Exercise After Eating

Exercise After Eating

Many athletes put a lot of emphasis on the pre-event meal believing it is the key element to performance. It is important to remember that food eaten throughout the training week and food and fluid consumed during the event is just as important. Consuming food and fluid before exercise should be seen as an opportunity to fine-tune carbohydrate and fluid levels and to ensure you feel comfortable and confident.

Food consumed before exercise is only useful once it has been digested and absorbed. This means you need to time your food intake so that the fuel becomes available during the exercise period. The time required for digestion depends on the type and quantity of food consumed. Generally, foods higher in fat, protein and fibre tend to take longer to digest than other foods, and may increase the risk of stomach discomfort during exercise. Large quantities of foods take longer to digest than smaller quantities. Generally, food is better tolerated during lower intensity activities, or sports where the body is supported (e.g. cycling) than sports such as running where the gut is jostled about during exercise. A general guide is to have a meal about 3-4 hours before exercise or a lighter snack about 1-2 hours before exercise. You need to experiment to find the timing, amount and make up that best suits your individual needs.

What should I eat?

Food eaten before exercise should provide carbohydrate. It should also be low in fat and moderate in fibre to make digestion easier and reduce the risk of gastrointestinal discomfort. For most exercise sessions, the emphasis on carbohydrate and fluid for the pre-event meal. However, it is also useful to continue to consider other nutritional goals when choosing a pre-exercise meal. This may mean including foods that include protein, vitamins and minerals.


The following foods are suitable to eat 3-4 hours before exercise:

• crumpets with jam or honey + flavoured milk

• baked potato + cottage cheese filling + glass of milk

• baked beans on toast

• breakfast cereal with milk

• bread roll with cheese/meat filling + banana

• fruit salad with fruit-flavoured yoghurt

• pasta or rice with a sauce based on low-fat ingredients (e.g. tomato, vegetables, lean meat)

The following foods are suitable to eat if there is less than 1 hour before exercise*:

• sports drink

• carbohydrate gel

• cordial

• sports bars

• jelly lollies

* A small number of people experience an extreme reaction following the intake of carbohydrate in the hour prior to exercise. This topic is covered later in this fact sheet.

When you expend energy by exercising, you need to consume extra energy to fuel the activity. How much you should eat and at what time of day depends on the type and duration of your workout, as well as when you last ate and what was on the menu.

Ideally, how much energy your body uses (how many calories you burn) and how much energy your body takes in (how many calories you eat) should be in balance all day. Keep in mind that your body burns around 100 calories an hour at rest and during sleep, so you don’t just need energy for exercise, you need food throughout the day to fuel being alive. If you are highly active, if you eat big meals, or if you go for long periods without eating, you can upset this balance and cause extreme energy highs (surpluses) or lows (deficits.)

When you first wake up, you are likely to be low on energy. It works like this: If, the night before, you ate dinner at 7 p.m. and then nothing else until breakfast at 7 a.m., you would have gone 12 hours without added fuel. Your body may have burned around 1,100 calories during this period. Most of the fuel used would have come from your stored fat and glycogen (carbs).

But you have a limited supply of carbs because they are stored only in small amounts in your liver and muscles. Even though the body has plenty of fat stored, for fat to be “burned”, or metabolized, carbs need to be present. Often, the liver’s carb stores are nearly depleted by the morning, so many people may wake up in the morning in a state of energy deficit, where there are not enough carbs to provide energy and to help utilize fat.. So they need breakfast to infuse more energy into their body.

If you skip breakfast and do a tough workout, you launch a depleted body into even greater depletion. Say you burn 500 calories during the workout. By the time you eat later that morning, you may have dipped into an energy deficit of 1,600 calories (that is, 1,100 calories burned while you sleep, plus 500 from the workout). Now your body is famished for fuel. However, you may not feel hungry in this state (known as “ketosis”) because your body has shifted to starvation mode to preserve its resources. Diminished hunger is one of the side effects. But a lack of stomach rumblings doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need fuel—it does. In fact, at some point it will demand more fuel—you’ll likely binge and go into a huge energy surplus to compensate. This ends up being a roller-coaster calorie ride for your body.

