The sedentary lifestyle of Americans is hampering efforts by the U.S. government to reduce the amount of individuals that are suffering from obesity. In Healthy People 2010, a series of health objectives published in 2000, the U.S. government set forth the goal of reducing the percentage of obese Americans to 15 percent by 2010. At the moment, this goal is far out of reach.
In fact, according to Dr. Earl S. Ford and his colleagues from the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, both the numbers of obese women and men are rising, not dropping.
Ford and his colleagues wrote: “The prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity remains disturbingly high among adults in the United States, and our trend analysis shows that both may still be increasing among men.”
The increasing rate of obesity “has all but ruled out” the chances that the U.S. will meet its Healthy People 2010 goals. In fact, public health officials are presently working on developing new goals for Healthy People 2020.
Dr. Ford and his team of researchers have clearly explained that to reduce the obesity rate in the U.S. from present levels down to 15%, the average person must take in 500 less calories per day, walk about two more hours per day, or engage in enough physical exercise to burn the equivalent amount of calories.
Ford and his research team conclude that the “path to achieving” the goals of less caloric intake as well as increasing physical exercise, is not likely to be easy.
There’s no argument that a sedentary lifestylecan cause a lot of readily preventable health problems. However, people need to move. Following are a few things you can implement into your daily routine to be more active.
1) Stand up and move around. If you are stuck sitting at a desk looking at a computer all day, then get unstuck. Every 15 to 30 minutes, stand up and move around a little. Go to the water cooler and drink some water. You may think that this little bit of movement won’t bring much in terms of health benefits. However, a little movement every 15 to 30 minutes will exercise your heart a little and will also get your blood circulating at a little faster pace. This is certainly better than nothing and will help you to use up a few extra calories that would otherwise be stored as more fat.
2) Eat calorie negative foods while at work. One of the main causes of obesity is the combination of a sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices. However, there are many choices of foods that are “negative calorie,” meaning that the calories your body uses to digest the particular food actually exceed the amount of calories in the food itself. Some examples of nutritious, yet “negative calorie” foods are asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber and garlic.
There are also many fruits that are “negative calorie,” such as apples, blueberries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, honeydew and many, many more. A quick search on the Internet will bring up lists of foods that you can eat while at work. In fact, you may even want to munch on these types of foods throughout the day. This will help you to avoid feeling hungry and will keep your metabolism in a state of calorie burning throughout the day.
Do some exercise every day. Don’t like exercising? Then do it first thing in the morning and that way it’s done. Getting out of bed 30 minutes earlier will give you enough time to go for a brisk walk, jog or run around the block. You should also consider adding some resistance exercises with the use of dumbbells or other weights in order to increase your lean muscle mass. Doing this 3 or 4 times each week is a great way to get lean. This is because muscle is metabolically active and therefore helps your body to burn more calories, even when resting.
Don’t be another sedentary lifestyle statistic. Caring for your health and fitness and watching your body weight is one of the most important things you can do in order to enjoy a higher quality of life. Get started today!
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