There Is More To Martial Arts Than Just Fighting

Many people have a wrong notion that if they teach martial arts to their kids, the kids may become aggressive or even violent. This is far from true. It is true that development of martial arts has been based on the fact that it is a combat weapon that may mainly be useful for the purpose of self-defense. But, you can derive a lot of health benefits also from them. You should make it a point to choose the right teacher. Especially, if you want your kid to learn martial arts, you should do your research carefully and choose the right teacher. Otherwise, the kid may become aggressive. But, the right teacher can transform a violent kid also into a calm child.

The fact of the matter is that martial arts do not encourage violence. This art of fighting alone teaches the students to empathize with the pains of the opponents.

If you want your kid to learn some kind of martial arts, you should begin the coaching only after the child attains the age of six. This is because only then, the child may have developed the neuro-muscular coordination. They can execute the required control only from this age. Cognitive ability will also be there only from this age and so, the kids can easily understand the instructions of the teacher.

In fact, all the combat forms are called martial arts. You have many varieties like Karate, Kung Fu, Judo and so on. You also have the Korean martial art form called Tae Kwan Do. The modern varieties like kick-boxing and the age-old Kalari Payittu of India are also there. So, you should choose the right form of martial art for your kid to learn. But, almost all these arts have become highly competition-oriented.

If you choose the right instructor, the teacher will coach your kids not only the competition-oriented techniques but self-defense techniques also. A right instructor will ensure to stick to the original form of the martial art. The instructor will teach the principles of the art first and then only, he will go to the techniques.

While choosing the instructor, you should check if the school and the instructors are recognized by the international forums or federations.

Since these arts are taught in a group, your kids will learn social skills also. At the same time, since they are mostly competition-oriented, kids will learn to exhibit their individual skills also. But, you should instill in the minds of your kids that learning is more important than winning in competitions.

Another great benefit is that your kids will learn to face crisis situations they may face in life. Their reflexes will also become sharp, their self-discipline may improve and their self-confidence may increase a lot. 

Be Proactive In Protecting Your Health

As a health expert has pointed out, the human body can be compared to a vehicle. While a vehicle runs on fuel, our body functions on the calories we take in. If the fuel of a vehicle contains contaminants, the vehicle can not run properly. Likewise, if we eat unwanted food, we are certain to face problems. It is a driver who runs his vehicle with the help of the right fuel. In the case of the human body, the driver is our mind. So, our mind should choose the right food or fuel to make our body function properly. 

The problem is that we realize that we are feeding our body wrongly only when we face problems with our health. We also forget the fact that we are aging day after day. The best way to keep ourselves healthy even as we age is to keep our entire body and more particularly, our joints, bones and muscles strong. Otherwise, age may slow down our movements.

Researchers have recently found out that exercises with weights bestow very good benefits and improve our well-being. So, we can do exercises with weights in addition to the aerobic exercises we have all along been doing. But, it is better to consult a doctor before we commence these exercises. Another point to remember is that only if we enjoy our exercises, we can derive more benefits from them.

Proper nutrition is as important as good exercises. Lack of nutrition may lead to many degenerative diseases. In the last few years, there has been a lot of misinformation about nutrition. We have all been led to believe that fats are not at all good for our health. This is absolutely wrong. We need fats but the fats we eat should not exceed the limits. Health experts advise that our fat intake should not exceed 15 per cent of our daily requirements of calories. We should ensure to eat only good fats and shun bad fats. Good fats are available in olive oil, fish oil, coconut oil, etc. We should not eat fried or deep-fried foods because they contain bad fats.

Likewise, our salt intake should also be low. Potassium-based salt is better than sodium-based salt. Further, the fiber contents of our diets should be very high. Fiber foods like green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits keep us protected from colon cancer. They keep our cholesterol under control. We can even get rid of Type 2 diabetes with the help of these fiber foods. Whole-grain breads and cereals are also rich in fiber content. Our intake of sugar and sugary substances should also be within limits.

