I just read the results of a study on 4-year-olds in the U.S. which states that an alarming 1 in 5 are OBESE, already! I don’t know about you but this is alarming to me. A bleak future for these tots, a life of joint problems, heart disease, diabetes, psychosocial issues, etc. We have to take action.
Kids, as well as we adults, need to be more active, be smart about what we eat. With all the sugar in our foods, it is no wonder that obesity is pandemic. High sugar intake causes a spike in insulin, the hormone responsible for maintaining proper blood sugar (glucose) levels. Insulin loves to store fat, so you can do the math. High insulin=greater fat storage. We need to use fat for energy, not store it.
Activity (exercise) is a great way to use fat, but it must be done properly. If you do short-burst, high-intensity exercise, you burn 9x more fat than long slow aerobic work like walking or bicycling. When you do those activities, speed up for short intervals of 20-30 secs, then recover. Compare it to driving a car-you put the cruise control on to maximize fuel consumption. If you speed up and slow down, you burn more gas. We want to burn more gas (calories) in our activities. For more information on types of workouts that I do, please reply to this email.
Stay well, John R. Blilie, M.S.