Heart and Health Depend Upon Diet and Exercise

The number of deaths caused by heart diseases keeps going up every day in the United States. The government recently revealed its new food pyramid that lays more emphasis on physical exercise and a well-balanced diet plan. However, it needs to do much more to improve the health of this nation where nearly 65 percent of the population is obese or overweight, and the health costs keep rising rapidly.

While the exercise component to the pyramid was indeed new, so too was the outlook on a balanced diet. The new pyramid takes into account that not all members of a food group are equal. Certain vegetables might be better for you than others and so it is important to remember that you have to pay attention to which members of food groups you consume. The actual servings are not as important as what is in those servings.

To be certain, you want also to reduce the size of the servings and alter the traditional "3 meals per day" rationale of years past. It is advised that you have three fairly light meals with two snacks throughout the day for best results. The idea is to increase your metabolism and thus improve chances for sustained weight loss.

You may ask why keep the metabolism rate high? Metabolism is the pace at which your body engine works. If you have high metabolism rate it would need more energy to keep it going. The metabolism rate reduces when you skip meals or give long breaks between eating. Thus, the body slows the metabolism to conserve energy. However, if you eat meals more often and in smaller amounts the metabolism will keep good pace and lead to a sustained weight loss.

It is a known fact that muscles are the most energy burning tissue in our body. So, larger are your muscles, higher will be your metabolism. You can increase your body metabolism by exercising regularly. It helps, especially if you lift weights as ultimately it is beneficial for your heart.

Apart from work outs, aerobic exercises such as jogging, biking, cross-country skiing and swimming also help maintain a strong heart and healthy body. You may not do them daily. In fact, it is best to perform aerobic exercises three days a week for about thirty minutes for best results. If you push too hard, you may land up with injuries that will discourage you from exercise altogether.

Most importantly, drink lots of water for your health in general and your heart in particular. Being a natural purifier, water helps remove toxins from your body. As a rule of the thumb, you need to drink half an ounce of water for every pound you weigh. It is important to realize the benefits of exercise and balanced diet not only to enjoy good health but also to reduce medical costs. A good diet and proper exercise will help you feel better about yourself than you do now. To avoid the possibility of becoming another statistic you need to take steps to improve your diet and lifestyle necessary for a better heart and better living.

Article Source: http://www.lowcarbdietarticles.com

Julia Pizer is the owner of F heart, a fantastic resource for information about heart. For questions or comments about this article why not visit: www.fheart.com/articles
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