We should also make it a point to drink lots of water to hydrate our body from the interior. Health experts repeatedly point out that high-fat and high-sugar diets can cause acidity. But, if we eat alkaline foods, we can be fit and energetic. The foods we eat do not supply enough of vitamins and minerals and hence, we should ensure to take nutritional supplements.

If we ignore these tips and continue eating junk and useless foods, we are doing a great disservice to ourselves and to our entire family. If we neglect our health now, we can not get it back again in future. We should always remember this fact and act accordingly.

How You Can Maintain Your Weight And Enjoy A Great Health Continuously

Many people think that it is very difficult to lose weight. But, the fact is that this is only partially true. You may certainly find it difficult to lose weight if you do not take the right steps. So, you should know what steps you should take and understand their importance. Once you adopt them and lose your weight, you should try to maintain the right weight. Even dietitians agree that it is more difficult to maintain the right weight than losing weight.

The main step is to keep watching your weight periodically  The problem is that once you lose weight, your body metabolism also undergoes changes. In other words, the body adjusts itself to your new style of eating and exercising. Once it becomes accustomed to your diet and exercises regimens, it refuses to shed its weight any more. This is called the "yo-yo" effect. The body learns to come out with the same output even if you spend less energy. So, you do not spend as many calories for the same exercises regimen and for your physical activities as you did prior to losing your weight.

Another point is that you may lose your interest in your exercises and diet regimens once you lose your weight. When you start neglecting them, you start gaining weight once again. So, the two factors that contribute for your increase in weight are using less number of calories for the same output and secondly, neglecting the diet and exercises regimens. So, the surplus calories that you do not spend remain in your body. So, there will an increase in your weight once again.

So, if you want to sustain your weight loss and remain in good shape continuously, you should keep changing your dietary and exercises habits. If you keep making periodical changes to these habits, you will not have any weight increase and you can enjoy a great health on a continuous basis.

How To Burn The Fat Of Your Body And Lead A Healthy Life

There can not be anyone who does not want to be healthy. But, if you are fat, you can not consider yourself healthy though you may not at present have any problems with your health. There are many ailments that can be caused if one is fat. Diabetes, heart ailments, blood pressure, etc. are major ailments that may be caused if a person is fat. So, it is necessary that you should burn your fat if you want to be healthy.

For burning your fat, you should mainly focus on two things. Firstly, you should know what to eat and how to eat. The second point is you must know how you should burn your calories. If you eat wrong foods in the wrong manner, you are certain to get fat. Likewise, if you do not burn your calories also, you will become fat.

But, this makes some people take the drastic step of crash-dieting or cutting down on their foods. This can be highly detrimental to their health. If you also have such a wrong notion, you should change your eating pattern and make a switch in your diets also, instead of taking these drastic steps. If you are eating 3 large meals, you should change this eating pattern. Your system can not burn completely the calories available in large meals. So, the calories that remain unused accumulate as fats. But, if you eat smaller meals, your system will be able to burn the entire calories. So, you should be taking 6 smaller meals instead of 3 larger meals. This eating pattern will improve your metabolism. There should be a change in your diets also. You should stop eating processed foods, fat and sugary items, etc. and instead, choose items that can burn the fat of your body. These are called fiber diets. Green vegetables, fresh fruits, wholesome grains, beans, nuts, etc. are fat burning fiber foods. You should eat more of them.

You should have a lot of physical activity for burning your calories. If you are not able to devote time for exercises, you can make small changes in your routine. Instead of using lifts and elevators, you can use steps for climbing up and down the stairs. If your job requires that you should keep sitting for longer hours in the same place, you should get up once in 20 minutes and have a stroll. You can walk back from your workplace to home in the evenings. In a nutshell, you should use every opportunity to engage in some physical activity or the other. By doing so, you can burn your calories. If it is possible for you to devote time for doing exercises, you can do it but you should do your exercises on a consistent basis.

By making these changes in your diets and physical activities, you can burn the fat of your body and lead a healthy life.

