What Is Health

WHAT IS HEALTH?

Health is metabolic efficiency. Sickness is metabolic inefficiency. Nobody is totally healthy or totally sick. Each of us is a unique combination of health and sickness. And each of us has a unique combination of abilities and disabilities, both emotional and physical.


Health is generally defined as being "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". This definition is used by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1948

Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle.

Yoga for Weight Loss

Yoga for Weight Loss

Yoga is often thought to be simply stretching exercises. While stretching is involved, yoga is more about creating balance in the body by developing strength and flexibility. This is achieved by performing poses. Each pose has specific physical benefits. The poses can be done in succession, creating heat in the body through movements, or more methodically to increase stamina and perfect the alignment of the poses.
The most important aspect of any diet, weight loss plan, or healthy lifestyle change is addition of daily exericse. The best approach is to lose weight gradually and for good. Yoga offers a good solution to this problem. Yoga tones the body in a uniformed manner, unlike any "weight loss program" which claims to decrease the size of certain body part such as the butt or waist by specific amounts or inches. Yoga can be practiced at any age to keep the body supple and is very low impact.

Basic, balanced nutrition is challenging to follow, but it is not complicated. What is challenging and complicated is trying to figure out long-term motivation to maintain lifestyle change. Yoga is especially good because it involves the mind, body and spirit and creates long-term passion. Find a basic food program or chose one of the inexpensive online programs for structure and support, add Yoga at your local health club or community center and you'll have all the ingredients for real success.

Curves for Women

Curves for Women Review

Curves for Women is the largest chain of franchised fitness centers in the world with over 8000 locations. They are small facilities with hydraulic resistance machines that are arrayed in a circuit where you move from machine to machine on a time interval. There are 8-12 pieces of equipment in the circuit that target specific body parts. The circuit moves you from station to station and is directed by music and taped instruction. You are meant to go at a quick pace to keep your heart rate up. Curves for Women hours of operation vary by location and are more restrictive than most health clubs. There is a $149 one-time service fee to join and it is $29-39/month for a year. Often there are specials and incentives that refund a portion of the fee. Many franchises require a one-year minimum.

Curves for Women is designed for and marketed to those who are intimidated by traditional gyms, health club beginners, older people and those with very limited time. They are trying to take the fear out of starting an exercise and weight loss program which is very important as the epidemic of obesity in America worsens.

The Curves for Women workout regimen does have some drawbacks though. The nature of the workout regimen is the main drawback, in my opinion. A 30-minute circuit in a small gym is awfully mundane, which makes it hard to stick to in the long-term. Every time you workout, it's the same. Also, a recent study published in the The American Council on Exercise's magazine (March/April 2005), showed an average of 184 calories burned during a Curves for Women 30-minute workout. That's less than one candy bar, a half a donut or a bowl of cereal. Consider the amount of food you consume that makes you overweight. That does not leave you much flexibility with your diet. Whether this study is completely accurate or not is up for debate, but it is reasonable to say that such a short, low impact workout is not an efficient calorie burner.

If you are that person mentioned earlier, Curves for Women is a good start. My main concern is sustainability of such mundane exercise. Lifestyle change, weight loss and exercise can be interesting, even fun, if you add lifestyle exercise activities that burn a lot of calories, such as tennis, hiking, cycling, climbing, dancing, power walking, etcetera... Find a basic food plan or choose one of the online programs for structure and support, add lifestyle exercise activities and you have all the ingredients of the best possible option.

Smart Technique from Mommy Style

Smart Technique from Mommy Style Review

It is refreshing to see a weight loss program that focuses on the mental battle of weight loss. Diets do not succeed or fail based on the food or exercise program, but based on whether you can deal with the mental demons of lifestyle change. The program consists of a number of audio recordings that contain information that will compensate for your cravings and your mental demons, which always seem to doom most diets. There are recordings for diet preparation, mental change, support during holidays, and support during periods when you feel vulnerable to your cravings, among other recordings. All this seems like a rational and helpful approach.

But, the Smart Technique has a number of fatal flaws without even getting into the basics of the program. The marketing is slick, having been written as a pure sales pitch and is overly optimistic. The infomercial which sells the program is peppered with the words, "easy," "automatic," and "effortless." They claim that weight loss on their program is "as easy as listen and lose," all for four easy payments of $33.95. But wait, order their program in the next "16 minutes" and they will deduct one of the payments for a total of over $100.

