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Fit for What?

by: Tanja Gardner

Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner

Unless we�re talking about our bodies, and the amount of exercise they can do, we usually talk about being fit in relation to something. An object is �fit for use�, clothing is �fit to be worn at work�, and food is �fit to be eaten�. My parents used to have a running joke that they were fit � fit to drop! Everything else is fit 'for something'. So why do we insist on describing ourselves as �fit� or �unfit� without relating the concepts to anything else?

GENERAL PRINCIPLES
It�s a basic truth that the human body wasn�t made to sit still for any length of time. We spent tens of thousands of years evolving in an environment that required us to move � to find shelter, to catch food, and to keep ourselves safe from predators. We�ve only been living lifestyles that allow us to be sedentary for the lesser part of a hundred years � not nearly enough time for evolution to adapt our bodies to this new environment. We see this constantly reflected in modern rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, chronic aches and pains, and muscular and bone deterioration in people who have become inactive as they age.

On top of this, activity has a very real effect on both stress and energy levels. Our bodies have a �use-it-or-lose-it� way with energy � if we don't constantly use and then replace energy (with activity, followed by rest and good nutrition), we start noticing our energy levels gradually draining away. We feel tired, lethargic, and as though any amount of effort is just too much to be worth it. And if we�re also under stress � for example, at work, or in a difficult relationship � we feel the energy loss and the stress even more intensely.

These are general principles that seem to be true whoever we are. But different lifestyles require different amounts of energy, and exact different prices in terms of stress. We enjoy doing, and our bodies are suited for, different kinds of activity. It makes sense then, that the amount and type of activity that will help us reach our optimum fitness, will be different.

DIFFERENT STROKES
If that�s the case, then getting �fit� without a frame of reference seems like a meaningless concept. Unless we know what we want to be �fit for� � what fitness means to us � there�s no reason for us to get or stay that way. If my life is basically calm, quiet and easy-flowing, and I�m quite happy to keep it that way, my �optimum fitness� is going to be very different to someone who�s discovered a deep fulfillment in setting themselves a goal and achieving it. Someone who�d just like to go for a walk with friends without getting puffed is going to have a different optimum fitness level to someone who wants to discover how it feels to finish a marathon.

On top of this, what people want often changes over time. Perhaps at one point in your life, you enjoyed spending a couple of hours a day exercising, but now you�re finding there are things you�d like to do far more with that time. Alternatively, when you first started creating your optimum life for yourself, it might have been enough for you to just keep your body healthy. As you tried new activities though, you might have discovered you were actually enjoying some of them for their own sake, and wanting to get fitter so you could do more of them. So at different times in your life, you�d have a different optimum fitness level.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE �FIT FOR�?
Which brings us back to our original question � can we talk about being fit, without knowing what exactly we�re �fit for�? The way we see it, your optimum fitness level depends completely on what you want to be able to do in your daily life, how you want to be feeling, how much energy you�d like to have and how exercise fits in with the rest of your life. So your first step in moving closer to optimum fitness needs to be to make that all-important decision �What do I want to be fit for?�

About the author:

Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information please visit check out or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.

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Do you want to be thinner, healthy and fit?
by: Lucy E. Riddell

While we offer an effective and natural fat loss product � the Jen Fe Next Fat Loss Patch and the Power Patch, we also know that without a commitment from you to bring about some lifestyle changes, you won�t reach optimal fat loss. There is no product in the world that can produce fat loss while we are eating and drinking excessively, and moving only slowly from couch to car to office chair. We need a program of sensible diet and exercise that will support the products we utilize to help our weight loss.

Here�s what to eat:

1. Lots of vegetables and fruits

2. Increase healthy protein intake. This is how you build lean muscle tissue, which in turn speeds up your metabolism. Examples are fish, lean meats, low-fat dairy products, beans, and soy products.

3. Fiber-Rich foods. They will fill up and they make they are satisfying. In this category are: peas, beans, bran cereals, potato skins, nuts and seeds, oatmeal, bulger wheat, 100% whole wheat baked goods, fruits and vegetables.

4. Minerals. Calcium and other minerals are you �secret weapons� against body fat. They are found in low-fat dairy products, small or canned fish, soy tofu, green vegetables, nuts, seeds, bran cereals, and calcium fortified orange juice, and avoid processed, salt-loaded foods.

5. Eat fish and beneficial fats. Omega-3 unsaturated fatty acid in some fish, oils and nuts is a good fat. Eat moderate amounts of salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines and other oily fish. Soybeans, nuts, pumpkin seed are also excellent sources for Omega-3.

6. Reduce harmful fats � saturated and trans fats. These are not only high in calories; they are also loaded with harmful fatty acids that cause disease.

7. Always eat an adequate breakfast for several reasons: it will speed up your metabolism earlier in the day and when you skip breakfast, it makes it harder to control your appetite later in the day.

8. Cut back or eliminate alcohol. It is high in non-filling calories. Ideal consumption is one glass of beer or wine a day.

9. Stay away from junk carbohydrates � sugar and white flour are diet killers in all but the smallest amounts.

10. Gradually reduce your calorie intake because extreme and sudden dieting causes your body to conserve, not burn calories, and it slows fat loss.

11. Snack instead of eating large meals � larger, higher calorie meals tend to be stored as fat, instead of burned for energy. Ideally, you should eat five or six smaller, nutritious snacks each day instead of large meals.

12. Move! You must exercise to build lean tissue that burns fat. As little as two to three hours per week of brisk walking at minimum, and you will notice a major impact on your weight loss.

13. Reduce stress. It produces adverse fat-producing chemistry in your body. Try warm baths, meditation, deep breathing, stretching, massage, prayer and rest.

14. Get outside into the sunshine at lest 20 minutes per day � the vitamin D you get from sunshine works with calcium for health and body fat control.

For more information on the Fat Loss Patch, go to www.FatBeGoneWithLucy.com or call 888-407-0570.

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