Choice: Exercise or Diet?

I cannot resist saying it: My intuition was right again! I have thought before: If given a choice I must make, exercise or diet, I would choose exercise. And a new study by Blair et al. in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) came out saying the same thing: It is best to be fit, than thin.

Here are some of my reasons, before I even take a look at the summary of this article: 1. Food gets burned down into smaller chains of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins; 2. Working out increases your metabolism; 3. Working out makes your body "sharper" like school or crossword puzzles make your mind sharper, and your body is better able to take care of itself with a better immune system, and more (this comes from my intuition, and watch out for the next article); 4. Working out keeps your body healthier. This includes your digestive system which is better able to get rid of what your body doe snot need; and 5. Last but not least: Working out allows you to get in touch with yourself and make better choices in diet and exercise that suit you and your life.

I found a 1996 JAMA journal article of his called Influences of Ccardiorespiratory Fitness and other Precursors on Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality in Men and Women that indicates in both women and men: fit people with any combination of smoking, elevated blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol level had lower adjusted death rates than low-fit persons with none of these characteristics.

In the study, Blair's team looked at the relationship between body fat, fitness and longevity in 2,603 men and women aged 60 and older. Twenty-three percent of overweight people were classified as unfit, and 53% obese people were classified as unfit. In other words, a huge percentage of people in both of these categories were not classified as unfit! "You really can't tell if a person is fit by looking at them," he said.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.