In another scenario, if you overeat and are inactive, you can find yourself in a state of energy surplus. So let’s say you eat a big lunch at 1 p.m. (cheeseburger, fries, shake) and take in around 1,200 calories. Then you sit at your desk and burn about 500 calories until it’s time for dinner at 6. In this case, you may enter the meal in a energy surplus of 700 calories (1,200 calories from lunch, minus the 500 you burned sitting at your desk). If for dinner, you ate another big meal of 1,000 calories (fettuccini alfredo, a soda and dessert ), you could end up with a larger surplus of around 1,700 calories. If you remain sedentary for the rest of the evening, not much of that will be burned off. Then the next morning if you wake up to a big breakfast, your body stays in positive energy balance. This is a recipe for weight gain.

Dramatic calorie highs and lows aren’t good for you. Researchers at the University of Georgia studied the eating patterns of athletes and found that that men and women had higher levels of body fat when their eating patterns fluctuated wildly throughout the day, even if they were in energy balance by the end of the day. In addition, they had worse muscle mass, lower energy levels and poor mental focus compared to athletes who ate consistently over the course of the day. Those athletes who ate regular, small meals, and more before, during and after intense workout sessions, showed the best performance in their sports and were the leanest.

The moral? For optimum performance, match your energy intake to your hourly energy needs. Of course, short of living in a laboratory, there's no sure-fire way to know your precise energy-balance status. Still, you can avoid drastic energy fluctuations by eating small-to-moderate sized meals every three or four hours. And if you are going to do intense or long exercise sessions, eat more before and during to compensate.

Exercise to Prevent Breast Cancer

Exercise to Prevent Breast Cancer:

BREAST CANCER is the most common cancer found in women. If you have a family history of breast cancer, you have more chances of developing one. Women after 55 years of age, especially after menopause, are more prone to breast cancer. But recent studies show how a healthy lifestyle may help prevent it.

Keep a healthy weight especially after menopause. Weight gain after menopause can increase one's estrogen and insulin levels which are related to development of breast cancer. Have a complete medical check-up and then talk to your doctor about your weight loss plan. If you have special health problems like diabetes or hypertension, ask clearance about exercise and diet modification.

If you are overweight, even a weight loss of 10 per cent of your initial body weight can do wonders for your health.

Here are some preventive strategies you can put into action today:

Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day; plus increase the amount of whole grains, beans or legumes in your diet. Plant-based foods are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and protective compounds that have consistently been linked to lower cancer risk. Eating more plant foods also helps cut down on total caloric intake.

Avoid overeating. Weight gain--especially during adulthood--is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer risk probably because increased body fat stores are linked to higher circulating estrogen levels. The role of estrogen in breast cancer risk is not fully understood, but the development of cancer has been linked to higher blood levels of estradiol--a form of estrogen. Eating less high-fat foods is one of the easiest ways to trim excess calories from our diets. Replacing high-fat foods with fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains helps us feel satisfied with less total calories. Plus, women who follow low-fat, near vegetarian diets have lower levels of estradiol.

Avoid alcohol. Alcohol intake is linked to higher blood estrogen levels. The Nurses’ Health Study, which followed close to 90,000 nurses for almost a decade, found that women who had two or more drinks per day of wine, beer, or hard liquor were 40% more likely to develop breast cancer than women who did not drink any alcohol. Even moderate alcohol consumption--one drink or less per day--can increase risk.

Enjoy physical activity every day. Exercise burns fat and helps control weight. Women who get regular physical activity are less likely to develop breast cancer than sedentary women. Shoot for at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. A little more is even better. The AICR recommends one hour of moderate activity each day, plus one hour of vigorous exercise once per week to reduce risk. Think of exercise as “play”-- choose those activities you enjoy and chances are you’ll stick with them.

