Increase your health, energy and lifespan with Rosemary Conley’s ‘Three wisdoms’ for keeping fit.

We all have the opportunity to keep fit or to risk heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Recent research also identifies good health as one way to help prevent dementia.

Unquestionably, keeping fit can add years to our lives and help us enjoy living to the full.

That’s why my ‘three wisdoms for keeping fit’ are so worth taking on board. And here they come.

Wisdom One: Eat healthily

I believe there’s more to watching what you eat than keeping your weight under control. A healthy diet also promotes good health.

  • Try to reduce the artery-clogging impact of cholesterol with a diet low in fat and try to include more fibre–rich foods such as fruit and vegetables, porridge oats, lentils, beans and nuts. But go easy on the nuts if you’re trying to lose weight!
  • Studies show a Mediterranean diet, rich in green leafy vegetables, oily fish and the occasional glass of red wine, can lower our chances of developing dementia by up to 40 per cent.

Wisdom Two: Strengthen your bones

Bones are a living organ and from around age 40 our bone mass gradually reduces unless we work hard to strengthen it. If we don’t, this can lead to osteoporosis – when our bones lose their density and when they can break more easily. The good news is we can do a lot to strengthening our bones and consequently protect our health.

For example –

  • Weight bearing exercise like brisk walking, jogging, dancing and aerobics, skipping or jumping on a small trampoline can significantly help boost our bone strength. However, if you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is best to avoid activities where both feet are off the ground at the same time. To strengthen your bones it is really helpful to exercise with light weights or a latex resistance band.
  • Exercise like swimming, cycling and rowing can reduce our levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol and increases our ‘good’ cholesterol.
  • Calcium and vitamins D and K are important for bone health. Calcium is found in dairy products and the level does not reduce in low fat versions. Try to consume 450ml (3/4 pint) of milk every day. Green leafy vegetables and canned fish, particularly sardines are also rich sources of calcium. Try to eat one or two portions of oily fish each week for heart health too. For lots more on healthy eating ideas see my Stay Young Diet – that has lots of healthy recipes.

Dealing with joints

When we’re younger, our joints move easily because the synovial fluid that ‘oils’ them is plentiful. With age, that fluid can lessen and joint movement may become more difficult. In some cases the degeneration of the cartilage between joints can lead to significant pain when bone rubs against bone.

So, what can we do to help prevent this happening?

Lose weight – excess pounds puts enormous strain on joints.

Exercise – Regular exercise can significantly strengthen our muscles and ligaments which hold our skeleton together. The gym, a fitness class, exercising to a fitness DVD or playing sport will all help maintain muscle strength and keep bones and joints fitter and stronger for longer.

Eat wisely:  Choosing a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D and K for the benefit of our joints and bones can make a big difference to our overall healt. Also, try to make sure you spend time in the sunshine to boost your vitamin D consumption.

Omega 3 oils can help if you suffer from inflammation in the joints – eat foods rich in them or take a supplement. Litozin is the latest in nutritional supplements to help joints.

You can find more in-depth ideas and advice on my web pages for AfterWorkNet at Health and Fitness – do pay me a visit.

Rosemary Conley CBE DL

What tip experience do you have to share on keeping healthy and fit? Please comment here or on our Facebook community

Rosemary Conley CBE DL

Rosemary has helped tens of thousands to achieve and maintain a healthy life, through her diet and exercise programmes. At 65, she took up skating for ITV’s ‘Dancing on Ice’ and still skates 7 years later.

Comments

  1. It is indeed important to maintain physical health in later life but it’s equally important to maintain mental health. An important element of this, especially when you become detached from a work environment where there are other people around you, is to find social company, e,g, through joining a book group. You can also combine physical and mental activity through joining a walking group – they’re always looking out for new members. A year or so after taking voluntary redundancy I joined my local Health Walks (also known as Walking for Health) and soon started as a volunteer leader for these. Check them out!

  2. I am for the last year allergic to gluten/ wheat/ milk products/ beans including soya/ white grapes/ white onions/ peas/ possibly pork and beef thought the latter I seem to be able to eat. and oranges. I have to be careful with nuts and seeds. I have lost weight from 10.stone 12 lbs to 9 stone. I have vit D. C and magnesium supplement and actually am well and have quite a lot of energy. I need to put on weight! I have been tested for cancer and am OK. Any suggestions for putting on weight?!

    1. Rosemary says – ‘That must be very challenging for you. I think that with your very complex needs you may need to see a dietitian.’

    1. You will find more on your website Sarah and you could ask those on the AfterWorkNet Facebook group for their ideas and input.

  3. Many people in our area and globally have found that ‘Park Run’ is a great answer to a healthier lifestyle – it can be a weekly, stroll, walk, jog, whatever you feel like and most importantly its a ‘community’ of all ages and people, not a race not a competition but a community that meets for exercise every Saturday morning and it’s FREE… http://www.parkrun.org.uk

  4. Part of the suggestion to eat more healthily encourages a diet ‘low in fat – it doesn’t provide examples of the items that come pre-packed ie, processed foods which leads to an assumption that we should seek out ‘low fat’ spreads, yogurts, foods etc. These foods are ‘processed’ and contain extra sugar to replace the saturated fat which gives foods flavour thereby increasing the risk of diabetes, chd, dementia etc. The incidence of these chronic conditions are the specific result of the over-consumption of processed foods containing sugar (glucose) by increasing insulin production (you will aware of the cycle).

    My wife and I are living proof that consuming foods grown naturally (not processed), the way God intended, including fats, (but not hydrogenated fat) is far more beneficial to good health and weight control/reduction.

    The message which should be hammered home is the elimination of glucose in ALL its forms, especially in processed foods, and to consume fresh veg and fats to improve and maintain good health & weight. Low sugar fruits such as berries etc are “more” beneficial than the other fruits which have an abnormally high sugar content due to hybridisation.

    Cholesterol is NOT the “demon”. There has NOT been any scientific studies completed to prove this and the famous “22 Countries Study on the effects of Cholesterol on Heart Disease” by Ancel Keyes in the 1950s was flawed as he chose only seven out of the 22 countries to back up his hypothesis – results in the other 15 countries disproved his theory. We should NOT be lowering our cholesterol (unless we have hypercholesterolemia) by consuming less saturated fat (or taking statins) – indeed, consuming fat has no impact on cholesterol (a misnomer – they are lipids) which are produced by the liver. The advice I read will have the opposite effect to that which is intended which is why there has been a sharp increase in the incidence of the chronic diseases that plague mankind today. Overall, the advice to eat naturally is good but to eat reduced/low fat food is definitely NOT.

    This, as you can tell, is a topic close to my heart as it affects so many people and getting worse. I make no apology for the above as I firmly believe that we are being significantly mislead by what might be considered as ‘well meaning’ organisations whose only motivation could possibly be to ‘sell a product’. Sugar is an addictive compound and is added to almost every non-natural food so is all but impossible to escape. So I think you know by now that the culprit responsible for poor health and obesity is – glucose (sugar in all it’s associated forms).

    In conclusion, I respectfully suggest checking that which I’ve written – if you do, please make sure that the data is from an independent source and not sponsored by big business or the pharma industry – who have vested interests by creating dependencies (addictions) that inevitably ‘follow the money’.

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The word retirement is not even in the Bible. What is taught in scripture is transition. There is nothing that says you work most of your life and then get to be selfish for the next 20 years

Rick Warren, PurposeDrivenLife