The informercial does not mention exercise and purely focuses on the food aspect of losing weight. The problem is, the one thing in common with the 5% of dieters who lose weight and keep it off is regular exercise.

I am a firm believer in basic common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Revolutionary products don't need to resort to being sold on slick infomercials, aired late at night and on Sunday afternoons. The bottom line is, healthy long-term weight loss is not easy and it never will be. If it was, the long-term failure rate would not be 95%.

Ladies Workout Express & Lady of America

Ladies Workout Express and Lady of America

Ladies Workout Express and Lady of America are national fitness and weight loss centers for women, similar to Curves for Women and PACE.

Balanced Review: Ladies Workout Express (Lady of America) is another breath of fresh air in this industry of pill pushers and scam artists. The program consists of hydraulic resistance training and aerobic exercise. In contrast to other strength training equipment, there are no weight stacks to manage, just the safe, accommodating resistance that keeps you moving smoothly and safely around a circuit.

The program focuses on the right things: exercise and balanced nutrition, but falls into the trap of most commercial fitness and weight loss centers: in an attempt to make dull forms of exercise more interesting, they compress the workout into 30 minutes. This strategy of circuit training in a health club works in the short term but rarely beyond a dieter's initial burst of motivation. For those who have physical limitations this may be the best option over traditional health clubs and other forms of exercise. A better option for long-term success for those who are of average health in regards to exercise, are lifestyle exercise sports like tennis, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, dancing, etcetera... These are the types of activities that you don't think of as exercise and will lead to a lasting victory over your weight problems. Find a basic food plan or choose one of the inexpensive/sensible commercial programs, add lifestyle sports and you have all the ingredients of the best possible option.

8 Minutes in the Morning

8 Minutes in the Morning Review

The rationale behind promoting "quick" and "easy" weight loss and fitness is to sell a product. Fit, healthy people with "beautifully sculpted" bodies simply do not get that way from minimal daily effort. The testimonials of "ripped" body builders and "athletes" that sell their image as easy is clearly disingenuous. What this does is give the average overweight person a false sense of reality and what it is going to take to succeed at long-term weight loss. The first step that all overweight people have to take is to be honest with themselves. You need to accept the fact the road ahead will be difficult. By doing this you lay the foundation to build the type of inner strength and mental toughness that you will need to persevere and succeed. Everyone loses weight, but few keep it off.

The marketing of programs such as " 8 Minutes in the Morning" by Jorge Cruise are not realistic for the average person with a high body mass index. A more comprehensive plan is needed to change your behaviour, eating habits and exercise patterns. Realize those who lose weight and keep it off almost always follow the same strategy: balanced nutrition with portion control, daily exercise and especially important, they find a long-term motivation to change their lifestyle.

eFitness Review

eFitness (from the folks at eDiets)

is a new online fitness program. It is basically an online virtual personal trainer. eFitness is a convenient, private and drastically less expensive alternative to personal trainers and weight loss consultants at the health club or gym. In addition, the program provides full online support with customized fitness and nutrition plans and the latest scientific information. The concept is similar to the eDiets program, but is more based on fitness than necessarily weight loss, which go hand in hand anyway. The one thing in common with all weight loss plans that work in the long term is regular exercise. And the more, the higher the success rate. There is almost no negative information out there about this new program. That's a very good sign.

The problem with online fitness and weight loss programs is that they are all online. There is not a physical person to provide support and counseling, which can be both good and bad. Bad for obvious reasons and good because it forces you to act more independently and become self-reliant, which is undoubtedly the most important trait for long-term weight loss success. Overall, this independent approach is excellent because the fitness plan and support systems are self-directed.

The biggest problem with eFitness is that it is a body toning and sculpting fitness program. For weight loss and general fitness we are much bigger fans of lifestyle exercise activities such as tennis, hiking, walking, cycling, dancing, climbing, etcetera... These are the types of activities that you don't think of as exercise and sustain themselves in the long-term. Chose a basic food program or the original eDiets for the food, stucture and support aspects of your weight loss plan, add one of these activities and you have the best possible option for success.