Walking Keeps

Walking Keeps You Fit and Healthy

As we get older we become less healthy. This is accepted as a fact of life, but it need not be the case. People can stay fit and healthy into old age, they just need to look at their lifestyle and make any necessary changes. If you are overweight lose some pounds. If you smoke stop smoking. There you are, nothing to it. Well, not too much anyway.

To lose weight you must do two things. Decrease calorie intake and increase exercise rate. Actually there is a third thing to be considered - you must enjoy doing it. If you dread the exercise and hate the diet you will give up and tell people losing weight is impossible, whatever you do. Or say you have big bones, or are genetically programmed to suffer obesity. All nonsense of course, you just did not diet and exercise long enough.

So how to achieve a fit and healthy old age? You will have to choose a type of exercise which is easy and enjoyable. I recommend walking. Most people do it anyway. The ideal is a mile a day, more if you can manage it. This may fill you with horror. A mile a day! But think about it. A really slow walker will walk at two miles an hour. You need to walk for half an hour. That is 15 minutes to the Post Office, or the Park, or wherever, and 15 minutes back home again. You can even do your mile by walking half a mile in the morning and half a mile in the evening. Most people can walk a mile a day.

As well as exercise you need to look at your diet. Check out the fridge and throw away fatty food like bacon and cheese. Get rid of cakes and fizzy drink, pizzas, crisps, junk food. This may seem drastic, but if the food is there you will eat it. This may affect other members of your family, so they will either have to join you in your new healthy lifestyle or you will need to buy your own fridge.

What you should be eating is fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat, legumes and oily fish like mackerel. There is, of course, more to it than that but these are the basics. This is known as the Mediterranean Diet and there are numerous books showing you how to prepare delicious Mediterranean food. The Italians, among other Mediterranean people, know how to cook and you will not be disappointed. You can even drink an occasional glass of wine, but be aware that it will take a mile's walk to burn off the calories in your glass.

Aim to lose a pound or so a week. It does not sound much but this is a change of lifestyle and not a crash diet. Consider that in two months you will be over half a stone lighter - that is well worth achieving. You can lose a lot in a year easily and without fuss. At the same time you will have reduced your chances of getting heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even some cancers.

Smoking is nothing like as easy to give up as junk food. But if you want to avoid dramatic illnesses you really must give up smoking. Forget your grandmother who smoked like a chimney and lived to 102. Of course some people get lucky, statistics say they will. Statistics also say that many family men and women of 55 years and older will die of smoke related lung cancers every year. It is a bit like a horse race, only people do not bet their lives on a The good news is, give up smoking and in 5-10 years your chances of getting heart disease or lung cancer will be the same as people who have never smoked.