Heart Disease
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(xi) Build Muscles – Metabolism slows as we age, as much as 2% a year. But you can counterbalance NATURE by increasing and strengthening your muscle mass. Muscle tissue largely determines your metabolic rate. It is the single most important predictor of how well you metabolise your food, how well you burn calories and body fat. Your muscle tissue uses 16-22% of your daily calories just to exist. So smarten up and increase the muscle mass in your body with moderate strength training exercises. Toned muscles send your metabolism through the roof and it stays pumped up for many hours after you finish your workout. For every extra ½ kilo of muscle, your body uses up to 60 extra calories a day on average. This is because muscle is metabolically active and burns more calories than fat and other body tissues even when you are not moving.
(xii) Do Regular Exercise – Your metabolic rate is directly related to the intensity of exercise you perform. Low intensity exercise doesn’t do much for your metabolic rate but moderately high intensity does. Remember, if you are not sweating and getting tired after your brisk walk or any other exercise, then you are fooling yourself into thinking that you are doing the right thing. You have to push yourself and come out of the comfort zone to get results by exercising at 60-80% of your maximum heart rate (220 – age).
(xiii) Get Active and Fidget More – A recent study found that one of the biggest determinants of who is overweight and who is skinny was their level of fidgeting and routine activity. Leaner subjects burnt 350 calories a day more than obese subjects, simply because obese were more inert, sluggish and slow with sedentary lifestyle. Be aware of this fact and adopt the hard way to do things i.e. take every opportunity to shift, move and keep fidgeting. A few ideas for burning calories are:– stand rather than sit; tap your feet; swing your legs; drum with fingers; stand up and stretch; move your head from side to side; change position; pace up and down; use stairs more than lifts; walk or cycle than using the car for local shopping etc. etc.
(xiv) Adopt Walk Therapy – In addition to your regular aerobic or strength training exercise, take a 10-15 minutes brisk walk at lunchtime and/or after dinner. Walking gives you a shot of natural morphine, endorphin, which is responsible for that “feel good” effect, you experience every time you walk. Doctors think it is an alternative form of medicine which helps increase heart rate and skin response such as sweating. Walking, in addition to burning calories and improving metabolism, makes you feel nice, puts you in a positive state of mind and helps you think clearly.
(xv) Avoid Stress and learn to Relax – Stress can actually cause weight gain particularly around the tummy. Physical and emotional stress activates the release of cortisol, a steroid that slows metabolism. Yogic or simple exercises, meditation, music, body massage and laughter will help you get rid of stress and achieve calmer, disposition.
(xvi) Avoid Pills, Powders and Fad Dieting – These are promoted for weight loss through advertisements and should be avoided at all costs. There are no quick fixes and in the long term these miracle potions wreak havoc with your metabolism. Depending on your body structure/weight, never eat less than the calories you needed to maintain your basal metabolic rate through balanced nutritious food intake. Anything less than that will slow your metabolism.
