I have several important updates to share with you that will help you separate fitness fact from fitness fiction.
First- new guidelines were released by The Surgeon General regarding the suggested amount of exercise necessary for your health, weight maintenance and weight loss. 30 minutes of moderate activity (walking, gardening, vigorous housecleaning all count) is necessary on a DAILY basis for general health- just general health. 60 minutes is recommended to prevent weight gain as we age, with 90 minutes- YES 90 minutes! of daily activity necessary to lose excess fat. This is a huge increase from recommendations made in 1997, that suggested 30 minutes most days of the week. These new guidelines are daunting- but from my experience, people who are looking to really lose excess weight DO need to exercise nearly every day for at least 45 minutes- and walking alone will not do it.
A small but interesting research study showed that obese people move significantly less throughout the day than their normal weight counterparts. This lack of movement accounted for 350 calories less expended per day- a large amount of calories! Researchers theorized that the obese are PROGRAMMED to move less- they actually try to conserve energy. But, I wonder- maybe it’s just because it hurts so much to move when you are very obese! Either way, daily activity accounts for a major part of weight loss- so for all of us, MOVE IT!
Lastly, a 10 year massive study followed 148,000 adults ages 50-74 yo looking for the relationship between red meat consumption and colon cancer. Adults who had high intakes of red meat had the highest incidence of colon rectal cancer. Consumption of poultry and fish had an inverse relationship on colon rectal cancer. For those of you currently on the Atkins diet- this study clearly shows that you CANNOT stay on this diet forever and expect to live cancer free.