Keeping a steady and balanced diet and exercising during your pregnancy is crucial to your health and that of your baby. Therefore, it’s important that you invest in yourself by following a diet and fitness program for pregnant women. How can following a pregnancy diet and fitness program for help you?

1. Post partum recovery - If you manage to keep physically fit and avoid gaining too much weight during pregnancy, you will be able to recover from giving birth faster than usual.

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Lifetime fitness is a commitment. It is the belief that keeping our minds and bodies healthy is more than just a noble idea; it requires definite actions that need to be taken on a regular basis. It is making conscious decisions that must be executed to ensure our lifetime goal. Lifetime health and fitness is a commitment to a lifestyle change to live a happier and healthier life.

Since the turn of the century, the average life span in the United States has increased markedly from 47 years old in 1900 to 77.3 years old at the turn of the century. While the rapid developments in new medical technology and medicine can be credited with most of

the increases, a lack of commitment to lifetime fitness means that a majority of these people did not enjoy happy, healthy lifestyles.

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It was about 100 years ago that I was first introduced to my first aerobic exercise program.

Coach Miller would “suggest” that we jog around the track for a while, suddenly break into a sprint for about 40 yards, and then slow down to a walk as our lungs cried out “Please don t do that again.” In the beginning we looked upon this activity as an extreme form of punishment but we later learned that these alternating intensity workouts dramatically improved our energy and performance.

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The 3 components of a total fitness routine.

Regular exercise is important for those with PD to help you stay strong and mobile and maintain your independence and reduce the risk of falls. A complete exercise program should consist of the following 3 components:

Aerobic/Cardiovascular Exercise.

The purpose of aerobic exercise is to strengthen the heart and lungs and it also helps you maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, biking, swimming and aerobic dance classes. Aerobic exercise involves sustaining the exercise for 15-30 minutes to a level where you are slightly out of breath and breaking a light sweat. A common technique to judge your level of exertion is the Rating

of Perceived Exertion. On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being no exertion/asleep and 10 being completely exhausted) you should perceive that you are exercising at a level of 4-6. This means that you know you are working out but you are not exhausting yourself. As your cardiovascular system becomes stronger you will find that you do not get out of breath as quickly when walking or climbing stairs and as your lung capacity improves so will your ability to project your voice.

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Healthy weight loss is the result of good health and fitness. Therefore a good weight loss fitness program can be extremely helpful in restoring normal weight. Most people are aware that exercise assists weight loss by burning calories, but other important benefits are less known.

A weight loss fitness program involving daily aerobic exercise causes glucose in the body to be processed more quickly, lowering blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels and poor insulin function have been directly linked to obesity. Exercise, therefore, lowers the risk of becoming obese. The intensity of the exercise is more important than its duration. The more intense the exercise, the faster the body will use the blood sugar. Intensity of exercise should

be gradually increased to avoid hypoglycemia. If you have weight problems, only use low impact aerobic exercises.

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