The Basics About Health
Here is my guide to avoid common health myths and help those wanting to live healthier to sift through all the information. I have heard a lot of misconceptions in one form or another about how to live a healthy life. These days we are bombarded with information about 'self medication', 'the best diet', 'the natural way', 'natural suppliments', there is just so much information out there that it can become difficult to sort out fact from fiction. So here is a conglomeration of facts about health as a whole. I'm breaking this into categories hopefully to make this more organized.
Activity (not Exercise)
This I think many people have difficulty understanding. Exercise is a part of being active but it isn’t the only part. If you want to exercise do it. I personally don’t like it but if you do great. Go for a jog, dive in the pool, go to your aerobics class, go for a bike ride. If you like to do it more power to ya. Not everyone has the fortitude, time, or money to do it regularly. But its easier to be active. I don’t just mean rock climbing or hiking (my personal favorites). Activity consists of anything you exert physical effort doing. Mowing the yard is an activity, vacuuming is an activity, playing with your kids or pet, these are all examples of activity and help keep you healthy in more ways than one. Many people look at me quizzically when I tell them they can vacuum to be active. Guess what there has been research done on some basic daily tasks and how much effort they require. We are getting into some more detailed information here so let me address another topic. Calories, this is how we measure energy expended. More Calories equals more energy expended. This then equals more effort or the same effort for longer time. Basically it means for the same Calories you burn you can either lift a 1 pound weight for ten seconds or a ten pound weight for 1 second. (for the pessimists…I know this is an over simplification, I can get into efficiency and force production in another instructable if anybody wants…be warned its a lot of math lol.)
Back to vacuuming. For me, a 150 pound ruggedly handsome male, If I took 1 hour to vacuum my house I would require about 238 Calories. Say I was 200 pounds (I probably took up body building) I would require about 300 Calories to vacuum for an hour. That’s a decent workout and roughly equivalent to walking for 20-30 minutes (again if I was 150 pounds). Ok so vacuuming burns Calories, what else? How about playing with your children or siblings. Hopscotch and marbles each require 340 Calories per hour. Yes I mean playing outside with your kids, not grabbing the controller to kill mutant zombie aliens from the future with magic because you’re an elf mage. (I really hope someone makes that a game ;D ).
Some other examples of simple Calorie burning activities include walking upstairs. I had someone once recommend taking the stairs up one floor then hopping on the elevator to go the last nine. I’m not saying go do this but just understand that exercise isn’t the only way to be Active. Its often just about not taking the easy route like the escalator. You can find other examples of calorie burning activities online as well. Try searching for ‘calories burned daily activities’.
Back to vacuuming. For me, a 150 pound ruggedly handsome male, If I took 1 hour to vacuum my house I would require about 238 Calories. Say I was 200 pounds (I probably took up body building) I would require about 300 Calories to vacuum for an hour. That’s a decent workout and roughly equivalent to walking for 20-30 minutes (again if I was 150 pounds). Ok so vacuuming burns Calories, what else? How about playing with your children or siblings. Hopscotch and marbles each require 340 Calories per hour. Yes I mean playing outside with your kids, not grabbing the controller to kill mutant zombie aliens from the future with magic because you’re an elf mage. (I really hope someone makes that a game ;D ).
Some other examples of simple Calorie burning activities include walking upstairs. I had someone once recommend taking the stairs up one floor then hopping on the elevator to go the last nine. I’m not saying go do this but just understand that exercise isn’t the only way to be Active. Its often just about not taking the easy route like the escalator. You can find other examples of calorie burning activities online as well. Try searching for ‘calories burned daily activities’.
Getting Trim...NOT Losing Weight
I will cover diets later. First I want to make certain facts abundantly clear. I don’t like the term ‘losing weight’ because it is misused. Mostly people tell me they want to lose weight when they really want to decrease their bodies fat stores because they don’t like their appearance or want to be healthier. There are only two ways to do this. 2 only and only 2. I don’t care what diet you are on or what health program. If you are decreasing your fat stores you have two options. Lower the amount of Calories you intake and/or increase how active you are. If you eat more Calories than your activities and body need you will store fat. If you are more active and your body uses more Calories than you eat your body will use your fat stores for their energy. End of story. There is no wiggle room or any other factors. Every diet and health program uses these facts and focus on them in one form or another, often in specific ways.