Have A Healthy Heart And Live Long

According to a study, heart disease is the number one killer-disease of both and men. Especially, heart ailments affect people from developed countries more than those who live in other countries. This means that it is the lifestyle of the people of these developed countries that contributes heavily for this affliction.

A lot of research has been taking place in the recent years to find out the causes as well as the preventive measures that people can take to protect themselves from this dreadful disease. If you want to have a healthy heart and safeguard yourself from heart ailments, you should take the following few steps. These are mainly lifestyle changes and if you make these changes, they will go a long way in keeping you protected from heart ailments.

- You should first make drastic changes in your dietary habits. If you are fond of oily and spicy items and processed and junk foods, you must stop eating these foods forthwith. Instead, you should develop the habit of eating a lot of fiber foods and wholesome grains. The wrong foods you have been consuming all these days may have increased your BMI or Body Mass Index. You should ensure to maintain your BMI below 30. For calculating your BMI, you should divide your weight in Kilograms by the square of your height in meters. If your BMI is above 34, you are considered obese and it may damage your heart quite seriously. If you lead a lazy and sedentary lifestyle, it is all the more dangerous.

- The second factor that may contribute to your proneness to heart ailments is lack of exercises. Though weight training exercises may help you in building muscles and having a good physique, you should do cardiovascular exercises also to keep your heart healthy. But, cardiovascular exercises may nullify the muscle-building effects of weight training exercises. So, you should do both types of exercises in the right proportion to get the best of both worlds. If you are above 45 or 50, you should consult your doctor before doing rigorous weight training exercises. It is better you focus on cardiovascular exercises like brisk walking, light jogging, etc. if you are above 45.

- It is a strict "no" to smoking if you want to keep your heart healthy. Your heart ages faster if you are a smoker. Apart from causing heart ailments, smoking may cause many other diseases such as cancer, lung problems and so on.

- You should closely be monitoring your cholesterol levels. Your Low Density Lipoprotein should be low and your High Density Lipoprotein should be high. In addition to these two factors, you should maintain the levels of Triglycerides also low. If you keep them at the right levels, you need not fear about heart diseases at all.

- High blood pressure can be very dangerous and it may cause heart attacks. So, those who have this problem should take the right treatment and keep their blood pressure at the right levels.

- Stress management is very much necessary for preventing heart ailments. In the present-day world, a number of factors cause stress in our lives. Though you can not control the external circumstances, you can control their effects on you. By learning to manage your stress, you can prevent their bad effects on your heart. You can learn meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, etc. to manage your stress levels.

- High blood sugar can also cause heart ailments. Since high blood sugar leads to problems in the body metabolism, it increases the susceptibility to heart diseases. So, if you are diabetic, you should take suitable medications to keep the blood sugar at the right levels. You should make it a point to be active and this will help in lowering the sugar levels in the blood. The best way is to go for long walks every day because walking can effectively bring down the blood sugar levels.

If you follow these steps religiously, you can certainly succeed in having a healthy heart.

Be Wise While Choosing Fatty Diets

Earlier, all of us used to think that dietary fats are highly harmful and they cause many diseases like heart ailments, diabetes and blood pressure-related problems. A lot of research has taken place about them and it has now been found that there are good fats that can benefit our health also. Of course, bad fats and very bad fats will certainly harm our health.

Unsaturated fats are called good fats. So, instead of harming you, they will protect you from diseases like heart problems, blood pressure-related diseases, etc. There are two types of unsaturated fats and they are monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. There is absolutely no harm for your health from both these types of fats. In fact, they may benefit you by bringing down your Low Density Lipoprotein, which is bad cholesterol and increasing High Density Lipoprotein that is otherwise known as good cholesterol.

You can get Omega-3 fatty acids from polyunsaturated fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are mainly available in cold-water fish and nuts. You can get them from dark leafy greens, a few vegetable oils and flaxseed oil also. The human body can not produce one type of Omega-3 fatty acid, which is an essential acid. The only way you can get this is by consuming items that contain it. It is a proven fact that by eating Omega-3 fatty acids, you can get immense health benefits. They are said to lower blood pressure and reduce Low Density Lipoprotein. They can fight inflammation also. Further, they protect the nervous system and the brain.

