HealthKick: Good Routines Keep You Healthy

We all know that when we take time off from our workout routine, it’s often hard to return. And the longer that break is, the harder it is to get back into the swing of things. From a psychological standpoint, it is very important to “jump right back on the horse” as soon as you are able. Work to overcome the obstacle to working out, and then resume your healthy routine. Even if a medical condition restricts your exercise, continue whatever aspects of your lifestyle you can to keep yourself in the healthy/exercise mindset. For example, if your ailment affects only one part of your body, keep exercising the other parts. If you have a cold or are on vacation, still perform parts of your workout. It is all about the lifestyle and maintaining the healthy patterns.

From a nutritional standpoint, this is equally important. Don’t dwell on a dietary “indiscretion,” but rather look to your next meal or snack and make it the very best it can be. Avoid the psychological impact of a downhill spiral: you don’t want your diet to have a tumbleweed effect, because every calorie you take in must go somewhere. You either have to work it off or it gets stored as fat.

But how quickly do calories get stored as fat? And is daily exercise as crucial as you have been told? New research shows that your body probably makes a very quick shift from burning energy to storing fat. In a study, rats that had been running on an exercise wheel for three weeks and then had that activity removed for as few as two days went into fat storing mode. Their fat cells expanded by nearly 20% on average, and their abdominal fat increased in weight by 25%. Now rats aren’t humans, but this research indicates that sticking to a daily exercise program is as significant to your overall metabolism as you have been told. Studies in humans on inactivity have shown that blood sugar and insulin increase after only five days of inactivity. But the new animal studies suggest that the changes in metabolism could be more dramatic and start much earlier.

The take home lesson: get into a daily exercise routine and stick to it. Plan and consume a healthy diet. Meet and overcome obstacles to achieving and maintaining your overall healthy lifestyle. Your body and mind will thank you each and every day.