The question now is How
I hear people say some outlandish things but one of the worst I hear is how much people lose weight and how quickly. It is difficult here because I don’t want to be opinionated but instead focus on the facts. First fact about getting trim is that there is a safe way and an unsafe way. Here’s where ‘losing weight’ can be used correctly. The term losing weight comes from the Calories actually stored as fat and how much someone weighs. The US Surgeon General recommends 2 pounds per week to lose weight. This is the maximum amount of weight it is safe to lose for the average person. Many studies suggest closer to 1 pound per week because of the likelihood people continue to keep their body free of the excess fat. Generally if you want to decrease your total body fat and not regain it you should shoot for less. Small changes are easier to control and can be sustained for longer.
On a different note. I hear sometimes from those who want to get ’toned’ (specifically women) they lift light weight because they “don’t want to get big”. I will say this simply, you wont “get big”. Many continue lifting light weight without results. You have to lift more than 60% of your maximum to get stronger. Many of these people lift 3 sets of 20-40 reps at 5-10lbs. You will be able to lift light weight for a long time but won’t see the trim or specifically ‘toned’ look. Figure out how much weight you can lift (ie bicep curls) then lift two thirds of that weight.
Now if you do want to “get big” you need to lift 80-90% of your maximum. So for the ‘toned’ group there’s a range, between 60% and 80%. Its ok to lift a little more.
The question now is How
I hear people say some outlandish things but one of the worst I hear is how much people lose weight and how quickly. It is difficult here because I don’t want to be opinionated but instead focus on the facts. First fact about getting trim is that there is a safe way and an unsafe way. Here’s where ‘losing weight’ can be used correctly. The term losing weight comes from the Calories actually stored as fat and how much someone weighs. The US Surgeon General recommends 2 pounds per week to lose weight. This is the maximum amount of weight it is safe to lose for the average person. Many studies suggest closer to 1 pound per week because of the likelihood people continue to keep their body free of the excess fat. Generally if you want to decrease your total body fat and not regain it you should shoot for less. Small changes are easier to control and can be sustained for longer.
On a different note. I hear sometimes from those who want to get ’toned’ (specifically women) they lift light weight because they “don’t want to get big”. I will say this simply, you wont “get big”. Many continue lifting light weight without results. You have to lift more than 60% of your maximum to get stronger. Many of these people lift 3 sets of 20-40 reps at 5-10lbs. You will be able to lift light weight for a long time but won’t see the trim or specifically ‘toned’ look. Figure out how much weight you can lift (ie bicep curls) then lift two thirds of that weight.
Now if you do want to “get big” you need to lift 80-90% of your maximum. So for the ‘toned’ group there’s a range, between 60% and 80%. Its ok to lift a little more.
DIETING and the Like...do You Want Red Meat or White?...Who Said Anything About Meat?
I’m going to refer to a couple of other sites because there is so much information about diets out there and I can’t cover everything in this instructable.
First is the CDC
www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov
Second is Harvard School of Public Health
www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource
Third (and my favorite) is the Linus Pauling Institute
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/
…I will make a note that the food/beverage sections on tea and coffee are especially interesting
Basics…The food pyramid. Most people know what this is and I won’t go into much detail. It is a great way to know how much of what foods you should eat. The human body is a complex system that needs a large variety of nutrients to function properly. The food pyramid is an easy to use reference for what you should be eating to keep your system running. If you are eating some of everything on the pyramid you’re probably doing great from a healthy diet standpoint. The difficulty arises when we excessively limit certain categories of food in diets.
