Welcome to this week’s Five from David
Your exercise tip – calculate the exercise cost of your snacks
Have you ever asked yourself what those snacks are costing you?
A simple way to work out how much exercise is needed to burn off the excess, is by converting the calories consumed into minutes of cardiovascular exercise. This is done by dividing the total calories by six (the number of calories burnt per minute exercising at a high intensity). For example:
A tim tam has 95 calories. If you consume the nine in a packet over a week this is:
9 x 95 = 855 calories (over one year this equals just short of 5kgs of fat that could be stored)
Divide the 855 by 6 = 142.5 minutes
To counter those tim tams you must complete 142 minutes and 30 seconds of medium/high intensity cardiovascular exercise – that is 2/3 of the cardio you need to complete each week.
Is it worth it?
Your health tip – the role of fibre for our body
The fibre we consume in our diet plays a major role in our digestive health, and can reduce our risk of contracting some disease. It is utilised from the undigestible parts of our plants, with two categories. These are:
- Soluble fibre which helps reduce bad LDL in our cholesterol levels and helps reduce the instance of constipation, and
- Insoluble fibre which adds bulk to our faeces which helps with the removal of waste from our body.
Most plant foods we eat contain both fibre types. Recommendations are that we consume 25 – 30gm per day. Rich sources are fruits and its skin, seeds and wholegrain, and vegetables with the skin on.
Exercise of the week – band rows
This week we are looking at an exercise that is good for shoulder strength and stability and torso abdominal activation. The row can have many variations including stepping rearwards as you pull or lunging as you pull. It is also a great exercise for the initial rehabilitation after an injury. The basic tips are:
- Start with the light band, something that is easy to control.
- Keep the elbow bent when the arm is away from the body. Try not to go to fast causing a jerking action.
- Try for good technique and smooth movement, rather than higher numbers.
- If you have acute shoulder issues, this is not an exercise you should try.
- If it hurts, stop.
Your life tip
Source out knowledge, not the results from knowledge. Enjoy the journey and challenge of new learning.
This week’s wise words
If it is not going to matter in five years spend no more than five minutes worrying about it.
Unknown.
Have a great week and keep healthy in 2017.
David.