Travelers Sector

Repeat and try to beat our heart rate, This is a competition now. Once our three-minute recovery is over, push hard again for just three minutes. This time, try to better the heart rate number of posted in the first sprint. Make it a game, After all, three minutes goes by fast. We can do it.

Three minutes of hard work is not that long. Pick up the pace and push our-self to a discomfort zone. If we can sing, we’re not doing enough. If we can talk but can’t sing, that’s a moderate pace. Save that for our recovery. Now push our-self so that we can still talk but need to take a breath every few words. That’s our high-intensity zone.

Research shows that becoming fit in middle age will stave off chronic illness and give us more years of good health. But most middle-aged and older adults in Western countries don’t exercise. While exercise in midlife and beyond requires a little extra care and planning, it doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, the latest science shows the most effective exercise for a middle aged body is also much easier and faster than the hour-long jogs or bike treks we thought we were supposed to be doing.

Midlife is not the time to starve our-self or embark on a restricted eating plan. Wou can eat delicious food and still be healthy and lose weight. The best way to do that is to focus on the vegetables in our life. Spice them up. Sear them in a pan. Roast them in the oven. Enjoy them with quality olive oil, aioli or a dollop of butter. Shop for the freshest vegetables at a local farmer’s market. Eat them for dessert. Be decadent with our vegetables. Eating more of them will push less healthful foods of our plate.

Most cultures around the world are grateful for healthy, clean water. But in a growing number of countries, we’ve taken to wanting our water flavored. We can thank the beverage marketers for treating us to the joys of flavored beverages. While flavored drinks tickle our taste buds, they also fill our bodies with empty calories and added sugars. We don’t have all the answers, but we do know for sure that water — simple, plain, water — is good for us. As we are tuning up our body for our second act, consider our commitment to water.

One of the simplest ways to stop eating packaged junk food and unhealthy snacks is to keep nuts close at hand. At first, we may over do it, so be careful as we nosh on that pack of salted almonds. But over time, we will learn that just eating seven or eight nuts can do the trick when we need an afternoon pick me up.

The nutrition community has spent much of the past few decades talking about the perils of fatty foods and eating too many calories. But increasingly, research is showing that sugar is what ails us. Not only is there evidence that it makes our gain weight, but it appears that the body metabolizes sugar in a way that is, quite literally, toxic. Sugar appears to play a role in insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes, heart disease and other problems. When the body can’t manage the amount of sugar in the blood, the sugar begins to damage artery walls, increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke.

Don’t be fooled by healthy foods. Granola bars, sports drinks and vegetable chips sound like they’d be good for us, but they are loaded with added sugars, extra calories, food coloring, preservatives and other things we don’t need. Grab some nuts or an apple instead.

Midlife is a great time to stop eating packaged processed foods. We eat a lot of these foods for convenience when we are rushing kids out the door to school or when we’re working late. Whether we still have kids at home or an empty nest, resolve to stop eating packaged foods. Here are some tips for eliminating packaged food from our daily diet.

Healthful eating is not the only way to improve our overall well being, but it’s often the first place many of us start. Food is not the enemy; it’s just the bad habits that need to go. As we embark on tuning up our eating habits, don’t think about going on a diet or losing weight. Instead, make a promise to yourself that we’re going to focus on healthful eating habits that will make us feel well today and every day. If we do that, we’ll have more energy and chances are we will also lose weight. Here are a few guidelines to get us started.