This Week's Healthy SC Challenge Tips

First Family Encourages Healthy Changes in Nutrition, Exercise and Tobacco Use

COLUMBIA, SC – May 29, 2009 – The Healthy SC Challenge is the Sanford family’s effort to get all South Carolinians to do just a little more to live a healthier lifestyle. The tips are designed to encourage individuals and communities to live healthier lifestyles in three categories – nutrition, exercise and help to quit smoking. The tips can also be found on the challenge’s website, www.healthysc.gov.

Healthy Tips

Nutrition
Looking for a brighter future?  Try eating a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables.  The potential benefits associated with eating more fruits and vegetables stack up quickly. Reducing your risk of certain chronic diseases is only the beginning. Whether fresh, frozen, canned, dried or 100% juice, these 200+ taste sensations are quick, delicious and convenient, and will keep you healthy all year round.

Here are ten reasons to eat more fruits and vegetables:

1. Color & Texture: Fruits and veggies add color, texture and appeal to your plate.
2. Convenience: They are nutritious in any form (fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100% juice) so they’re ready when you are!
3. Fiber: Fruits and veggies provide fiber that helps fill you up and keeps your digestive system happy.
4. Low in calories: Fruits and veggies are naturally low in calories.
5. May reduce risk of disease: Eating plenty of fruits and veggies may help reduce the risk of many diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure and some cancers.
6. Vitamins and Minerals: Fruits and veggies are rich in vitamins and minerals that help you feel healthy and energized.
7. Variety: Fruits and veggies are available in an almost infinite variety*there’s always something new to try!
8. Quick and Natural: Fruits and veggies are nature’s treat and easy to grab for a snack.
9. Fun to Eat: Some crunch, some squirt, some you peel; some you don’t; and some grow right in your own backyard!
10. Taste great!
-Fruits and Veggies. More Matters., www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org

Physical Activity
It seems to me that there are two kinds of people when it comes to eating after a workout: The ‘Non-Eaters’ and the ‘Immediate Eaters’.  The ‘Non-Eaters’ will not really eat anything after a workout, but instead later in the day will treat themselves (to sweets/alcohol/chips/etc.) because they feel they deserve it since they exercised.  The ‘Immediate Eaters’ finish their workout and simultaneously consume a protein bar and a post-workout shake within 5-10 minutes after their workout.  On the right track, but let’s analyze how that can have more of a positive effect on your workouts.

For the first thirty minutes after a workout your body is still ready to exercise; your muscles have been innervated, they are ready to fire
(workout) when you say so, and are not ready to begin repairing yet.  After thirty minutes, your muscles relax and begin to repair themselves.  This is when one would want to consume protein, because protein aids in the muscle rebuilding process.  So, if you consume your post-workout protein beverage 30 min to 1 hour after your workout, you will be helping your muscles rebuild during their prime time rebuilding process and maximizing the benefits of the protein you’re taking. 

After 2-3 hours, you should consume a regular meal (with protein in it) to continue aiding in the muscle rebuilding process.  Do not ‘treat’ yourself to sweets or alcohol or whatever, for your muscles will still be crying out for protein and you will be feeding them sugar or alcohol or heavy carbohydrates…they want protein.  Remember ‘You Are What You Eat’?  That is especially true on the days you exercise.  If you can eat properly after a workout and stay away from ‘treats’, your results will come faster than you expect.
-Nicholas Frank, Life Tips, www.exercise.lifetips.com 

Tobacco
What’s in a Cigarette? Your body gets more than nicotine when you smoke.
There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Some of them are also in wood varnish, the insect poison DDT, arsenic, nail polish remover, and rat poison.

The ashes, tar, gases, and other poisons in cigarettes harm your body over time. They damage your heart and lungs. They also make it harder for you to taste and smell things, and fight infections.
-Smoke Free, www.smokefree.gov 

The Healthy SC Challenge is an outcome-based, cooperative effort aimed at encouraging individuals, communities and organizations across the state to show shared responsibility in developing innovative ways to improve the health of South Carolina’s citizens. For more information about the Healthy SC Challenge, please visit www.healthysc.gov, or call 803-737-4772.