June 1, 2008 Start a new diet and exercise routine while watching the game This week a few of the news magazines had articles on fitness and diet that seemed to make some sense for people to follow. Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report have at various times informed their readers of the latest trends in diet and healthy eating and how much of our population is now overweight and obese. The article this week in U.S. News & World Report sort of put much of this information in perspective. It mentioned that the low-carb, low-fat diets are man-made terms, and some of the information was taken out of context to put a new idea out there for people to follow. Some originators of these various diets have some good points about the way people eat; but the problem begins when people do not follow the basic premise of the advice. A good example is the health benefits of eating nuts for food. Nuts have a high content of fat as a food, but they have many good things going for them as a snack. The problem becomes when you eat nuts on top of a big bowl of ice cream, and think that nuts and a dairy product are healthy eating. No matter how it comes out, the calorie count still adds up and the health benefits are nullified. An example was mentioned about the benefits of olive oil in a diet. The situation written in the article had people eating bread dipped in olive oil, which they considered to be healthy. The difference was that after eating the olive oil, the people in the article were chasing goats up hills, where most people eat the bread and olive oil and then sit back and watch football or basketball on television. The articles mentioned that a variety of food is good, and a focus on eating lots of fruits and vegetables while cutting back on large quantities of red meat is a good way to look at a diet, rather than trying to single out any one specific food or vitamin to be the cure-all. Nancy Clark had a simple rule to follow on eating, and that was “Have a lot of color on the plate.” In other words, eat a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables. Carrots are orange, tomatoes are red, lettuce is green and beans are brown or black. The one thing that is mentioned over and over again, along with the necessary changes in eating healthy, is that the articles have the word “exercise” included in a plan for eating and being healthy. Most people focus on the diets and the food content; but if the exercise is left out, things will not change the same as the articles have written. For many people that word “exercise” seems to get lost in the paragraph; and many of them think back to the days of doing calisthenics in gym class as not the most fun part of the day. What is often overlooked is the games that followed and the movement that took place afterwards that was fun. Even little changes can make a big difference. Instead of taking an elevator, the walk up the stairs is exercise, but is not thought of as a bout of push-ups or running a lap around the track. Several trips during the day up and down those stairs add up to better leg strength and burned calories. Parking a little farther away in the store parking lot and walking a few more yards to the store is not only good for you, but the chances of fewer dings in your car are increased. One article mentioned taking a look at the number one excuse for not exercising; and that was the “I just do not have time to exercise in my busy day.” Diet becomes a small part of the total picture when time is a factor, because it seems that the fast-food choices seem to be more the major part of the diet rather than eating a better choice of food. Food is not the major problem, but the daily schedule is. The recommendation is to take a careful look at the things that a person does each day, and see if there are certain items in that schedule that could be left out or cut back a little so that some exercise can be put in. Maybe there are times that exercise can be inserted in that routine and still not interrupt the schedule. How about taking a walk or doing some sit-ups at half time of the ball game on television? Why not schedule an hour of exercise two days a week to start with, by getting up earlier on those days or missing the evening news on television that one day? When you find out how easy it is to include some exercise in a schedule, try making it three days and go from there. Dr. Maurice Johnson - better known around San Marcos as “Moe” - is a professor in the Department of Health, P.E., Recreation and Dance at Texas State University - San Marcos. Moe has been a fixture in the San Marcos running community - both as a runner and race organizer - since way back when Moby Dick was a minnow. His column on running and fitness appears each Sunday in the Sports section of the San Marcos Daily Record. • Recent “Running With Moe” Columns • Home • About the Club • Current News • Club Runs • Places To Run • TX Running Clubs • Running Links • Useful Stuff Upcoming Races • Race Results • Country Roads 10K & Kids Run • ARA-Moe’s Better Half Marathon • “Running With Moe” Contact Us!