Take a low carbohydrate diet such as Atkins or the South Beach diet. The idea is to limit or possibly eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. This includes a huge variety of foods including milk, fruits, vegetables, breads, whole grains, pasta, potatoes, yams, and others. Yes many of us intake excess amounts of some carbohydrate rich foods such as pasta but we should be cautious with how much we remove from our diets. Carbohydrates are the major fuel source for our bodies and if it is completely eliminated or reduced too much we can become more susceptible to injury and illness. Also reduction of these foods can decrease the amount of nutrients we can only get from certain types of foods. I am not disagreeing with these diets but caution you not to go to the extremes.
Vegan or Vegetarian diets are great if done correctly. It is definitely easy to do it wrong. I recommend educating yourself on what becomes limited when not eating any animal products. I will note that the lacto-ovo vegetarian (vegetarian that eats milk and eggs) largely reduce the deficiencies of a strictly vegan diet however they are still at risk for iron deficiency and anemia. This can be limited with whole grain breads and a multivitamin with iron. Other deficiencies include protein and vitamin B12. Eating fortified breakfast cereals and soy proteins can help reduce malnutrition from lack of protein and vitamin B12.
First is the CDC
www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov
Second is Harvard School of Public Health
www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource
Third (and my favorite) is the Linus Pauling Institute
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/
…I will make a note that the food/beverage sections on tea and coffee are especially interesting
Basics…The food pyramid. Most people know what this is and I won’t go into much detail. It is a great way to know how much of what foods you should eat. The human body is a complex system that needs a large variety of nutrients to function properly. The food pyramid is an easy to use reference for what you should be eating to keep your system running. If you are eating some of everything on the pyramid you’re probably doing great from a healthy diet standpoint. The difficulty arises when we excessively limit certain categories of food in diets.
Take a low carbohydrate diet such as Atkins or the South Beach diet. The idea is to limit or possibly eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. This includes a huge variety of foods including milk, fruits, vegetables, breads, whole grains, pasta, potatoes, yams, and others. Yes many of us intake excess amounts of some carbohydrate rich foods such as pasta but we should be cautious with how much we remove from our diets. Carbohydrates are the major fuel source for our bodies and if it is completely eliminated or reduced too much we can become more susceptible to injury and illness. Also reduction of these foods can decrease the amount of nutrients we can only get from certain types of foods. I am not disagreeing with these diets but caution you not to go to the extremes.
Vegan or Vegetarian diets are great if done correctly. It is definitely easy to do it wrong. I recommend educating yourself on what becomes limited when not eating any animal products. I will note that the lacto-ovo vegetarian (vegetarian that eats milk and eggs) largely reduce the deficiencies of a strictly vegan diet however they are still at risk for iron deficiency and anemia. This can be limited with whole grain breads and a multivitamin with iron. Other deficiencies include protein and vitamin B12. Eating fortified breakfast cereals and soy proteins can help reduce malnutrition from lack of protein and vitamin B12.
Diet Factoids
If you buy wheat bread, guess what its probably the same as white bread but with molasses for color. The same holds true for cracked wheat and multigrain. If it doesn’t say “WHOLE WHEAT” it’s the same as plain white bread. The label will say under ingredients “Enriched Flour” which means plain white bread and often says molasses after. But what does Enriched Flour mean? It means they processed the wheat so it doesn’t spoil as quickly. I said processed not added preservatives. This can be misunderstood easily. When they say processed it means they took many of the nutrients in the bread and rearranged them so they last longer on the shelf. You can find comparisons of the differences from Whole Wheat to Enriched bread online but it basically means there are less amounts of vitamins and minerals in enriched bread. Is this a bad thing? No. You still get plenty of nutrients in your bread and it lasts longer. You can buy more bread and have it last longer on your shelf. As a single guy who likes to cook, I don’t eat an entire loaf of bread before it spoils so if it can last longer I don’t have to cut mold off it before eating.
Factoid. What I consider False Advertising is Wheat Grass. This I will rant about because my brother tried to convince me of its ’crazy awesome’ benefits. Yes wheat grass is good for you. It is a leafy green vegetable and as leafy green vegetables are good for you wheat grass is good for you. But it isn’t the bloody nectar of the gods. I read some propaganda stating that one 30 ml shot of wheat grass is equal to 5 pounds of vegetables. This is complete fiction. Wheat grass is by no means better than any other vegetable. It is just another leafy green vegetable. If you like it go for it but if you don’t it isn’t any better than celery or cucumbers or cabbage or even fried pickles. Again its all about getting your facts.
