Staying Healthy In Japan

15th February 2010

Staying Healthy In JapanJody Johnston

Be healthy? Why?

✤ You are living away from home

✤ Energy / Concentration

✤ Body composition

✤ Reduces chance of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease

Diet, Exercise, Rest

Nutrition

Fat / Body Fat

✤ Eating fat does NOT make you fat

✤ Eat good fat will help you lose body fat

✤ Eat bad fat = store body fat

✤ Eat good fat = lose body fat

Good Fat

✤ Olive oil

✤ Fish

✤ Whole eggs

✤ Avocados

✤ Nuts

✤ i.e. unprocessed

Bad Fat

✤ Substitute butters

✤ Canola Oil

✤ Margarine

✤ Hydrogenated Oils

Processed Foods

✤ Contains many harmful chemicals

✤ Contain a lot of sugar

✤ Prevents your liver from breaking down fat

Eh? So how do you gain body fat?

✤ The food you eat effects your blood sugar level

✤ When blood sugar is high, insulin gets released

✤ Causes glucose to be stored in cells

✤ Unused glucose gets stored as fat

Calories

✤ You don’t need to count calories

✤ The number doesn’t matter

✤ When you eat the right foods you aren’t hungry

✤ Don’t go into “starvation mode”

A Good Breakfast

✤ Must have fibre

✤ Beware “healthy” cereals

✤ Beware fruit juices

✤ Eggs and bacon

Oats!

✤ Great source of fiber

✤ Lowers bad cholesterol

✤ Smaller rise in blood sugar than rice, bread or pasta

✤ Not just horse food!

Beware - Diet Soda

✤ High calories

✤ Zero nutrition

✤ Spikes blood sugar

✤ Artificial sweeteners are 100 times sweeter than than sucrose (sugar)

✤ “Infantilizing” our taste sense

Beware - Fat Free Rice Cakes

✤ Pure refined starch

✤ Zero fiber

✤ Equivalent insulin spike to glucose

✤ Promotes fat storage

Beware - Soy✤ Soy milk is NOT a health

food

✤ Contains anti-nutrients and heavy metals

✤ One the the most allergenic foods

✤ One of the highest levels of pesticide contamination

✤ Unprocessed or fermented soy is OK.

Be Careful - Wheat

✤ Another very allergenic food

✤ Very common in Western diet

✤ Most common allergies: soy, wheat shellfish, eggs, fish, peanuts and dairy

Do - Green Tea

✤ When in Rome...

✤ Powerful anti-oxidants

✤ Lowers bad cholesterol

✤ Inhibits the growth of cancer cells!

✤ Helps the body to burn fat

Do - Wasabi✤ When in Rome...

✤ In foreign countries Wasabi is often just horse radish

✤ Contains biological compounds that kill cancer cells

✤ Inhibits tumor growth

✤ Decreases bad(LDL) cholesterol

✤ Increases good(HDL) cholesterol

Do - Spices / Herbs

✤ Cinnamon

✤ Chili / Cayenne

✤ Turmeric

✤ Rosemary

Do -Variety✤ Different colours

✤ Different types: whole grains, fruit/veg, legumes, lean meat, fish, nuts (i.e. unprocessed)

✤ Try to cook for yourself

✤ Make or break yourself in the supermarket

✤ Try to eat food for the way it makes you feel

What’s the one time you can eat whatever you want without gaining body fat?

Exercise

Fitness✤ Aerobic Fitness - The ability to do

tough activity over a period of time

✤ Muscular Strength - The ability to use maximum force

✤ Muscular Endurance - The ability to hold a particular position for an extended period of time or repeat a movement several times

✤ Flexibility - The ability to lengthen muscles and move joints through a full range of motion.

Toning?

✤ Has no meaning

✤ You can build muscle or lose muscle

✤ You can gain fat or lose fat

✤ Spot reduction is a myth

Solid State Cardio

✤ 30-60 minutes of steady state cardio like running/cycling

✤ Great for aerobic capacity

✤ Great for endurance

✤ “Fat burning zone”?

Key - Intensity

✤ Training with high intensity results in a large metabolic disturbance in the body

✤ Increase intensity by doing the same amount of work in less time

✤ Or do a greater amount of work in the same time

✤ Build towards intensity

HIIT (Interval Training)

✤ Alternating bouts of high intensity with low intensity

✤ e.g. sprint at 80% intensity for 30 seconds followed by a slow pace jog/walk at 30% for 60 seconds intensity. repeat 6-8 times.

✤ Uses up muscle glycogen

✤ Has a greater metabolic effect than solid state cardio

Stretching

✤ Stretch before I work out...right?

✤ Only stretch when you are warmed up

✤ Best time to stretch is at the end of a workout

Gym vs Home

✤ Gym lets you use a variety of equipment

✤ Workout partner is a good idea

✤ Home workouts - more intense?

✤ Bodyweight exercises are great

Posture

✤ Support yourself

✤ Keep spin lengthened

✤ Keep neck tucked in

✤ Shoulders in line with neck

✤ Feel the floor

Active sitting?

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Active sitting

✤ Exercise ball

✤ Helps maintain a good posture

✤ Develops core balance

✤ Do balance work-outs at home

Rest, Relaxation, Recovery

Recover from your workouts

✤ Only workout after you have recovered

✤ Only take very light exercise if you’re ill

✤ Immune system recovers last

Sleep

✤ 7-9 hours a night

✤ Relax before you go to bed

✤ Power naps are good

Relax

✤ Do things that YOU like

✤ Yoga

✤ Onsen

✤ Breathing exercises

✤ Spend time with people who make you laugh

✤ Helps to relieve stress

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