How To Start Exercising

If you have just had a baby or simply just have let your weight slide for years it can be hard getting back into an exercise program. However if you want your children to watch you grow old, losing those pounds might be mandatory.

 One of the best ways to lose it (and also combat depression as discussed in a previous blog) is to exercise. Not necessarily diet – but exercising. First of all you should ask your doctor if you need an exercise stress test, or whether you should follow any special exercise guidelines before you embark on any type of program.

You should then consult with a professional at a gym, such as one of the employees at your local YWCA or your doctor to figure out the work out program that is ideal for you. If you are obsessed for instance your doctor may not recommend anything more strenuous than walking at first. 

It is also not a good idea to 'binge' exercise. Exercise regularly and get into a routine rather than go in fits and starts or you are setting your body up for the kind of shock that can lead to injury or heart attack. To optimize the positive effects of any aerobic exercise, you must sustain an activity for at least 20-45 minutes at each session. If you are just beginning exercise, start with a 10-minute workout and gradually add two minutes a week until you reach your fitness goal.   

While exercising try to keep your heart rate within your 'target heart rate zone.' Calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Your target heart rate is 60-75% of your maximum heart rate. This formula cannot be utilized if you are taking certain cardiac medications. Consult your health care provider for your target heart rate parameters if you are on medications. If you are on certain medications it may not be wise for you to exercise, which is unfortunate, as that will prevent you from accessing one of the easiest weight loss tools at your disposal. 

To determine your heart rate, you must first learn how to take your pulse. Using middle and index fingers, locate your pulse on the thumb side of your wrist. Press lightly. Count your pulse for 10 seconds starting with zero. Multiply by 6 to arrive at your pulse rate. Never stop your activity completely to take your pulse. Keep moving at a slower pace to slowly come out of an exercise. It is important to do a warm-up and cool-down before you exercise. A slow but steady building of excessive intensity during a warm up allows the cardiovascular system to adjust to the increasing demands of exercise, and a good cool down helps it adjust back to resting level.  

While exercising it is also very important to be aware of your body. Listen to your body and heed warning signs of cardiovascular disease, such a chest pain or pressure, abnormal heart rhythms or dizziness. While these symptoms are often caused by something other than heart disease, it is best to be safe and check them out.  A healthy person will not be in pain while exercising.

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Choosing a Juicer

To keep my kids healthy I have been juicing more fruits and vegetables and also blending the juice into smoothies. Fresh juices are also great to make fresh pasta sauces with. 

A juicer is not like a blender because it is specifically designed to moisture from the fibers of fruits and vegetables. Juicers work by separating the liquid inside a vegetable or fruit from its pulp. I sometimes use the pulp leftover from a juicing session to make muffins especially if I am juicing carrots or cranberries. If you want you can use a blender to make some kinds of juices but I am a purist. I also don't want to bother straining pulp from juices.

The easiest juice to create manually is from citrus fruits, which you can just squeeze into a glass from your hand or by rubbing half of the fruit over a manual citrus juicer. The best juices on the market are the high-speed electric juicers. There are four kinds – the centrifugal, the centrifugal with pulp ejector and the masticating juicer with hydraulic press. The centrifugal juice chops the fruit or vegetable up and then spins it is an interior bucket at a high speed that helps separate the juice from the pulp.  The pulp stays in the basket until you remove it. The ones that have pulp ejectors pop the pulp out of the machine through a side opening into a collection container. The most popular brands are the Olympic, Phoenix, Braun, Oster, Sanyo and Panasonic models. They can cost anywhere from $50 to $150. 

The masticating juicer is a high-speed machine that chomps up the vegetable or fruit into a paste and then presses it all through a screen to eject the juice.  Some of these juicers have hydraulic presses attached. Champion and Norwalk are well known masticating juicers. They are largely used for pressing wheat grass juice.  You can also get electric wheat grass juicers that are faster and more sophisticated and are designed to juice produce that is difficult to put through a machine normally such as sprouts, lettuce and avocadoes. 

If you are feeling old fashioned you can also make juice by hand. You can buy juicing kits in houseware and department stores that consist of inexpensive grating boards and heavy duty cloth bags.  If it is wheat grass juice that you are after you can also buy special manual wheatgrass juice grinders. Some people would rather use a manual juicer with wheatgrass juice as it is thought that high-speed juicers oxidize the sprout or green juices.

Oxidization causes the enzymes to be degraded with free radicals. To determine whether or not a juice has been oxidized during the juicing process taste it. If it has a bit of a metallic taste after you extract it then you may have bruised some of the vitamins and nutrients it contains.

Here is a good store to find a juicer.

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