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The Importance of Proper Diet and Exercise for Female Bloggers

Saturday, March 23, 2013 14:56
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Women and man have their differences, or so the stand-up comedians will have me believe, but at the end of the day we are basically the same. Are we, though? We live in a world that is considered modern, forward thinking, free and sophisticated, yet women still get left in the shadows while men bask in the glow of the spotlights in many areas. Even when it comes down to basic health issues, losing weight or the psychological warfare that goes on in workplaces, men seem to be getting a lot more attention. Let’s take a look at how blogging can affect women and some easy changes in lifestyle that can prevent the unwanted consequences that can occur.

Women’s health issues

Women and men do have a number of physiological differences. You have more chances of developing certain conditions if you are a woman than you would if you were a man, and some conditions manifest through different symptoms in women. For example, osteoporosis, obesity and depression are more common in women, while menopause and pregnancy are conditions unique to women. Heart disease will have different symptoms, usually doctors look for chest pains, but a lot of the time a woman with heart disease will experience:

  • Jaw pain
  • Shoulder pain
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Fatigue
  • Abdominal pain

These symptoms can easily be overlooked, shrugged off as just feeling a little under the weather. Some of these medical conditions should be of special interest to the female bloggers out there.

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Women bloggers beware

Let’s look at some of the health threats that are particular to serious bloggers, which is to say the problems that relate to sitting for 8-12 hours at the computer almost every day. The potential for developing obesity or depression as well as spine and joint problems is quite high in such a setting.

You are separated from the rest of humanity for extended periods on a regular basis and are under a lot of stress. You are not moving a whole lot and the easiest way to go about planning meals is to simply order some pizzas to be brought to your doorstep and snack on some chips while drinking a soda in the meantime. You barely have enough time to take care of your basic needs, you start being overly self-critical, don’t get enough sleep and start getting really irritable. Gaining weight can be an additional cause for self-criticism and distress. Chronic pain in your joints from sitting for too long in an uncomfortable position can make you three times as likely to develop mood and anxiety disorders. These are all things that can have a cumulative effect and end up causing depression.

What were the three conditions listed as far more likely to affect women? Osteoporosis, obesity and depression – two of these three are the same conditions that are far more likely to affect the avid blogger than John Q. Public. It seems then that being overweight and falling into depression are serious problems that the female blogger may face. Hence the need to affect weight loss or keep weight gain at bay through a good diet and regular exercise must be addressed. Exercises like running, yoga, and aerobics are also a good way to socialize, clear your head and improve your self-image, things that will keep you from developing depression.

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Weight loss and wellness tips

It can be difficult to go cold turkey and just stop eating junk food and sweets altogether, so I suggest that you first limit yourself to a  couple of slices of pizza, a hot dog or a single doughnut once the craving becomes too much to bare. If you must eat something high in calories try to eat only a half, or even a third of your normal portions.

You need to try and cut down on these things:

  • Fatty foods
  • Sugary drinks and snacks
  • Caffeine
  • Alcohol
  • Protein
  • Dairy
  • Egg yolk

And try to eat more of these things:

  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Whole grain foods
  • Food containing calcium
  • Food containing iron
  • Olive/olive oil
  • Nuts
  • Fish

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Magnesium, calcium and iron are very important, so supplements can be taken if you aren’t getting enough of those minerals in your meals. Remember, it’s not just about weight loss at any cost; it’s about losing weight the right way, without robbing yourself of essential nutrients. If you can’t get a hang of counting calories and looking at nutrition facts, you can check out Weight Watchers. They have a point system for counting calories that is easy enough to follow, and offer a bunch of recipes on their website that are made with nutrition and weight loss in mind, which can make your shopping and meal preparation much easier.

Another important thing to keep in mind is vitamin D. Since the danger of developing osteoporosis is ever present, taking half an hour out of your schedule to go for a walk and get some sun is very important since this will keep your vitamin D levels high and ensure you have strong bones. Besides sunlight exposure, some good sources of vitamin D include salmon and shrimp.

Going for a short walk two to four times a day is a great way to kill a bunch of birds with one stone: you get enough sunlight, you get fresh air, you burn calories, you keep your body from being stationary for too long and you have a chance to meet new people.

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Exercises

Presupposing that the blogger doesn’t have a lot of time on her hands to spend on exercise, i.e. trips to the gym/pool/some type of class are out of the question, I have tried to go for the most space-efficient and easy to perform exercises that will help you burn a lot of calories in very little time. All the workout videos have been carefully chosen to fit a beginner working at home, with special emphasis on areas that are most often neglected by the blogger – cardio-vascular exercise, leg and core muscles, stretching and relaxing body.

These selected exercises are also female-friendly, there are no 260 pound steroid infused monsters telling you to push a SUV uphill or that you must do 100 push-ups every morning and have a protein heavy, 3000 calorie diet. These are videos of fitness professionals showing you a nice and easy, complete workout that you can do at your own pace until you get a hang of it, that are guaranteed to help you lose weight if you stick to them. The problem of sleep deprivation or irregular sleeping patterns that is common among bloggers is also addressed, relaxing and getting to sleep is achieved through some simple yoga exercises.

One thing to keep in mind though is that women have a 2-10 times greater risk of ACL injuries than men, while it has been found that a lot of these injuries tend to happen just before and at the start of menstruation. You should be extra careful during your period not to stress the knees too much, although exercises like balancing on one leg, jumping from a squatted position as well as strengthening your hamstrings and gluteus a couple of times a week can halve the risk of knee and ankle injury.

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First, here are a couple of cardio workouts, designed to get your heart pumping and engage a large range of muscle groups throughout your body to affect weight loss.

A short and simple workout covering the basics:

A more in depth, full body workout:

Then we have a simple beginner’s yoga workout to help you stretch the muscles and relax the body, that can be done in the morning:

And a good yoga routine to do at night to help you go to sleep if you have a problem with irregular sleeping patterns or insomnia:

A few parting words

When it comes to health, women have different needs than men, needs that are often overlooked by the media. There are serious health risks to the women involved in blogging, challenges they must face, that can be overcome through mental toughness and the will to make lifestyle changes and stick to them. Losing weight, getting the proper nutrition, strengthening the body and mind through regular exercise and staying healthy are the goals we all should aspire to.

That being said, those women worldwide that have chosen blogging as their full-time job, must strive harder to attain these goals, if not for noble reasons of self-fulfillment, then out of need for self-preservation. Stay healthy all you blogger-girls, take care of your bodies and keep doing what you do best.

http://www.ivandimitrijevic.com/blog/



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