Exercise, exercise, exercise!!!

Dragon Mood? -- hugging and puffing

From CNN's Health Center:

... The panel of doctors and scientists that developed the recommendations put an emphasis on getting 30 minutes of exercise. The guidelines are being used to update the government's food pyramid, which is due out this spring.

People trying to fit the new exercise advice into their day don't have to start all at once. It's fine to break your activity into bouts of 10 or 15 minutes. But the idea is still to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity -- the equivalent of walking briskly, at about 3.5 miles an hour.

Try walking your dog in the park for 15 minutes in the morning and walking on a treadmill for 15 minutes in the evening, or take a walk at lunchtime, Pi-Sunyer said. "You don't have to change, put on a sweat suit, take a shower. You're not going to work up a big sweat, and you can go back to work," he said.

And it doesn't have to be walking. The panel gave several examples of moderate exercise: Hiking, light gardening or yard work, dancing, golf, bicycling, a light workout of weight lifting. Stretching also counts.

More vigorous activity is even better, the committee said. That could include running or jogging at 5 miles an hour, walking at 4.5 miles an hour, bicycling at 10 miles an hour, swimming, aerobics, heavy yard work such as chopping wood, more vigorous weight lifting or playing basketball.

"The idea here is small steps," said Eric Hentges, director of the Agriculture Department's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, which helped write the guidelines. "Get the 30 minutes first, because independent of any of the other aspects, the 30 minutes alone will have benefits."

[It's now Thursday and I finally have time to get back to this posting.

I wanted to say how encouraged I am regarding these guidelines. I think encouraging all people, overweight or not, to take baby steps towards healthier choices and a healthier life promotes mental health and a sense of well-being because of its very do-able-ness. (Sorry for the clumsy wording.)

I struggle almost every day with getting my thirty minutes of exercise in. Some days are easier than others. And some days, I do get my exercise in smaller chunks of time, walking the dog, doing housework, whatever, just as the article says. Even that is far better than sitting on the couch eating potato chips!]