Another Way to Walk

There is another way to walk which will increase the amount of calories burned and includes working out more than the legs. It's called nordic walking. Using light weight nordic walking poles or you could use cross country ski poles, relieves some of the stress on joints such as the knees, hips and ankles and transfers it to the upper torso. This give you more of a full body work out when you walk.

You will burn up to 45% more calories than when just walking the same distance without poles. This is an exercise that is great for those of you who are just beginning to exercise, rehabilitating from an injury, or senior who have been sedentary with mobility and balance issues.

Burning Calories

I'm not particularly an advocate of counting calories, although we all know that if we are looking to lose some weight, we need to have fewer calories in than we burn each day. So how many calories do you have to burn to lose weight?

Of course, the answer here is first eat less calories than you burn. To lose 1 pound you have to burn 3500 calories. Keep in mind that this means if you eat 2000 calories a day you have to burn 5500 calories to lose a pound. This feels a bit futile in my estimation. Also, keep in mind, to calculate how many calories you burn depends upon your current weight, the activity and the duration of the activity. For example. for a 170 pound person with 30 minutes of walking at 2 miles per hour ( so you walk a mile in the 30 minutes) you burn about 97 calories. That really feels pretty disheartening. To burn 3500 calories, you would need to walk 36 miles! That's not likely to happen.

Now you can see why I'm not an advocate of calorie counting. Best to eat sensible, stay away from the high fat and sugar foods and exercise regularly.

Sugar Load in Drinks

I just read an article about an idea to add a specific tax on sodas and energy drinks. I think that is probably not a bad idea. Research has shown that sodas and energy drinks are contributing to obesity in this country. Obesity is linked to heart disease, arthritis, cancer and Type 2 Diabetes.

Even the sodas and energy drinks with artificial sweeteners are contributing to the obesity. People believe that because it says there are no calories that it is safe to drink as much as they want. Not true.

One of the reasons people need to be aware of this problem is that sodas and energy drinks are the largest source of added sugar to the diet of young Americans. Teenage boys consume on average 1 quart a day.

The other misconception is that energy drinks or juices are OK. Look at the calorie load from sugar. Cranberry juice coctail has 200 calories and 12 teaspoons of sugar in a 12 ounce serving!

Better drinks to be drinking, try water with a little lemon or lime. Unfortunately, the soft drink industry is not going to change their drinks any time soon because this is extremely profitable for them.

One Last Sugar Substitute

One last sugar substitute that I want to talk about is agave nectar. This is derived from a plant native to Mexico. It is not calorie-free, but is does contain more calories than refined sugar. More importantly, agave nectar has a lower glycemic index than sugar, so it is less likely to drive to blood sugar levels high. Refined sugar has a glycemic index in the 60's while agave nectar is in the 30's.

For more on glycemic index, see my February 19, 2009 post. The bottom line is the lower the glycemic index the less likely the blood sugar will be raised into levels that are really dangerous for our bodies.

Agave nectar can help you actually lose weight, because you will be using less of it than you would refined sugar.

Sugar Substitutes Continued

I just want to say a couple more things about sugar substitutes. It probably all boils down to this, why would you put a chemical into your body that has the potential to create so much harm? Are the calories from sugar that important? The media has made us believe that they are. But why not utilize natural sugar or natural sweeteners instead. Moderation is the key my friends.

I failed to mention one other sweetener that is out there called erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol. Once again this is a chemical that has been manufactured, and while it is advertised as natural, it is not. The chemical compound is one that has been manufactured and has the potential for side effects just as any manufactured compound.

Now I also don't believe in just using sugar, because refined sugar is a lot of empty calories that just leaves you wanting more. I do believe in natural sweeteners and I'll talk about those tomorrow.

More on Olive Oil

Another type of olive oil is First Cold Press. This is olive oil that is produced from the first pressing of the olives usually with a traditional hydraulic press at a temperature of less than 80.6 degrees. The less heat and the quicker the extraction, the better the oil. Be cautious with this one, even though the label says first press, it does not mean that the oil will be good. This is also an old term and you may not see it in the grocery store. The biggest problem is that there really is no longer a first pressing and often heat is used in the process which changes the oil.

