As Americans 75 million baby boomers approach a medically unfit retirement I would like to encourage my loyal reader to stay fit. One aspect of fitness that I have observed through the years of working with people is they LIKE TO HAVE FUN!

There are so many ways to have fun while working on our fitness. I love to take exercise outside. Every season there is a sport to enjoy Mother Nature with. I recently came across a baby boomer friendly sport, race walking.

Race walking is walking faster and more intensely. Arms swing in pace with a longer stride. and one foot is on the ground at all times. Race walkers move at a pace of 3.5 to 5.5 miles per hour. Race walking is perfect for the boomer who is a former runner because it burns calories (dependant upon factors such as weight, intensity and length of time) without the joint impact of running.

Advantages

To achieve maximum cardiovascular fitness we need to spend 20 to 60 minutes of time exercising, as a former runner you may find it difficult to get your heart rate into a training zone, this is where race walking comes in. Race walking gets your heart pumping without the stress on your knee and spine. Race walking can also be done competitively

Disadvantages

If you walk slowly it may be difficult to reach a training heart. Race walking can also lead to foot pain. I t can get boring, so get the music cranking.

Baby boomers, you now have one more activity to enjoy!

Obesity in the United States has been cited as a increasing major health issue. While many industrialized countries have experienced similar increases, American obesity rates are the highest in the world with 64% being overweight 26% are obese (“Obesity Trends”. North American Association for the study obesity.2006).

With obesity many chronic health problems develop, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and disability. Diabetes alone has become the seventh leading cause of death in the United States with the U.S. Department of Health estimating in 2008 that 57million adults aged 20 and older were pre-diabetic, 23.6 million type 2 diabetic (Diabetes Prevention Program, Department of Health and Human Services,2008).

Obesity, A PREVENTABLE DISEASE, is a contributing factor to approximately 100,000 – 400,000 deaths in the United States. It cost society an estimated $117 billion dollars in preventive, diagnostic and treatment services related to weight.

Here is my concern, we all know better. Why do we continue to destroy our health and the economic health of the United States? It does not take all that much effort to take a walk and eat more fruits and vegetables! Can we really be that LAZY!

Here’s my idea of health care reform, lifestyle modification.  Let’s all do the right thing, or at least try to eat right, exercise and please DO NOT SMOKE! We are not looking for perfection, take one day at a time, and just try to be a little better than yesterday.

A study released from the Center for Disease control has confirmed that healthy lifestyle modification can reduce the chance of chronic disease. The researchers focused on four factors to reduce chronic disease: never smoking, BMI lower than 30, accumulating 3.5 hours of physical activity a week, and following a healthy diet. The message from their analysis was beyond clear; focusing on “a few healthy lifestyle factors can have a major impact on the risk of morbidity,” said one researcher. No surprises here!

The good news: those who followed all four lifestyle factors had a 78% lower risk of developing a chronic disease. The decreased risk of developing individual diseases is as follows.

• 93% lower risk of diabetes
• 81% lower risk of myocardial infarction
• 50% lower risk of stroke
• 36% lower risk of cancer

I suggest that instead of focusing you attention on health care reform, start your own “lifestyle reform” everyday!

If you aren’t including plenty of dry beans and other legumes in your diet, you’re missing out on some of the best nutritional multitaskers around. Beans are an excellent source of several important nutrients, and studies suggest that they reduce the risk of heart disease, colorectal cancer, and, possibly, even diabetes. What’s more, beans are savory, easy to prepare, inexpensive, and come in many varieties.

With so many good reasons to eat beans, it doesn’t add up that Americans eat only about one cup of beans a week, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a minimum of three cups.

Here are six reasons why we should all eat more beans:

1. Beans are full of vitamins and minerals. Beans are a good source of minerals, like calcium, copper, zinc, iron, and potassium, and B vitamins, such as folic acid.
2. Beans are high in fiber. Beans contain impressive levels of dietary fiber: 12 to 15 g in a one-cup serving, which translates to half or more of the daily recommended fiber intake of 21 to 30 g for older individuals. They are a rich source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. The insoluble fiber in beans absorbs liquid in the colon and helps soften stool, which protects against constipation.
3. Beans are packed with protein. One cup of cooked beans provides as much as 16 g of protein, about a quarter to a third of the amount you need in a day.
4. Beans stabilize your blood sugar. Soluble fiber in beans slows the passage of glucose from food into your bloodstream. Because of this, your body has to produce less insulin; high levels of insulin are a precursor to diabetes.
5. Beans are heart-healthy. Scientific evidence that beans promote heart health continues to grow. In a study conducted by the USDA Agricultural Research, researchers found that consuming as little as a 1⁄2 cup of beans a day helped lower total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in healthy people as well as in those with an increased risk of heart disease.
6. Beans may reduce colon cancer risk. Increasing bean consumption by a significant amount may protect against the recurrence of precancerous polyps that can lead to colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Permanent alterations in your lifelong attitudes toward diet and exercise are the keys to successful weight management. Here are seven no-nonsense strategies to help you eat more moderately, yet feel satisfied.

Clean your plate! It’s a mantra in America, and a contributor to the ever-increasing weight problem. Unfortunately, our plates have gotten bigger! A major part of the weight problem is portion sizes, which have grown substantially over the past four decades: A Coke has increased from 6.5 to 20 fl oz. or more, a bagel from 2-3 to 4-6 oz., and a chocolate bar from 1 to 1.5-8 oz.

Another part of the weight problem is satiety; we often just don’t feel full when we control our calories. According to researcher Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., a nutritionist at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan, “Satiety is the missing ingredient in weight management. Cut calories simply by eating less and you’ll feel hungry and deprived.”

Here are some weight control strategies for controlling your portion sizes while still eating enough to feel satisfied.

• Weight Control Tip 1 — Know Your Portion Sizes. There’s a difference between serving size and portion size. A serving is a standard amount of food containing a set amount of calories; a portion is what you actually put on your plate. So a portion could be a lot more than a single serving — and therefore contain a lot more calories than you might expect.
• Weight Control Tip 2 — Check Food Labels Closely. You can’t assume a package contains a single serving just because the label lists calorie and nutrient information for one serving. Look for the number of servings per package (it’s listed directly under the serving size) to determine the true calorie count.
• Weight Control Tip 3 — Divide and Conquer. Research shows that the bigger the plate, bag, or container of food, the bigger your eyes — and it appears that the eyes have more control over how much you eat than your stomach.
• Weight Control Tip 4 — Go High Fiber, High Water. Eat foods that have a high water and/or high fiber content and are low in fat. This is the key concept behind Dr. Rolls’ Volumetrics approach. Soups, salads, stews, casseroles, fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, cooked grains, and beans are all good choices. These “wet” foods have a low energy density — meaning the water and fiber they contain will fill you up with a small amount of calories — as opposed to “dry” foods like cookies, cereal, and crackers, which have a high energy density.
• Weight Control Tip 5 — Start Meals with Soup or Salad. Dr. Rolls has found that people tend to eat less when they precede a meal with a low calorie soup or salad (with fat-free dressing).
• Weight Control Tip 6 — Eat a Variety of Foods. Dr. Rolls’ research reveals that even when you’re full from one type of food, say a salty snack, you can still make room for another type of food, say a sweet dessert. By eating a small amount of different-tasting foods, you can create a sense of fullness without a lot of calories.
• Weight Control Tip 7 — Emphasize What You Can Eat, Not What You Can’t. Positive thinking extends to weight management, too: After all, diets often fail because we feel deprived. By focusing on what you can eat, you’ll feel better about your weight loss program than if you focus on all you’re missing.