Eggs and cholesterol…Yes eggs have a high amount of cholesterol and yes it is all in the yolk. What people often don’t understand is that eggs have HDL cholesterol or the “good” cholesterol. Cholesterol is harmful because it increases the risk of heart disease however LDL cholesterol is the primary cause for harm. HDL cholesterol can actually decrease the risk for heart disease. There has also been several studies on how much cholesterol from eggs actually gets absorbed in the body. In these studies it was found that a significant percentage doesn’t actually get absorbed. The conclusion…Eggs are good for you.
Cranberry juice and UTI (bladder infection or Urinary Tract Infection). I overheard a conversation the other day where someone advised stopping their medication to treat a bladder infection and just drink cranberry juice. DO NOT STOP ANY PRESCRIBED MEDICATION UNLESS ADVISED BY A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. Cranberry juice is not a ‘cure’ for bladder infections. It can help prevent you from getting an infection but it won’t stop the infection once it is in your system. You can drink a small glass (about a cup) of cranberry juice or take a cranberry supplement. Research suggests anywhere from 15 to 30% reduction in likelihood he getting a bladder infection and drinking more doesn’t produce greater effects.
Factoid. What I consider False Advertising is Wheat Grass. This I will rant about because my brother tried to convince me of its ’crazy awesome’ benefits. Yes wheat grass is good for you. It is a leafy green vegetable and as leafy green vegetables are good for you wheat grass is good for you. But it isn’t the bloody nectar of the gods. I read some propaganda stating that one 30 ml shot of wheat grass is equal to 5 pounds of vegetables. This is complete fiction. Wheat grass is by no means better than any other vegetable. It is just another leafy green vegetable. If you like it go for it but if you don’t it isn’t any better than celery or cucumbers or cabbage or even fried pickles. Again its all about getting your facts.
Eggs and cholesterol…Yes eggs have a high amount of cholesterol and yes it is all in the yolk. What people often don’t understand is that eggs have HDL cholesterol or the “good” cholesterol. Cholesterol is harmful because it increases the risk of heart disease however LDL cholesterol is the primary cause for harm. HDL cholesterol can actually decrease the risk for heart disease. There has also been several studies on how much cholesterol from eggs actually gets absorbed in the body. In these studies it was found that a significant percentage doesn’t actually get absorbed. The conclusion…Eggs are good for you.
Cranberry juice and UTI (bladder infection or Urinary Tract Infection). I overheard a conversation the other day where someone advised stopping their medication to treat a bladder infection and just drink cranberry juice. DO NOT STOP ANY PRESCRIBED MEDICATION UNLESS ADVISED BY A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. Cranberry juice is not a ‘cure’ for bladder infections. It can help prevent you from getting an infection but it won’t stop the infection once it is in your system. You can drink a small glass (about a cup) of cranberry juice or take a cranberry supplement. Research suggests anywhere from 15 to 30% reduction in likelihood he getting a bladder infection and drinking more doesn’t produce greater effects.
Drugs R Bad Um K...no Not Um K
Medications. Follow the directions. Simple right? Not always. For any medication follow the directions when taking either on the bottle or what the medical professional tells you. The biggest mistake I see is when people take over the counter pain medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen (Tylenol). If you wake up with a headache and take something for it, follow the directions. Don’t wait until the headache comes back to take a second or third dose. By then the medication has worn off and will take a while to start working again. Save yourself that hour of pain and follow the directions.
