"Getting the Nutrients You Need"

A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet gives you all the nutrients you need in the right amounts. Nutrients are substances in food that body cells use to do their work, get energy, and grow. The 6 kinds of nutrients that your body needs are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. Carbohydrates and fats give you energy. Your body uses proteins mostly for growth and repair, although proteins provide energy too. Vitamins and minerals do lots of different jobs to keep your body working right. For example, some vitamins help fight diseases and some minerals help build body cells. Among other things, water helps remove cell wastes and helps keep your body temperature steady. No single food has every nutrient. To be healthy, you need many kinds of food. The Food Guide Pyramid can help you plan meals and snacks that give you the correct amount of each nutrient. The pyramid suggests the number of servings you need each day for most food groups. Eat at least the smaller number of servings in each set of numbers. Eat more if you don't have enough energy or are too skinny. Start with more servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta. Those foods should be the biggest part of your diet. Eat healthy snacks. Watch out for foods at the top of the pyramid! You can get the little amount of fat you need from the two groups just below the top. Fatty foods increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and some kinds of cancer. Fatty and sugary foods can cause you to gain too much weight. Sugary foods can also cause tooth decay. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads and cereals do more than provide nutrients. They also provide fibber. Fibber helps food move through your digestive system like it should. Fibber may also prevent colon cancer.

setting goals to gain muscle:

1)Figure out your BMR.

2)Determine how many calories you burn during daily activity.

3)Add #1 and #2 together to get your Total Calories. This is how many calories you need each day to

MAINTAIN YOUR CURRENT WEIGHT.

4)Increase this amount by approximately 500 or more calories. This is the amount of calories you need

each day to GAIN WEIGHT. To make sure the majority of the weight you gain is actually muscle, be

sure to weight train regularly!

5)Record how many calories you eat and how many you burn each day. If that number is lower than

your Total Calories, you will NOT gain weight.

The Scoop:
To gain a pound, you have to take in an extra 3500 calories above your BMR.

6)If you're burning more calories than you're eating, you need to either workout less, eat more or a combination of the two.

** To gain muscle mass, you need to eat more calories than you burn AND weight train using heavy weights and few repetitions. This means keeping your reps around 6-8 and using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps.

Setting Goals - Losing Fat


1) Figure out your BMR.
2) Determine how many calories you burn during daily activity.
3) Add #1 and #2 to get your total calories, i.e. how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight.
4) Reduce that amount by approximately 500 calories (not going below 1200 calories or life will really suck for you). This amount is what it takes to safely lose fat.
5) Record how many calories you eat and how many you burn each day. If that number is higher than your total calories, you will NOT lose weight.

To lose a pound, you have to burn approximately 3500 calories. If you burn a total of 400 calories with exercise AND diet each day, you'll lose a pound in about 8days.

6) If you're eating more calories than you're burning, you need to either workout more, eat less or a combination of the two.

Example: If my BMR is 1500 calories and I burn 500 calories while exercising, I need 2000 calories to maintain my current weight. To lose a pound a week, I'll need to eat about 1500 calories a day and burn 500 calories a day with cardio and weight training.

Quick Tips:
*Eating a balanced diet means getting all the nutrients you need so that you feel good all day and your workouts don't completely bite. *Keeping track of what you eat will help you avoid mindless snacking and eating when you're not really hungry *Stay hydrated. Thirst sometimes presents itself as hunger pains. *A complete workout includes strength training, cardiovascular exercise and flexibility exercises. *If you're hungry throughout the day, you're either not eating enough or your meals aren't satisfying you. A combination of carbs, protein and fat will help you feel full for a longer period of time.

Setting Goals to Get a Healthy lifestyle:

1. Make an appointment with your doctor to get the okay to start exercising.
2. Start Exercising.
3. Remember to:
* Give yourself plenty of recovery days so you don't burn out.
* Stretch every single day. Don't argue...just do it.
*Be active. Don't sit at your computer all day long in a word processing coma. Stand

up and walk around every 30 minutes.
*Hire a personal trainer[/link] if you don't have a clue what you're doing or if you have a

chronic injury/condition.
*Drink water all day long. Don't argue...just do it.
*Eat some fruit and vegetables. Eat them often. Savor them. Don't argue...just do it.
*Reward yourself for a job well done with new clothes, a massage or a night out on the town.
*Be proud of yourself for being so darned healthy.

Healthy Lifestyle
Better lifestyle habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack. Learn what you can do to help prevent heart disease and stroke.

You Are What You Eat.
Better food habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack. A healthful eating plan means choosing the right foods to eat and preparing foods in a healthy way.

Managing Your Weight.
We can help you manage your lifestyle to better manage your weight and reduce your risk for heart attack.

Exercise & Fitness.
Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, dancing, walking and dozens of other activities can help your heart. Whether it is included in a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all physical activity adds up to a healthier heart.

Kids and a Healthy Lifestyle.
The American Heart Association is working to raise public awareness about the serious threat posed by childhood obesity. Learn more about the various ways on how you can become involved in improving children's health.


It's Not Just a Man's Disease.
Heart disease is far and away the leading cause of death of American women, but you can do a lot to help protect yourself and women from it. Read this section for some important advice.