Summer has arrived and along with it the dreaded bathing suit season.Whether you can’t wait to bare it all on the beach, or if you’re still working toward a weight loss goal, exercise is the key to looking and feeling great in the summer months.But there are other good reasons to exercise.Reason No. 1: Melt fat away. The most coveted side effect of exercise is, of course, fat burn. The combination of a challenging exercise routine and a balanced meal plan is the best known way to lose fat. Here’s what losing fat feels like:* Your pants become loose.* People around you begin to say you look great.* A glance at yourself in the mirror makes you smile.* Your energy levels soar.* You feel amazing.Reason No. 2: Alleviate pain.Regular exercise is a great way to alleviate chronic muscle and joint pain. Persistent back pain can be lessened by strengthening your core and will help protect the back from further injury. It amazes people when the chronic pain they have lived with for years begins to fade after starting a regular exercise program.Reason No. 3: Increase lean tissue.More muscle is good for many reasons. Muscle requires many more calories each day than fatty tissue. In fact, one pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories each day at rest, compared to a measly nine calories per pound of fat.When exercising, body composition will change to contain more lean tissue; thus, resulting in extra calories burned while sleeping. What could be better than that?Reason No. 4: Stay young.Tim D. Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College in London, led a study on the effects of exercise on aging. The results were astounding. They found that exercise appears to slow the shriveling of the protective tips on bundles of genes inside cells, called telomeres, which means a slowing of the aging process.”These data suggest that the act of exercising may actually protect the body against the aging process,” said Spector.Here’s the study in a nutshell:
- Telomeres cap the ends of chromosomes and every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter.
- Once a telomere gets too short, that cell can no longer divide.
- Aging occurs as more and more cells reach the end of their telomeres and die. This results in weakened muscles, skin wrinkles, loss of eyesight and hearing, organ failure and slowed mental functioning.
- The study analyzed the telomeres from the white blood cells of twins over a 10-year period. Telomere length was used as a marker for the rate of biological aging. It was found that the length of telomeres was directly related to that twin’s activity level. “There was a gradient,” Spector said. “As the amount of exercise increased, the telomere length increased.”
- People who did 100 minutes of weekly exercise had telomeres that looked like those from someone about five to six years younger than those who did 16 minutes of exercise each week.
- People who did three hours of vigorous exercise each week had telomeres that looked like those from someone about nine years younger.
- Weak heart muscles pump little blood with lots of effort. Exercising strengthens the heart muscles and trains them to pump more blood with less effort. The stronger the heart is the less pressure will be exerted on the arteries.
- Exercise increases HDL levels in some people and this means a decrease in your risk for heart disease. Other heart disease risk factors like weight, diabetes and high blood pressure all show improvement with regular exercise.
- Combine the pecans, 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla bean, sea salt and 3/4 cup of the dates in a food processor. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a pie pan and set aside.
- Combine the remaining 3/4 cup dates, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean and water in a food processor or blender. Mix until a thick syrup forms.
- Place the mangoes in a large mixing bowl. Toss with the syrup until fully combined.
- Arranged the mangoes over the crust, then sprinkle with the remaining crust.
- Keep in the refrigerator and eat within two days.