Some of you may like the unfiltered olive oil. In this case, it just means that pieces of the olives are left in the oil. The oil is not filtered to remove the sediment. The problem is that this can lead to a shorter shelf life because the sediment becomes rancid.

Blended olive oils are oils which have been blended together from multiple sources - different groves, different countries, and different varieties of olives. This is in an effort to get a stable taste to the oil as it will vary from year to year depending on the rain or heat of the area in chich the olives are raised. Be sure to read these labels carefully as blended in the USA may mean that the olive oil has been blended with canola or vegetable oil.

Light or extra light olive oil is basically a marketing ploy to get you to purchase something that has no true definition. If you think these olive oils have fewer calories, guess again. They do not. The number of calories per tablespoon is 120. Note, they put the number of calories per serving in teaspoons, so read the label carefully.

Best Diet Tips #2

If you think you are following a low-fat or high protein diet, you will do well for about 4-6 months. Somewhere in the 4-6 month time frame, you won't be meeting the target for fat, protein and carbohydrate.

Most dieters have a hard time sticking to a very rigid diet plan. Don't fuss about it. Look at how much your are eating instead. If you cut the amount of food you will lose weight.

Best Diet Tips

Since diets are on most of our minds these days, I thought I would give you a few tips. First of all, as I have said before, I do not believe in diets, because if you "go on a diet," you will most assuredly "go off of the diet" at some point. I know you've heard it before, but it is a life style change. Changing habits, like eating a piece of cake instead of the whole cake.

The very best tip I can give you is that if you decrease calorie intake, you will lost weight. Now I don't advocate counting calories, but look at your portion sizes and cut them down. Do you need a whole bun with your hamburger, or could you get by with 1/2 a bun or no bun. For most of us, the thing we can increase is fruits and vegetables.

Laughing and Calorie Burning

Most of us don't associate laughing with burning calories or losing weight. But in fact, laughing can help. You can burn as many calories with 3 minutes of laughing as you can with 10 minutes on the rowing machine.

Laughter has been shown to boost the immune system in general as well as specific areas like the mouth where antibodies increase which in turn fight off upper respiratory infections and infections in the mouth.

Laughing also increases endorphins from the brain which make us feel good. This is what many runners call the "runner's high." Most important here is the fact that laughter decreases stress - it is one of the best stress relievers.

If you are having trouble laughing, look at children. Children laugh about 400 times a day on average. Adults on the other hand laugh about 5 times per day on average. So increase your laughter each day and improve your health, your emotional balance, and your life.

How Many Calories - Men

Ok, today is the day for the men's numbers. The same rules apply as to the activity levels. You're either active or sedentary. Be honest with yourself, nobody else will know unless you tell them.

Men Active Men Sedentary

Age 19-30 3000 calories 2400 calories
Age 31-50 3000 calories 2200 calories
Age 50 or older 2800 calories 2000 calories

So if you eat at McDonald's for lunch and you have the Big Mac Extra Value Meal with a Medium size Coke, your total calories in that one meal alone is 1130 calories. Can you see the problem here. By eating fast food you tend to get about half your caloric intake in one meal.

Fast food does not necessarily mean low in calories or that it is good for us.

How Many Calories Do You Need?

I just read an article about the number of calories we should have each day. I am not a big proponent of calorie counting, but I did find this interesting. The thing I found most interesting is that the average number of calories consumed by American adults has increased from 1970 to 2003 by about 520 calories. I thought this number was probably a little on the low side since the average weight of American adults has increased dramatically over this period.

I'll talk about women today and men tomorrow. For both, the active individual is one sho has physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles a day at 3-4 miles per hour - for you step counters that's 6000 steps a day. Additionally, active individuals have light physical activity associated with their typical day to day lifestyle.

There is one other factor in play as to the number of calories besides physical activity, and that is age. As we get older, we need less.

Women - Sedentary Women Active
Age 19-30 2,000 calories 2400 calories
Age 31-50 1,800 calories 2200 calories
Age 51 or older 1600 calories 2000 calories