Sunday 15 January 2012

Day at Gym

Logged 7 kms on the treadmill - at 63 mins and 520+ calories. Sweaty sweaty... It was yesterday. Then spent the entire day standing around at MPH looking at books on sale. No better way to spend a Sunday! I wish I did the treadmill thing more often. Just been too lazy lately and have not been paying attention to my diet.

Sunday 8 January 2012

Walking, Walking...

Logged 500 calories on the treadmill today, in 55 minutes. Followed it up with a wee bit of arm and leg exercises. Feeling good. I followa walking on a incline and a jogging routine alternating. One thing I always do is take a small water break after 30 minutes.

DASH Diet - What is it?

The DASH Diet has won the Best Overall Diet award for the year 2012. What is DASH Diet?


DASH - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension

The Diet as the name suggests strives to prevent and lower BP or Hypertension.

So is it only for High Blood Pressure patients?

The Dash Diet follows a combination of a specified eating plan combined with reduced intake of salt. Dash menus have sodium in the range of 2300 mg while the average US man has a daily intake of sodium of 4200 mg. The diet is rich in potassium, magnesuim, calcium - all essential minerals and protein and fibre.

The Dash eating plan prescribes amount of daily servings per day for various calorie needs. Suppose a person requires 1600 calories per day as per her lifestyle and metabolism levels - the daily servings of various food groups is givens in the DASH Dietary Plan.

For 1600 calories per day - daily servings as per DASH

Food Group                        No of Servings          Each Serving Includes (eg)

Grains (preferably whole) -       6                        1 slice bread or 1/2 cup rice, pasta
Vegetables -                             3-4                     1/2 cup cooked veg or 1 cup raw leafy
Fruits -                                      4                       1 medium fruit, 1/2 cup fruit juice
Fat Free or Low Fat Milk         2-3                     1 cup yoghurt
Lean Meats, Poultry, Fish -        3-6                    1 oz
Nuts, Seeds, Legumes             3/Week                1/2 cup cooked legumes, 1/3 cup nuts
Fats and Oils                            2                         1 tsp

The Dash Diet plan gives the food that comes under the various food groups.

The plan has many useful tips and tricks on how to reduce your intake of calories and salt - like taking an apple instead of 4 shortbread cookes saves one 80 calories, using unsalted products whereever possible, washing canned vegetables to remove the brine or better using fresh vegetables.

Its apparent from the diet that it is appropriate for weight watchers as well as High BP patients as well as anyone willing to invest a modicum of time and energy to follow a healthy lifestyle. 

The Dash Diet can be found in entirety at the NHLBI website to download.

Saturday 7 January 2012

What is Oats?

Oat is by far the Numero Uno item for most beginner dieters. Or veteran dieters? What is oatmeal? How is it eaten? How nutritious is eat? Is it for Real or just another promotion gimmick (lower cholesterol, anyone?) by commercial food specialists?

I decided to seriously look into these questions. Here are the answers I got.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Back to the Gym

Today was my first outing to the gym after the holidays. Didnt do much. Just 40 mins on the treadmill. Felt good to be running after soooo long. DId a 20 mins run at 7-1/2 km/hr...

Am think of trying a brown rice diet recommended by my brother.

Logging my weight - 71 kilos

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Condo Gym or Real Gym

Do I enroll in a proper gym? Are aerobics workouts essential for overall body ftness? How important is muscle training? Sigh...My condo gym has just treadmills and the cycle. I guess its just not enough for overall fitness.