exercise

To the uninformed, they can be two of the most depressing and intimidating words in the English language: diet (ugh!) and exercise (double-ugh!).

We all want to trim our waistlines, tone our muscles, and improve our health. But instead, many of us find ourselves sprawled out on the couch every night filling our minds with sitcoms and reality shows, bag of popcorn in hand. If you're like most Americans, you aren't about to give up those hours of rest and relaxation in front of the tube. And you don't have to, as long as you turn television into a trigger for activity.

A growing number of research studies point to chronic inflammation in the body as a risk factor for several diseases, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, and for death. A recent study looked at the effects of weight-loss dieting and physical activity on inflammation. It found that eating to lose weight decreased inflammation.

One of the best options for designing an exercise program is to get advice from a personal trainer. It's true that hiring a trainer can be expensive over a long period of time; a short-term consultation, however, can provide you with a lot of information and tailor-made suggestions for a modest cash outlay. Even a couple of sessions can clarify a lot of issues, ease your anxieties, and give you expert recommendations about the equipment you need and the procedures you should follow. Many personal trainers will help you become

Unfortunately, many people associate exercise with work. They can't imagine doing any kind of exercise for fun. This is often true for people who are overweight. Yet at Structure House, I often see people's faces light up when they sample new kinds of exercise and realize that they actually enjoy them. They realize that exercise can be a kind of play - not just laborious "working out." When they walk the Duke Trail in Durham, Structure House participants talk, laugh, and focus on one another, enjoying the time to socialize with the walk.

Most of us 40 and older can remember childhoods spent walking to school, playing tag, walking places with friends, and spending summers playing outside. For millions of years, our ancestors walked or ran many miles nearly every day in search of food. Our bodies are built for distance walking and running; our bones and hormones, metabolism, and even our brain chemistry thrive on strenuous exercise. When we ignore these facts, we do so to the detriment of our physical health and mental well-being.

 If you take a look around you, signs of the soaring childhood obesity epidemic are everywhere. There are the increasingly realistic video games, high definition television, and millions of websites readily available to today's children - not to mention fewer physical education classes and thousands of fast-food commercials marketed directly to children and teens. But there are other subtle changes contributing to the nation's weight problem as well.

By Randi Rotwein, MA, MFT, CPT