The above recommendations aren’t just for grown women. Researchers are now finding that the exercise habits and food choices we make when we’re young may have the greatest impact on preventing disease later on. Take soy products, for example. Soy foods may be the most protective when consumed during childhood and adolescence. Eating soy in moderation during adulthood may be beneficial, but avoid using soy extracts, such as genistein, in supplement form.

In addition to regular exercise and smart eating habits, perform monthly breast self-exams, get regular mammograms, and clinical breast exams by your physician. Talk to your doctor about your medical history, personal risk and warning symptoms. We can’t change our age or genetic make-up, but we can take control of our lifestyle habits.

If running or other high-impact exercise feels too jarring for your body, here are other exercise options to try during breast cancer treatment and recovery:

• Walking, even around the house, to the end of the driveway, or around the neighborhood
• Swimming
• Yoga, tai chi, or other slow-moving routines, great for maintaining balance and flexibility
• Working in your yard or garden
• Gentle stretching or range-of-motion exercises

Exercise For Backbone Pain

Exercise For Backbone Pain

What is back pain?

Everyone's back pain is different. For some people, back pain involves mild pain (nuisance pain, aching, soreness). For other people, back pain involves severe pain (pain that hurts all the time, even when resting).

Most doctors refer to back pain as acute (generally severe, but short-lived), sub acute or chronic (long-lasting or occurring often). Acute back pain usually lasts from one to seven days. Pain may be mild or severe and occasionally may be caused by an accident or injury. About 80 percent of all back pain is acute. Sub acute back pain usually lasts from seven days to seven weeks and usually is mild; occasionally it's severe. This pain generally is unrelated to other illnesses you may have. About 10 to 20 percent of all back pain is sub acute. Chronic back pain usually lasts more than three months and maybe mild or severe. It may be related to other illnesses you may have or may have no identifiable cause. About five to 10 percent of all back pain is chronic.

Spine experts agree that physical activity is important for people with low back pain. This brochure will show you how to stay activewhile controlling your pain, and how proper activity may help protect against recurring back pain.

Your health care provider’s goals in treating
your low back pain include:
• Communicate well;
• Explain and reassure you about your
condition;
• Reduce your fears;
• Promote physical activity;
• Teach proper exercise;
• Improve body mechanics; and
• Avoid prolonged use of passive therapies.

What Kind of Exercise Should Be Done?

So how do you stay physically active without making your pain worse? Many people are
surprised to learn that carefully selected exercises can reduce pain. Some of the exercises in this
brochure can provide quick and significant relief,speeding recovery.Once pain lessens or disappears, other exercisescan help restore back movement and core musclestrength. These will help you reach full recoveryand protect against recurring pain. Many doctors think an increase in pain during activity is okay as long as that increase doesn’t continue aftercompleting
the activity. So try to stay active. Remember, this is only a guide. Not all exercises are appropriate for everyone. If you experience substantially more pain while exercising, discontinue and let your health care provider know.

Where Should You Begin?*

Figure 1. Walking:
Begin with 10 minutes
and increase to
30 minutes or more.
Increase distance and
pace as tolerated.

Figure 2. Standing Extension:
Place hands with fingers in the
small of back. Bend backward
as far as tolerated, pressing
inward with fingers. Hold for
1-2 seconds. Repeat 10 times,
trying to bend further each
time. Unless pain gets worse,
repeat every 2 hour s.

Figure 3. Face Down on Elbows: Raise up
on elbows, letting the low back sag. Hold for
10 seconds. Repeat 3 times. Unless pain gets
worse, repeat every 2 hours.

Figure 4. Press-up: Push upward with arms, letting the low

back sag. Hold for1-2 seconds. Return to lying position.Repeat10

times witha deeper sag eachtime. Unless paingets worse, repeat
every 2 hours.

Figure 5. Single Knee-to-Chest: Pull one
knee up to the chest and gently pull for 10 seconds.
Repeat 3 times. Do this for each leg.

