Be Employed and stay Healthy

Despite the slow economy, restaurants are pretty full during lunch time. This is good news for the food and beverage industry but not so good news for everybody else.

One of reasons of why you should not eat in restaurants while at work is that you will most likely eat food that is rich in calories and low in essential nutrients. You will also spend a lot more money eating out rather than when you prepare and bring your own food to work. You will also go from your chair in the office to the chair in the restaurant and back to the chair in the office. If you commute on average an hour both ways you are looking at spending the first ten hours of your day in different chairs: car seat, office chair, restaurant chair. While on your way home, you will naively think that one workout in the gym will put your body and health in balance. It will not. So here is an example of the strategy to be used between waking up and going to sleep that may help you lose weight, get or stay in shape, improve health, save time, and save the money. 

     

Time Line	Event	Action
6am to 6:30am	Alarm goes off	Turn off alarm (do not snooze). Jump out of bed with enthusiasm. After finishing the daily bathroom activities exercise 5 – 10 minutes (stretching, two or three sets of pushups, sit-ups, and squats). Stretch again.
6:30 am	Breakfast	Have a bowl of cereal with 1%milk and one scoop of protein powder. This kind of breakfast will give you all the nutrients you need to start your day strong, to have enough energy until lunch and it will help you to easily control hunger
10am	Snack time	Have some fruit
11:30am	Lunch break	Do not eat now. Go for a 40 minute walk in the park, around your office complex, or walk up and down the emergency stairs. Stretch when you are done
12:15pm	Back to the office	Now eat what you brought in your cooler. For example, it can be grilled chicken breast (no skin) , salad (no dressing), a slice of whole grain bread, water (no coca cola, ice tea or that kind of garbage)
3pm	Snack time again	Eat low fat yogurt mixed with some fruit (avoid fat free dairies)
5pm	Work done	Go home, relax, eat something light, and get ready to hit the gym
10pm	Bedtime	Sleep like a baby because you deserve it

Preparing food is always fun, preparing good food is easy and fairly quick. If you do not have it, I recommend you by an electric grill. I grill both meat and vegetables. Buy a cooler. Do not be ashamed because of colleagues who eat out in restaurants all the time, they most likely pay their lunch by credit card, not by debit card or cash. If you sometimes must eat out at restaurant because business demands that, prepare yourself mentally to eat light and healthy: without breads while you are waiting for food, without any other drinks but water, without dressing in your salad, without skin on your chicken or fish, and without deserts. If you prepare yourself for temptation, you will be okay.    

Georgia Health and Fitness Day

Per my request, Governor Nathan Deal has proclaimed October 1, 2012 to be the Georgia Health and Fitness Day. Event of presentation of Proclamation was held at the State Capitol at Governor Deal's Office. The governor and his staff are very enthusiastic about helping educating Georgia's citizens on proper physical training and proper nutrition and its relationship with improved health, extended life expectancy, and achievements in the academic and professional world. I am greatfull for Governor's support in my initiative.
   

Governor Nathan Deal, Gordana Lozo, Goran Lozo

Governor Nathan Deal, Goran Lozo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Interview on Fitness, Nutrition, and Active Lifestyle

Check out my interview with Tim Andrews from the Regular Guys Show, Atlanta’s Rock Station 100.5. The subjects of the Interview are fitness, nutrition, and active lifestyle.

You Need a Treadmill Just like Eskimos Need a Refrigerator

So many people purchase a gym membership just to work out on a treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike. It is just a paradox like if Eskimos buy freezers.

I believe that using these machines in the gym is justifiable in a select few situations:

• Warming up for a workout

• Cooling down after a workout

• Extreme weather conditions (extreme heat, extreme cold, lighting)

• You live in Manhattan

Why to do your cardio on the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike if you can simply run in the park or on a trail? You can even run on the street if you do not mind to run when the air is clean: early in the morning or late in the evening. Working out on these cardio machines is not an alternative to doing same things outdoors. Running outdoors (or for that matter riding a bike outdoors) is much more challenging and beneficial than simulating the same exercise inside. I have listed some differences between treadmill and outdoor running:

Running Outdoors	Running Treadmill
Clean air	Not so clean air
Changing and unpredictable environment	Boring and predictable environment
It is all you and your will	Treadmill belt is there to propel you
Turns and downhills	Only straight and up
Wind resistance	No wind resistance
Larger  variety of muscles are involved	Running muscles involved only
Increased production of serotonin	Serotonin is not produced
Feel happy and energized when you are done	You don’t feel like you accomplished anything

So, do not go to the gym to do something that is readily available and free and also a lot, lot better. When you go to the gym do what you cannot find anywhere else: lift free weights so that you can increase strength and bone density, hire a competent personal trainer who will design a training program that will make it possible to achieve your personal goal, hire a competent nutritionist who will explain to you why you cannot eat McDonalds and expect to lose weight, take a martial arts class that will put your entire body and mind in use and also teach you self defense skills. But please do not go to the gym to do or use something that you can do as soon as you step out of your house.