Healthy after 30

Monitoring our lipid profile on a regular basis and keeping a check on our sugar levels will give us a clear indication of what's going on inside our body. Doing an annual full body check up should definitely be on our to-do list post-30. After all there's only so much abuse our body can take. Our body is like a bank and if we look after it now and invest in it, we will get rich dividends in our later years, says SAMREEDHI SHARMA in this article in The Hindu.

So, have you started investing in it?

- Dilip.

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Source: The Hindu, Dec 26, 2004.

Going on 30 and worried about fitness? SAMREEDHI SHARMA tells you how to fine-tune your body.

THIRTY is young, mature, stable, and halfway there — work-wise and family-wise. It's that in-between age where life is just settling down. It is precisely the time to look at the most important investment you can make right now — your health.

The human body undergoes constant change at all ages. After 30, we start losing muscle mass and after 40, bone mass declines. Tendons (which connect muscles to bone) and ligaments (which hold joints together) become less elastic and tear more easily. Given our current inactive lifestyle, it's necessary to give your health a serious thought.

Eat smart: Dieting is about options, not restrictions. Cutting calories should not always mean limiting the choices you have.

Try to eat at least 3-5 small meals throughout the day that will keep hunger pangs at bay. Eat according to the next three hours. If you know that the next three hours are going to be very busy eat complex carbohydrates like a brown bread sandwich with vegetables so that you'll have the energy to function and do not get too hungry.

If you find your sweet-tooth acting up make yourself a sorbet using a safe, sugar derivative sugar substitute like sucralose. Often while cutting calories we forget to nourish our bodies. Make sure you have variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet and include foods from at least three food groups at each meal.

Get active: While eating right and maintaining your weight are good, do give a thought to your joints and muscles. Muscles need to be worked to stay strong, if you don't use it you lose it.

So choose an activity — walking, swimming, tennis, working out at the gym, cycling or even dancing. Stick to it or better still keep switching from one activity to another. Your body will welcome the challenge.

Moreover, working your muscles constantly will not only raise your metabolic rate but also prevent your muscle mass from age related decline.

De-stress: Stress becomes a habit with most people. We teach ourselves stressful behaviour letting ourselves believe it will change as we grow older. Ask yourself if you really see it happening?

Just as we make stress a habit, we have to also teach ourselves to de-stress. Most people function like machines through the year thinking: "I'll unwind when I take my annual vacation". That is the worst thing you could do to your body.

A recent study shows that it is necessary to unwind each day and also in the middle of a stressful time to prevent the harmful cumulative effects of stress.

So the next time you have a major presentation/meeting, calm down take deep breaths for at least one minute. Remember getting stressed will not help, it will only harm.

Health check: It is not surprising to hear of people in their twenties suffering from blood pressure or people in their thirties having heart attacks.

While your genes cannot be altered, monitoring your lipid profile on a regular basis and keeping a check on your sugar levels will give you a clear indication of what's going on inside your body. This way any unnatural changes can be recognised and maybe corrected early.

This is where your friendly sucralose sugar substitute comes in handy. A few teaspoons of sugar when substituted with sucralose can help control obesity and the sugar levels easily.

Doing an annual full body check up should definitely be on your to-do list post-30. After all there's only so much abuse your body can take.

Stay strong, get supple: Usually people working with weights ignore flexibility training and vice versa. A balance between the two will keep those joints flexible and your bones and muscles stronger so that your body is a better shock absorber. Strength training (training with weights) makes you more toned.

Toned muscles are more "compact" so you look smaller (read thinner!). It also gives you an after burn i.e. keeps your metabolism raised for 12 hours after the workout so you burn calories even at rest. Stronger muscles also mean better stamina.

So while you progress in every aspect of your life don't neglect good health. Make it a priority! Your body is like a bank and if you look after it now and invest in it, you will get rich dividends in your later years!

The writer is a nutritionist and fitness expert. E-mail her at sizewise@rediffmail.com