Here we are at Part II on exercise and cancer. In Part I we established that being physically active every day can reduce risk of cancer and improve your quality of life. We also established the difference between physical activity and exercise.
We created a Well Beyond Cancer team for the president's challenge (click here to join) and already have 8 people registered on the team!
- Our group member name is: Well Beyond Cancer
- Our group ID Number is: 67303
This site can be used to track the amount of time you exercise.
Now comes the practical part where we talk about how much exercise we should have each day.
How Much Do I Need?
The recommendations for cancer prevention and healthy survivorship are to have 60 minutes of moderate or 30 minutes of vigorous physical
activity every day. It may seem like experts are
always changing this recommendation. I don't see it as
changing, but rather the recommendation is being reworded to make more sense to
the average person's activity level.
If you think about it, the "average person" is constantly changing. On average, we're watching more TV,
sitting at the computer, or playing more video games, instead of being active
in the house, yard, or playing at the park. Therefore, it's necessary to
tell people to get 1 hour of intentional activity every day instead of the past recommendation of 30 minutes 3-4
days/week.
All of your physical activity doesn't have to be at one time. You can spread it out throughout the day, or have certain days where you are more active than others. I have days where I might do 1-2 hours of vigorous activity. Other days I might have 15 minutes here and there or a leisure 60 minute walk. It all adds up to my weekly total of at least 7 hours.
Rather than beating yourself up for not working out, find a way that
you can fit some physical activity into your day. Can you do things at
work differently so that you fit more activity in? I think of this as
being paid to exercise! Use the stairs, even if you don't work on the second floor. If you're at a desk, set an
alarm on your calendar to get moving every hour. Walk while talking on the
phone or keep some free weights in your office. If you must procrastinate, procrastinate actively!
Instead of watching TV at night record the show and take a walk instead. A 1 hour show recorded and watched without commercials give you 20 extra minutes that day. Or you can exercise while watching it. Better yet, don't watch it and you've earned an entire hour!
The Bottom Line:
When it comes to exercise, the bottom line is that doing something is better than doing nothing. Don't get caught in the mindset that you have to work out for a long amount of time for it to matter. Any amount of time counts.
On a slightly unrelated note, a friend of mine wrote a post this week that I found very meaningful. If you're a cancer survivor, friend or family of a survivor I think you'll relate. If you're not, her post can give you a glimpse into the world of a cancer survivor. Thanks Sara for sharing your story! Check it out at www.sarapattersononline.com.
Have a great weekend. Remember to spend time with your loved ones and show them that you care. :)
- Julie
I think you are totally correct about this high protein. Funnily enough a lot of diets also claim that high fat content (unsaturated, non-synthetic, unprocessed) is vital for decreasing the dimensions of one's mid-section.
I would look at http://www.squidoo.com/best-abs-best-ways-burn-belly-fat get information.
Bye,
ie