Tue, Jun-10-03, 16:36
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Senior Member
Posts: 2,018
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 320/220/195
BF:
Progress: 80%
Location: Pensacola, FL
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While I can see real benefits to drinking fruit juices rather than soft drinks, eating whole grains rather than refined grains, eating beans on a regular basis, eating a good variety of vegetables and fruits, and avoiding saturated fats and transfatty acids, I think the benefits of such a change would be smaller than if everyone began walking and bicycling for transportation again.
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My own experience proves this wrong...I gained weight walking/biking 4 miles a day and playing intense sports for 30 minutes to an hour a day. Why ??? Because in the morning, I'd have 3 biscuits and 2 sodas, at lunch I ate a school lunch which was and probably still is loaded with sugar to lower the percent of total fat, at dinner I'd have a whole basket of rolls, dozens of crackers, a lean meat or many times Spaghetti, and two sides of potatoes, and during the day I'd drink lots of soda (they had soda and snakc machines on school grounds). Even with all that exericse...I was just getting TOO MANY CARBS. Granted, if you are only getting a few too many carbs, exercise will do the job. But, if you are getting way too many all the exercise will do is slow down the weight gain.
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According to "Get Up And Get Moving" in Newsweek, Jan. 20, 2003, one person in four within the USA is complete sedentary, and 60% of the population doesn't get enough exercise to receive a health benefit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 76.6 billion dollars could be saved each year through exercise. (I have seen much higher figures than this elsewhere.)
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I don't know what the exact the definition of sedentary was in this study...But, I would bet many people inaccurately described themselves as sedentary. I cannot imagine 1:4 people not getting any exercise at all...be it at work, school, home, or the gym.
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However, walking slowly doesn't do any good. Bess Marcus, director of physical activity research at Brown Univesity says, "You must walk a mile in 15 to 20 minutes max. You should feel your heart beat faster, your breath quicken, your sweat drip."
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15-20 minutes is standard walking. Hell, I used to walk a mile in 13 minutes at an only slightly faster than normal pace. I can't imagine anyone other than someone extremelly overweight or extremelly old walking any slower than that. Then again, I've always been told I walk quickly.
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If walking is good, bicycling is better. Pedalling Health (you can also read my review in this directory) reports that in Finland, those who chose to walk for exercise had a maximum heart rate of 60% and a VO2 max. of 38. Those who chose to bicycle had a maximum heart rate of 70% and a VO2 max. of 57. Although starting from a higher level, the cyclists improved more over a ten week period than did the walkers.
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There is one thing I didn't mention...When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike alot. Alot of kids did then. I don't know if they still do or not. When I go to the gym nowadays...I primarily ride the bikes. I like to swim...but, the lifegaurd on campus got pissed because I like to swim underwater and dive in the deep end. Apparently, your only supposed to use the shallow end and then only do standard laps (above water). So, I don't use the pool anymore.I'll have to see if I can find somewhere they'll let me swim underwater and use the diving boards.
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