Natural medications and supplements. My only statement here is that evidence based medicine is best. Find out what the research suggests by consulting a medical professional or doing your own research. Try not to fall for the snake oil cures by getting both sides of the story. I have heard plenty of advice much of which is poor on taking supplements. “Take a lot to make sure you get enough” or “Don’t take them because you body can only get nutrients from food”. The facts are in the middle. First don’t stop eating because you’re taking supplements. Second you don’t need more than the recommended amounts of supplements. Take vitamin C, taking excess won’t prevent you from getting a cold or make that cold go away. Sorry. But if you aren’t getting the recommended amount of vitamin C your body becomes more susceptible to illness. Your body doesn’t use more than it needs but it does need a certain amount. For vitamin C a glass of juice does the trick (6 oz) or about one orange or a cup of strawberries (uncut). So where does the extra go? You pee it out. So if you are taking supplements over the recommended amount your urine is probably expensive. Lol. This principle follows for the vast majority of supplements.
As far as a multivitamin versus individual supplements. Follow the same idea as before. More isn’t better because your body can’t do anything useful with it and just gets rid of the extra. Now some vitamins and minerals are absorbed in different ways. Here is where supplements can get tricky. Some nutrients are water soluble and some are fat soluble. This means for the body to use the supplements they may need water or some fat. For me this is as simple as taking my daily multivitamin with a glass of milk. It covers both the fat and water. You could also take the supplement with a meal or that morning coffee/tea with sugar or honey.
Other Thoughts
Just some notes to clear things up…and things that don’t fit in a category
In the activity section I mention how much energy you need for certain activities and how much your body needs. What your body needs is called your base metabolism (or basal metabolic rate…BMR) this is the energy your body needs even if you slept all day long. For me in particular (5 feet 7 inches and 150 pound male) that’s about 1700 Calories. Take that and add the amount of energy I expend on a daily basis and you get the total amount of Calories I need each day to maintain the same weight.
For those who think they are obese because of their slow metabolism if I weighed 200 pounds instead of 150 my base metabolism would be 2000 Calories. Your metabolism actually works faster the more you weigh. It makes sense because you’re carrying that weight around with you. Try loading a backpack up with 50lbs of weight and walking around. You’ll exert a lot of effort.
How many meals should I have each day? Well your body doesn’t care about when it gets the food it needs on a daily basis. It just needs to get something each day. 9 meals a day is no better or worse than 1 meal a day. Your body will process it the same.
Shower daily. It is healthier to shower once a day than once a week. It really isn’t optional. I’ve heard the argument that it’s better for your skin, more natural, and some more bizarre reasons for not showering on a daily basis. It is actually worse for your skin because the dirt and grime can lead to infection. Not to mention the fact you can transmit disease to other people by contact. You should also shower after every activity you sweat or exert a lot of effort doing.
Sanitizing everything. You really don’t need to sanitize your hands with rubbing alcohol every time you open a door. If you want to that’s fine because it can prevent infection but remember that it isn’t better than soap and water. You should still wash your hands before cooking and after you use the toilet. Don’t just ‘sanitize’.
In the activity section I mention how much energy you need for certain activities and how much your body needs. What your body needs is called your base metabolism (or basal metabolic rate…BMR) this is the energy your body needs even if you slept all day long. For me in particular (5 feet 7 inches and 150 pound male) that’s about 1700 Calories. Take that and add the amount of energy I expend on a daily basis and you get the total amount of Calories I need each day to maintain the same weight.
For those who think they are obese because of their slow metabolism if I weighed 200 pounds instead of 150 my base metabolism would be 2000 Calories. Your metabolism actually works faster the more you weigh. It makes sense because you’re carrying that weight around with you. Try loading a backpack up with 50lbs of weight and walking around. You’ll exert a lot of effort.
How many meals should I have each day? Well your body doesn’t care about when it gets the food it needs on a daily basis. It just needs to get something each day. 9 meals a day is no better or worse than 1 meal a day. Your body will process it the same.
Shower daily. It is healthier to shower once a day than once a week. It really isn’t optional. I’ve heard the argument that it’s better for your skin, more natural, and some more bizarre reasons for not showering on a daily basis. It is actually worse for your skin because the dirt and grime can lead to infection. Not to mention the fact you can transmit disease to other people by contact. You should also shower after every activity you sweat or exert a lot of effort doing.
Sanitizing everything. You really don’t need to sanitize your hands with rubbing alcohol every time you open a door. If you want to that’s fine because it can prevent infection but remember that it isn’t better than soap and water. You should still wash your hands before cooking and after you use the toilet. Don’t just ‘sanitize’.