Figure 6. Double Knee-to-Chest:
Pull both knees up to the chest and
gently pull for 10 seconds. Repeat
3 times. Be sure pain is not getting
worse. Unless pain is getting worse,
perform 2-3 times per day.

Figure 7.Supine Ball Extension:Place hands
on the floor and raise hips from the floor.
Hold for 5-10seconds. Repeat3 times.

Tips For Sit Up Exercise

Sit-ups are excellent exercises to tone and shape the muscles in the midsection and by doing so, they help with some back problems as well. We should learn the proper techniques to do them in order to appreciate and benefit from their effects and also to avoid injuries.

Tips for this Exercise

To perform this exercise the only equipment that is needed is an exercise mat.

If curling up off the floor completely cannot be done without the legs rising up off of the floor, the abdominal muscles need to be strengthened further. Basic sit ups, crunches, and reverse crunches can be beneficial in strengthening the abdominal muscles. Other Pilates exercises can also be done to accomplish this and they include the wall roll down, the chest lift, and the supported roll back.

Step One

To begin the sit up roll exercise lie down on the floor and make sure your legs are straight. The shoulders should be away from the ears and fully relaxed. The belly should be dropped down to the floor. Tune into your body, check your alignment, and take a few deep breaths.

The scapula should remain anchored in the back and the ribs should be down. Bring your arms over your head and back. The fingers should be pointing directly towards the wall behind you. This is the beginning position.

Step Two

Inhale and make sure the scapula remains down as the arms are brought up over the head. Let the upper spine and head join the curl up motion and let the chin drop as the arms pass the ears.

Step Three

Exhale and curl the body up and over toward the toes in one continuous smooth motion. Deepen the curve of the spine and pull in the abs as your exhale. This will bring you up. Reach for the toes while keeping the abdominals deep, head tucked, and back rounded. The legs should remain straight throughout this sit up.

Step Four

Inhale and pull the lower abs in while fully breathing into the pelvis and back. Reach the tailbone under and start to unfurl down to the floor, vertebrae by vertebrae.

Exhale while unfurling vertebrae by vertebrae. Roll down slowly and controlled while keeping the upper body curve. The arms remain outstretched and following the shoulder's natural motion as you roll down. As you continue rolling down to the mat, the arms go with the head once the shoulders meet the floor.

post delivery essential exercise

The first thing to remember about getting in shape after having a baby is that it takes time! Enjoy your workouts, no matter what you do and use it not only as a time to get in shape but as time for yourself (whether you work out with your baby or by yourself).

The muscles of the pelvic floor support your uterus and bladder.
During pregnancy and childbirth they are stretched. Pelvic floor
exercises will help tone these muscles after your delivery. If you
had an episiotomy, these exercises will increase circulation,
reduce swelling and promote more rapid healing. Practice
gently.
a) Pull up and tighten inside as if to stop yourself from
passing urine – HOLD, If you feel it starting to fade –
TIGHTEN – and renew the contraction – and AGAIN –
TIGHTEN, hold it for 10 seconds, then relax.
b) Do this “Super Kegel” 5-10 times a day. You can do it
anywhere. When you go to the bathroom you should be
able to feel the control you have over the flow of urine.

2. THE LOWER BACK AND JOINTS OF THE PELVIS – The Pelvic Tilt
While pregnant you changed the way you stood to accommodate the extra weight of your
baby. The “Pelvic Tilt” can help you to ease backache and correct posture.
FIRST: Lie on your back with your knees bent…tighten your abdominal muscles, tuck
your seat under and flatten your lower back to the flow, - HOLD – then relax and
feel the curve return

THEN: While standing, repeat the same steps. Tighten your tummy muscles, tuck your
seat under, flatten the curve in your lower back and now “stand tall”
Use a long mirror to help you correct your posture using pelvic tilt. Practice frequently until GOOD
POSTURE becomes a habit.


CORRECT
Chin in. Head up.
Pelvis Straight.




