EXERCISES FOR ABDOMEN, BACK, AND BUTTOCKS

EXERCISES FOR ABDOMEN, BACK, AND BUTTOCKS

Exercise 1 for muscles of lower abdomen: Lying flat on the floor, exhale, then raise one leg slowly without bending; hold it up at about a 45- degree angle while counting to 10 (about 10 seconds); lower it slowly; inhale, repeat with the other leg. 

To strengthen the muscles without straining them, begin by repeating the exercise 2 or 3 times, and increase gradually until you can repeat about 20 times without straining.

Note: Exhaling helps to protect the diaphragm from the pressure generated by borne exercises.

Exercise 2 for muscles of upper abdomen: Lying flat on the floor, with arms folded over chest, raise head and shoulders slowly on the floor; hold for about 10 seconds; relax and inhale, As muscles grow stronger, increase gradually to or muscles of buttocks: While lying flat, tighten the buttocks as much as possible; hold for about 10 seconds before relaxing. 

Repeat 2 or 3 times and increase gradually to about 20 times. Exercise 4 for muscles of back: Lying on your stomach, keep arms at sides and legs on the floor, and slowly raise chest and shoulders. Hold for about 10 seconds. Lower slowly. Increase gradually from 2 or 3 times to about 20 times.

Weight Loss and body mechanism

WEIGHT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

It would be a fallacy to say that obesity is ever the one and only cause of a death. But the association between overweight and excessive death rates is unmistakable. Among overweight men, mortality from all causes is 150 percent that for other men; among overweight women, 147 per- cent that for other women. 

As for individual diseases, insurance statistics show that overweight men and overweight women, respectively, have these excesses of mortality as compared with the general population: 142 and 175 percent for heart attacks; 159 and 162 percent for cerebral hemorrhage; 191 and 212 percent for chronic nephritis (kidney disease); 168 and 211 percent for liver and gallbladder cancer; 383 and 372 per- cent for diabetes; 249 and 147 percent for cirrhosis of the liver; 154 and ) percent for hernia and intestinal obstruction; 152 and 188 percent f or non -cancerous gallbladder diseases. Obvert is associated with many diverse types of health hazards. There are breathing difficulties, since the greater the weight in the chest.

wall, the greater the work involved in breathing. With their increased difficulty in breathing, obese people have less tolerance for exercise. They have a higher rate of respiratory infection than do people of normal weight. They may experience two complications related to their breathing problem: lethargy may develop because of accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood from decreased ventilation; and as the result of reduced levels of oxygen in the blood, the body, trying to compensate, may produce increased amounts of red blood cells. 

The latter condition, called polycythemia, often is responsible for the ruddy complexion of obese people. It may lead to blood-clotting problems. Heart enlargement and congestive heart failure attributable to obesity have been reported. Many studies have established that more hypertension, or high blood pressure, exists among the obese than among the non-obese, that the obese hypertensive experiences a greater risk of coronary heart disease than the non-obese hypertensive, and that mortality rates for obese hypertensive persons are greater than for others with obesity alone or hypertension alone. Obese people often have impaired carbohydrate tolerance that may be sufficient in degree to be classified as diabetes.

Difficulties during anesthesia and surgery have been associated with obesity. In women with significant degrees of obesity, menstrual abnormalities and abnormal hair growth (hairsutism) have been observed with some frequency. For pregnant women, obesity can be a hazard in several ways: it is associated with a greater incidence of toxemia, of complications during delivery, and of stillbirths. Some skin problems are related to obesity. Thus, the extra surface area of the skin in the obese person may lead to excessive perspiration, and the juxtaposition of moist skin areas in adjacent folds may lead to boils, fungal infections, and other inflammatory conditions.

It has been well established that in many health problems, significant benefits often follow loss of weight. Among such conditions are hyper- tension, angina pectoris, congestive heart failure, varicose veins, rupture of intervertebral disks, osteoarthritis, and many other varieties of bone and joint disease. And certainly not to be omitted from even a partial list, many foot aches and backaches may be relieved to a significant extent, sometimes even completely, by weight loss.

WHAT SCIENCE STILL DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT FOODS? SPECIAL DIETS

SPECIAL DIETS 

Special diets can be of value for certain specific health problems. For example, a protein-free diet may be prescribed in some cases of severe kidney damage; a high-protein diet in some cases of hepatitis; a high- residue diet in cases of atonic constipation; a low-fat diet in certain diseases of the liver and gallbladder; a low-purine diet in gout; a low- sodium diet in high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and toxemia of pregnancy; a bland diet for ulcer, gastritis, and hiatus hernia; a gluten- free diet for celiac disease and cure. 

Special dietary treatment is also an important part of the overall therapy in many cases of diabetes. Whenever a special diet may be of value, it should, of course, be prescribed by a physician on the basis of the patient's individual needs.

WHAT SCIENCE STILL DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT FOODS 

Every physician and scientist concerned with nutrition knows well that despite all that has been learned, much more remains to be. At any time, some fundamental new finding-of a previously unknown vitamin or other essential nutrient-may be made. 