Now on a More Opinionated Note&
How I regulate my weight. I load up my plate like normal. Meaning a massive plate of spaghetti with 5-6 meatballs. I then remove some. Usually down to a more ‘healthy’ level of 2 meatballs and what the box says is 2 servings of pasta. The basic idea isn’t to change what I eat but rather to decrease the total consumption. I started off with my usual then took the equivalent of one meatball and a few bites of pasta away and worked down from there decreasing my intake roughly every 1-2 weeks. Now I also stopped snacking by limiting myself to 3 meals a day and didn’t worry about over eating on holidays. A good way to keep from snacking is not buying food that’s easy to snack on. I find that if I have to cook all my food (and I don’t mean using the microwave) I’m too lazy to get up and make something to snack on. These are just some simple things that went a long way to stay healthy. Besides learning to cook is fun. I now don’t like eating out because I can make better food. My definition of better is it tastes good, is inexpensive, and contains several of the basic food groups.
For the 9 or 1 meal ideas. From my perspective eating a bunch of small meals each day can lead to snacking which I think is the biggest problem people face when trying to decrease their food consumption. But eating 1 large meal can leave you hungry at the end of the day so I’ll stick with the 3-4 meals a day.
For some reason people think hunger is a bad thing. I don’t think it is. I believe its ok to feel hungry because it makes the food taste that much better for the waiting.
Be nice to your doctor. They’re trying to help you. They don’t have the most tact because what is embarrassing to you isn’t always embarrassing to the doctor.
I don’t believe in ADD or ADHD. Most kids have an abundance of energy that needs to be expended in some way which makes them seem hyperactive. I read a study a while back where they took 200 kids with ADD and ADHD and worked them on a farm for a month. Guess what they didn’t have ADD or ADHD anymore. Its called being a kid, they need to be active. Its ok that they can’t pay attention in math class or history class, that doesn’t mean that they have ADD or ADHD. They may just not be interested in math or history. Lol.
My idea for fighting the ‘obesity epidemic’ in the USA. Narrower doors.
Sleep…For me the best thing to get a good night’s sleep is piece of mind. Trying to live every day as fully and best I can while not worrying too much about the future. I don‘t mean not planning for the future but rather plan with the knowledge that nothing is certain. One of my favorite prayers is “grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. Sleep is a very necessary part of staying healthy. Lack of sleep can compromise our function and the body’s ability to fight off disease.
If you want me to do research on anything health related I’d be happy to. Just comment or pm..
For the 9 or 1 meal ideas. From my perspective eating a bunch of small meals each day can lead to snacking which I think is the biggest problem people face when trying to decrease their food consumption. But eating 1 large meal can leave you hungry at the end of the day so I’ll stick with the 3-4 meals a day.
For some reason people think hunger is a bad thing. I don’t think it is. I believe its ok to feel hungry because it makes the food taste that much better for the waiting.
Be nice to your doctor. They’re trying to help you. They don’t have the most tact because what is embarrassing to you isn’t always embarrassing to the doctor.
I don’t believe in ADD or ADHD. Most kids have an abundance of energy that needs to be expended in some way which makes them seem hyperactive. I read a study a while back where they took 200 kids with ADD and ADHD and worked them on a farm for a month. Guess what they didn’t have ADD or ADHD anymore. Its called being a kid, they need to be active. Its ok that they can’t pay attention in math class or history class, that doesn’t mean that they have ADD or ADHD. They may just not be interested in math or history. Lol.
My idea for fighting the ‘obesity epidemic’ in the USA. Narrower doors.
Sleep…For me the best thing to get a good night’s sleep is piece of mind. Trying to live every day as fully and best I can while not worrying too much about the future. I don‘t mean not planning for the future but rather plan with the knowledge that nothing is certain. One of my favorite prayers is “grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. Sleep is a very necessary part of staying healthy. Lack of sleep can compromise our function and the body’s ability to fight off disease.
If you want me to do research on anything health related I’d be happy to. Just comment or pm..