WRONG
Upper back is slooped, lower
back is arched. Pelvic angle
is wrong. Abdomen sags.



PELVIC TILT
(Standing, lying or sitting)
CORRECT POSTURE
Hold head high, but tuck in chin.
Tighten abdominal muscles and
buttocks to flatten lower back.

Make time to REST. You will recover more quickly.
3. ABDOMINAL MUSCLES – Firm abdominal muscles are essential for a strong back as well as
for the way you look. DO THESE EXERCISES LYING ON YOUR BACK WITH YOUR KNEES
BENT.
Try to do them at least twice daily, five times each or more.



Exercise to correct Diastasis




a) Put your hands on your tummy and breathe in slowly and deeply. As you breathe out,
TIGHTEN your tummy muscles and – HOLD – then relax. (Practice this “hold” when you
are sitting and standing as well).
b) Lying with hands by your sides, first, tilt your pelvis, then tuck your chin down
towards your chest and raise your head – HOLD – then slowly rest back.
When you are able to do this, raise your head and shoulders and reach with you hands
towards your knees – as you progress this will become a “curl-up”.
c)Repeat (b) above, but reach with your right hand to your left knee, then with
left hand to your right knee


Diagonal Curl-ups

when stop exercise after delivery of a baby

when stop exercise after delivery of a baby:
Though exercise is very necessary after delivery of a baby but its really necessary when to stop exercise. You may face some problems when you have to stop your exercise .Those reasons are:

• pain
• increased bleeding
• dizziness
• shortness of breath
• heart palpitations
• faintness or
• difficulty walking

excercise after delivery of child

Exercise after delivery is very important for ladies who want to live a happy healthy life.

its benefits are

• relieving minor aches and pains that occur after having a baby
• strengthening back and abdominal muscles needed to lift and carry the baby
• preparing the new mother for other physical activities she enjoys

One of the biggest questions on all new moms’ minds (other than those pertaining to parenting issues!), of course, is how long will it take to return to nonpregnant fitness levels. It depends on many factors, including how much weight you gained, your diet before, during and after pregnancy, your exercise program and intensity, care available postpartum (i.e. the first six weeks following birth), and whether or not you are breast-feeding. “The six-week recovery myth is just that – a big, fat fiction that has done easily as much damage to women’s self-esteem as airbrushed photographs of models and the invention of Lycra” (Graves, 1999). Give yourself a full six months to a year to regain all your abdominal tone and reach nonpregnancy fitness levels. While there will certainly be a few lucky women who seem to shed all the weight very quickly, having high expectations that you, yourself, will be one of them only adds unnecessary stress and pressure. If you are breastfeeding, count on holding onto roughly five extra pounds to be sure you have adequate fat stores for producing milk; once you wean your baby you will find it easier to shed those last pounds.

The steps are:

• Talk to your provider about an appropriate exercise plan for you. A plan may be based on the type of delivery you had, whether you are anemic or overweight, or how accustomed you are to exercising.
• Avoid competitive exercise or overexertion until the body has had time to return to normal. It usually takes at least 6 weeks.
• Learn safe and proper exercising techniques from a certified exercise instructor.
• Begin slowly and easily. Be sure to have adequate warm up and cool down sessions.
• Keep exercises low-impact. For example, keep one foot on the floor during aerobics, or march rather than hop.
• Exercise gently. Avoid jerky, bouncy movements. Do not work out on a hard surface like concrete.
• Avoid rapid changes in direction since balance may still be affected.
• Wear an athletic bra for support and schedule exercise sessions immediately after breastfeeding when the breasts are not as large.
• Include strength exercises for the abdomen, back, and legs. Do not extend the joints or stretch to a point that causes pain.
• Do modified sit-ups to strengthen the abdominal muscles. Never do straight-legged sit-ups. Modified sit-ups are done with the knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and gradual tightening of the abdominal muscles while raising only the shoulders off the floor, rather than sitting up all the way.