Saturated fats are bad fats and these can create a havoc by causing blocks in the arteries. The main sources of these bad fats are meat and almost all the dairy products. These fats increase the Low Density Lipoprotein. It is true that they are a good source of nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Therefore, you should reduce their intake instead of completely avoiding them. The upper limit of your daily intake should not exceed seven percent.

Trans fats that are also called as hydrogenated fats are very bad fats. They are created due to a process called hydrogenation and hence, they are known as hydrogenated fats. This process converts liquid vegetable oils into solid fats. They cause severe harm to human health by increasing the Low Density Lipoprotein and lowering the High Density Lipoprotein. This means bad cholesterol increases in the body and good cholesterol decreases. These trans fats are generally available in almost all the processed foods. That is why you should avoid eating fried and deep-fried items and also processed items. They are available in processed items like cakes, doughnuts, snack foods, etc. also.

It is true that you get energy from fats. It is also true that you need fats if you want your brain and nervous system to function well. But, the fats you eat should be good fats. These good fats will protect you from the cold and give you clear skin and healthy hair also. But, you should avoid trans fats completely.

Raman Kuppuswamy writes highly informative, interesting and educative articles on various topics. He has written several articles on hubpages also. Kindly visit http://dreamdamodar.hubpages.com/ and read his other articles.

Good Health Need Not Be Elusive

The main themes of the World Health Day of 2012 that falls on 7 April are Aging and Health. The official slogan that has been released is "Good health adds life to years". Though it is true that many people have started realizing the benefits of staying healthy, we can not assume that every one is taking good care of their health. Modern lifestyles are one of the main contributors for some of the major health problems.



Many young people are increasingly getting interested in knowing the benefits of staying healthy. At the same time, the number of people who are affected by non-communicable diseases is also increasing alarmingly. Among the non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular ailments and so on, cancer and cardiovascular diseases can be more fatal. A WHO report on South Asia says that these diseases are likely to increase to 7 per cent of the population from 4.4 per cent in another 15 years. The major disturbing fact is that even young people are affected by these diseases. Earlier, youth were considered healthy because their systems used to be quite active. But, thanks to the changes in lifestyles, young age does not guarantee good health any more.



Unfortunately, a large number of young people do not accord the right type of importance to their health. They eat junk foods and lead a stressful life. If they continue leading such lifestyles, they will be accelerating their aging process. They may be affected by serious diseases like heart problems, diabetes, stress-related problems like blood pressure, etc. They should realize this mistake and start bestowing more attention on their health. If they make a few important changes to their lifestyles, they can benefit immensely and lead a healthy life. They can postpone their aging also.



- The foremost step for delaying the aging process and leading a healthy life is to switch to fiber foods. Fiber foods are fresh fruits and green vegetables, wholesome grains, beans, nuts, etc. Instead of eating junk foods and carbohydrate-filled sweets and snacks, if we eat vegetables and fruits, we can really "add life to our years". Likewise, our food should contain good carbohydrates and good fats. It should supply sufficient doses of proteins also.



- The importance of exercises need not be over-emphasized. By doing regular exercises, we can not only have good health but will be able to sustain it also. Exercises improve blood circulation. When all the parts of our body are supplied with sufficient nutrients, we can be more efficient in whatever we do.



- We must drink sufficient quantity of water. By drinking more than 2 liters of water daily, we can hydrate our body both internally and externally. Our skin gets moisturized also if we drink sufficient water. Lack of water leads to many problems. We should never wait for feeling thirsty. We can get rid of constipation problem also if we make it a point to drink sufficient quantity of water daily.



- Sleeping for 7 to 8 hours a day is a must for keeping good health. The body gets repaired when we have sufficient sleep during nights. Hormone-secretion gets regulated also during a good night's sleep.



- We should learn to manage our stress levels. Stress has been found to be a major contributor for many health problems. Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, etc. can be very effective for managing our stress levels.



These steps will help us to postpone our aging. We can lead a healthy life also.