At the risk of being repetitious, we would like to emphasize again that every advance to date has underscored the one fact: except in special instances, the best and healthiest diet is a balanced and generously varied diet. Nature distributes her largesse. We can be most certain of benefitting from it by making use of many rather than limited numbers of foodstuffs. Almost certainly, if we do this, we will be enjoying the values of still-undiscovered vital elements.

WEIGHT CONTROL 

WHILE THERE are nutritional diseases due to deprivation-rickets, scurvy, and others-by far the most common nutritional disease in this country is one that results from abundance. Overweight, affecting one in every five Americans, is a mammoth, chronic, frustrating problem. 

It can be called, justly, the number-one health hazard of our time. It's a remediable problem-but not, unfortunately, the way most of us choose to go about attacking it. To a much lesser extent, underweight constitutes a health problem. And the correction of both is an important function of preventive medicine. 

VEGETARIAN DIETS AND NATURAL FOODS

VEGETARIAN DIETS 

There are three types. The strictest excludes all animal products as well  animal flesh and organs. The second allows use of such animal produce milk, cheese, and eggs. The mildest allows fish and shellfish in.

Some people adhere to them and may be lean, but there is no scientifically discernible special virtue in vegetarian diets. There are vegetarians who attribute their long life and healthy old age to their diet, but there are equally healthy old people who credit daily meat eating. One possible hazard in vegetarian diets, particularly the strictest, may be lack of sufficient protein. We learned recently of a 78-year-old physician-patient who developed a huge enlargement of the liver, estimated to weigh 15 pounds instead of the usual 3. Biopsy showed cirrhosis.

 He had never used alcohol but from the age of 10 had never eaten meat and had reduced other sources of the complete proteins (see page 49). Specialists in liver disease who were called in finally concluded that the many years of a diet inadequate in rich, complete proteins had caused damage to the liver. The prescription: beefsteaks, filet mignonette, roast beef. The patient is having the time of his life at meals.

NATURAL FOODS 

Many health food and natural food stores in the country offer a wide range of "unprocessed" or "organic" foods. The foods, for the most part, are good and nutritious. They often cost more than foods available at regular food stores and supermarkets. Claims made in their behalf are that they are grown in soil that has not been impoverished and they are not spoiled by processing. As arguing against the idea, that generally available foods are grown in poor soil. nutritionists’ note that commercial agriculture in this country treats soil as a precious commodity and keeps it rich through crop rotation and fertilization.

Even if soils were widely impoverished, they add, this would not necessarily mean that foods grown in them would be nutritionally inferior. Infertile soil may lead to reduced yield per acre but no inferiority in the makeup of the plant grown. Many nutritionists also observe that the nutritive value of a given crop, such as corn or wheat, is influenced more by the kind of seed planted than by the fertility of the soil. 

Thus, corn can be bred to contain more niacin or more starch, tomatoes to contain more vitamin A or vitamin C, through development of new strains and seeds. As for food processing, leading nutritionists argue that commercially canned and frozen foods-in terms of practical nutrition if not of taste -are not inferior to fresh. 

SENSIBLE CHOLESTEROL RECOMMENDATIONS

 SENSIBLE CHOLESTEROL RECOMMENDATIONS 

An unequivocal answer to whether lowering cholesterol levels will reduce heart attacks will require long-term studies involving large numbers of people. But there is enough evidence at hand to make it seem wise, many authorities agree, to encourage changes in the typical American diet, which tends to include excessive amounts of cholesterol and fats. Desirable changes have been recommended by the American Heart Association.

Where the average daily diet in the United States contains about 600 milligrams of cholesterol, the Heart Association recommends that this be cut to less than 300, also called for: a decrease in intake of saturated fats and an increase in intake of polyunsaturated.

 This, the Association is convinced, will lower abnormal concentrations of cholesterol in most people. The ideal quantity of fat needed in the diet is not known, but an intake of less than 40 percent of calories from fat is considered desirable. And of this total, polyunsaturated fats probably should make up twice the quantity of saturated fats. To follow these recommendations, you may have to change some eating habits but you will not have to give up all your favorite dishes.

 To control cholesterol intake, you will need to eat no more than three egg yolks a week, including eggs used in cooking. You will also need to limit your use of shellfish and organ meats. To control the amounts and types of fats:

1. Use fish, chicken, turkey, and veal in most meals for the week. Limit beef, lamb, pork, and ham to five moderate-sized portions a week.

2. Choose lean cuts of meat; trim any visible fat; and discard any fat that cooks out of meat.

3. Avoid deep-fat frying. Instead, use cooking methods that help to remove fats: baking, broiling, boiling, roasting, and stewing.

4. Restrict use of fatty "luncheon" and "variety" meats such as sausages and salami. 

5. Instead of butter and other cooking fats that are solid or completely hydrogenated, use liquid vegetable oils and margarine that are rich in polyunsaturated fats.

 6. Instead of whole milk and cheeses made from whole milk and cream, use skimmed milk and skimmed milk cheeses.