Read & write

The aspect of fitness that most people miss is the easy part. First we have to define what fitness is. Fitness is the maintenance of the human body so that it functions with a minimum of disease, difficulty and breakdown. That is pretty much like describing a machine, but that is what our body is, a miracle machine.

As with all machines, what type of fuel we put into the machine is important because if low grade fuel goes into the machine, the result is low grade as well. We live in a society where sugar is the king of the diet scenario. If a baby develops a taste for sugar when it is very young, the parents are in for a difficult time in attempting to get the child to eat anything that is nutritional because of the addicting taste that sugar has.

The next time you visit the supermarket, take a look at the ingredients of many of the foods in the aisle. Notice particularly the childrens snack, cereals, and even some of the main courses. Look for fructose and sucrose because those are sugars. Most of the drinks that are geared for kids are full of sugar, not to mention soft drinks.

Adults have the same problem, in that much of the foods that we think are nutritious are also sugar laden. We need to focus on lots and lots of vegetables, and some fruits and lean meats such as poultry and fish. Our diets are the first leg of gaining, and maintaining fitness for our bodies. And that is the easy part we mentioned earlier.

Next comes the harder part, but not so much if we get organized a little bit. Exercise is necessary because our bodies are built for it. Our muscles need to be stimulated, our blood vessels need to be cleaned out a little, and our hearts thrive on exercise. All that has to be done is walk a little while each day. None of the marathon running stuff, just take your time and walk for a half and hour per day.

A half hour of walking equals about Ÿ to one mile. Take your time and enjoy the scenery, but that one little thing means a lot to your body.

Get plenty of sleep and drink plenty of water. Without enough rest, the body cannot recharge. Almost all healing is accomplished while we sleep. Need we say more? Water flushes our system and is necessary to keep things moving. Our body consists of 50 to 60% water so it is important to keep hydrated.

The hard part about all of this is that we have to decide to do something. Good health and fitness dont happen automatically. It takes years to get into some of the health difficulties of some people, caused by little or no exercise and eating all of the wrong foods over a period of time. It makes sense that it will take a while to undo all of the harm that has been done.