Make exercise an extra activity

Weight loss seems a simple bargain - eat less, exercise more and weight will go away. Some feel diets are difficult while others exercise. But why is exercise the difficult part of the bargain?

Diet is so much easier than exercise to lose weight?

Often due to a sedentary lifestyle, people gain weight due to excess calories from eating or lower calorie expenditure. When it comes to losing weight most choose dieting as it appears easy and there's always the prospect of reward after a bout of dieting. With exercise it requires a lot more effort, very boring, and there's always no time or space to do it. Also one cannot do without food; but on the other hand one can do without exercise, it's not critical to daily life.

How important is exercise for weight loss?

The more we think of exercise as an exclusive weight loss activity the less is the chance of making it a way of living. This is the first mind shift one must make. Exercising activity has three major benefits - health, fitness and weight maintenance. Dieting and exercise both help you lose weight - but dieters also lose the value of building healthy muscle. Healthy muscle improves functional fitness and metabolism - the latter helps in burning fat mass. At another level good aerobic workouts improve health in terms of lowering risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes, etc. So, being physically active has a three-tier improvement in your way of life - health, functional fitness and maintenance of weight. Losing weight without appropriate exercise is inadvisable.

How do I make exercise a way of living?

To make anything a way of living requires two conditions - first it should be easy to do at home and secondly it should fit into our daily routine, just like brushing teeth twice a day. It is not essential to join a gym or go out to get an aerobic workout. There are a number of exercises you can do in the privacy of your home, at your convenience, to your music and perhaps with the whole family. Think of exercise as a fun activity with the family or kids who bring a whole lot of meaning and wonderment to life.

Chomping on cherries: A real mind-bender

When your mind is in need of honing, give your brain a bowl of cherries. This yummy fruit is chock-full of anthocyanins, potent compounds that may guard against brain-cell death, so you’ll stay sharp.

Neuron Armor

Cherry phenolics, particularly anthocyanins, appear to protect brain cells from neurodamaging oxidative stress – the kind seen in Alzheimer’s disease. Sour cherries may be particularly protective; it’s thought that they may have higher anthocyanins amounts than the sweet kind. But concentrations vary widely among different varieties.

All in your head

No matter what your age, you can do plenty to keep your mind at peak performance. Start with these tips:

• Give your synapses a good workout. Start with puzzles and games.

• Test your brainpower: Any quiz that tests your skills at lateral thinking, association, wordplay, and logic skills will help.

• Feed your mind. Check out the must-have brain foods – from fish to nuts.

• Assess your risk. This can give you some insight into your risk of Alzheimer’s.