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Back to Subjects - Sports & Recreation

Maintaining a Healthy Body

Maintaining a Healthy Body When people eat the things that they want to at the time, it’s an almost guaranteed bet that they don’t know what’s nutrients are inside of the food, or what’s good for their body. If they did, they wouldn’t put half of what they eat in it. What you put in and out of your body decides how healthy your body can or will become. Having good eating and drinking habits will most likely force your body to be in good health. To have a healthy body, junk food needs to be avoided. If too much of the wrong foods can cause your body to deteriorate slowly. There are several ways to maintain a healthy body. One of these ways to eating properly is to follow the foods that are on the food pyramid. The U.S. Department of Agriculture came up with Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans list rules a person should follow to maintain a healthy body. The first one on the list suggests that eating a variety of foods. This way your body can have the nutrients and protein that it needs. Number two on the list suggests maintaining a healthy weight. Don’t let your body get out of control. You must watch the intake. Number three states that you should choose a diet that is low in cholesterol. Too much cholesterol is not just bad for the body, but it’s also bad for the heart. Number four suggests choosing a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain products. Without those four items the body can’t be healthy. Number five says use sugar in moderation. Sugar may give you quick energy, but the energy decreases rapidly. Too much sugar intake can cause diabetes. Number six says to also use salt and sodium in moderations. Too much salt causes high blood temperature. The last one on the list states if a person does drink alcohol beverages, they should do so in moderation. Too much alcohol can only be harmful to your body. This list isn’t the only way to maintaining a healthy body. There are six different food groups that can help you maintain a healthy diet and body. The groups are: meat, bread and cereal, fruits, dairy, vegetables, and fats/oils. These groups provide the nutrients that a body needs. The meat group includes other foods beside the basic beef. There are foods like poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts. The bread/cereal group also includes pasta and rice. Fruits are pretty self-explanatory right along with vegetables. The dairy products are the foods made with milk like yogurt and cheese. One group that you need but can’t have a lot of is the fats. Even though it has fat in it, your body can’t live on those nutrients alone. All of the foods go hand in hand, if used properly. That means you have to maintain a good eating balance. Balancing your diet is one of the most important way to staying healthy. Eating too much of one thing, whether healthy or not is not keeping your diet balanced. The correct amount of each food group will help you maintain a balanced diet. When consuming products from the dairy category, only 2-3 servings are sufficient. While eating from the meat group, you should only take in 2-3 servings also. Sometimes a second helping is okay. In the vegetable group, you should eat 3-5 servings. In the fruit group, you should have 2-4 servings (of different fruit). The most you have to eat comes from the bread group. In this group, it’s recommended that you have 6-11 helpings. While fats and oils can be consumed, you should eat them sparingly. Eating these groups all properly will help you maintain the healthiest body possible. Being in good physical condition increases your daily energy. You get your top physical condition by exercising properly. While exercising, it’s better if its in your free time so that you don’t have to rush through it and try to do too much too fast. There are also different exercises for the different parts of your body. To gain a better abdominal area, plenty of the correct stomach exercise can be done. The majority of people exercising believe that the basic sit-up will allow them to gain strong abs, but I beg to differ. You just have to find the right crunch for whatever part of your stomach you want to work out. If you want to strengthen your cardiovascular system, the following exercises may be utilized. Exercises like running, walking, dance, and anything that causes you to move fast helps your heart. If you want to help your muscles with flexibility, you do exercises like leg swings to increase the muscle in your hips and groin. With this form of exercising, you can do something relaxing like yoga. Also, just plain stretching works just as well. To get stronger, you simply do weights, which is also known as strength training. There are many different types of weight exercises you can do to get you stronger in whatever area you feel may need improvement. To tighten up your gluteus area, simply do squats. In doing squats, you also strengthen your quadriceps as well. To help your calves, you do stair master. You don’t even need a machine. Go outside and find a group of stairs (more than five steps), and start climbing. If you don’t have time to get to the gym to do these exercises, walking to work or even around the block benefits your body. Besides proper eating and exercising, its recommended you get your proper rest. Getting enough sleep helps your body recuperate from a hard days workout. In order for your body to fully recuperate, quality sleep is much needed. Products like caffeine and alcohol are to be avoided because they prevent you from receiving the right amount of rest. For many people a quiet comfortable sleeping area is required for them to receive a good nights rest, but that really depends on the person. In general most people should try to complete all tasks before bed so they have enough time to wind down after work school etcetera. Also, the biggest myth about sleep is that when you go to sleep late, and wake up later, you get the same amount of sleep. That’s isn’t anywhere near the truth. Your body is used to going to sleep and waking up at a certain time everyday. So when you do stay up late, and wake up later, you’re not getting the same eight-hour rest. You never know how tired you really are until you lay down and fall straight to sleep, so it’s important that you get the rest you need, or you’ll just drag during the next day. The food guide pyramid explains and suggests how much intake of certain things a body should have. It starts off talking about fats, oil and sweets at the top of the pyramid. Directly below the triangle there are two sections, one being the meat food group and the other diary. They both suggest two to three servings a day. Below those food groups are the fruits and vegetables. The fruits suggest two to four servings a day, while the vegetable group suggests three to five. At the bottom of the pyramid the bread and cereal appear. It suggests six to eleven servings. In conclusion, your body goes hand in hand with what you do day in and out. Eating a balanced diet, exercising, and receiving a good amount of sleep on a daily basis are ways to ensure you have and maintain a healthy body. The food guide pyramid and healthy dieting can only benefit your body. Exercising and weight lifting will keep your body from losing that lovely figure. Just watch the intake of the food you eat. That tip is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy body. Bibliography:

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