in combination for smelling and tasting the food that you take inside. 


There are hundreds of small bumps called papillae on the top of your tongue. Some of these papillae are like short stiff threads that are rough in nature. They have number of nerve endings that are sensitive to touch. Their rough nature helps in licking the smooth foods such as ice-cream. Inside the papillae, there are lots of taste buds which help in differentiating tastes. Different region of tongue are specialized in giving or evaluating different tastes, such as:

• Front part of the tongue- senses salty or sweet tastes.
  
• Sides of the tongue- senses sour tastes.
  
• Back of the tongue- senses bitter tastes. 
  

Besides tasting, tongue works with lips, teeth and palate to make different sounds while talking or singing. Babies learn the feel of various objects by putting them inside the mouth and feeling them with the tongue. This is the only reason why you will find that small children always try to put the things inside their mouth.