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Blog Entry 4 of 8 The Walking Blues
Castle Rock, Colorado is a collision of many strange cultures in the twilit crossroads of the American dream turned nightmare and the old west. At first glance, this quaint little town-gone-city may seem harmless or mundane. Its landscape of wind-born mesas and ridges rises above the western end of the Great Plains like a prologue to the Rocky Mountains, which loom in the west as a reminder of earth's true power over humankind. But we glorified apes make a run at mother nature anyway--like a suburban soccer mom in an SUV heading on a crash course toward a drugstore cowboy driving a diesel pickup the other way (which neither notices because they're on their cell phones). Imagine a guy walking past one of the neon-green pedestrian signs they put in the middle of the crosswalks around town while the scenario written above takes place. He looks past contemporary life's tragedies because he's found something wonderful and beatific in putting one foot in front of the other. He's dressed in hiking boots, shorts, and a T-shirt colored with earth tones. At the last second, this guy sees this head-on collision of cars and cultures coming his way. Will he be crushed between the bumpers of the rich suburbanites, ranchers, and townees of Castle Rock? Or can he jump out of the way in time to experience all the sights, smells, and sounds the underbelly of this town has to offer? That guy is me. This is my blog.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~TheWalkingBlues

Exercise is only part of staying healthy
Contributed by: James Freeman   on 7/16/2008

Exercising outdoors can help your mental and physical health, but its only part of the fitness equation. If you want to improve your quality of life, you have to eat better. Cars work more efficiently if you give them clean fuel and regular maintenance. Your body functions the same.

Some people walk a lot without seeing any results, but looks aren't the the only sign of health. Walking is a full-body workout. And your muscles have one up on machines. When you use your muscles more, they grow stronger instead of breaking down. Active muscles add weight to increase their strength and endurance. Plus your body needs more energy to do more work. So you may find that you get hungrier and gain a little weight when you start exercising outdoors. That's alright--as long as you're putting on good pounds.

Yes. There's good and bad weight. Your body needs a certain amount of fat for fuel, insulation, and storage . Any fat your body doesn't need is bad weight. Good weight is needed fat, muscle, bone, and guts.

Everyone has a different body composition. We can't all look like supermodels. Starved people with low bone density and little muscle mass are just as unhealthy as overweight people. Skinniness doesn't indicate health. A tiny person with no lean muscle and excess fat is still out of shape. So don't let your eyes or numbers on a scale discourage you. Let strength, endurance, and energy be your health indicators instead. However, you can't just walk, run, or hike a little every once in a while to maintain vitality. You have to exercise regularly, and fuel your body well too.

Women should eat about 1300 calories per day to maintain their body weight. Men need about 1600 to do the same. You can increase your daily calorie allowance if you are more active. Unfortunately, many Americans take in about 50% of their calorie limit in one meal because they eat garbage injected with fat and sugar so it doesn't taste like processed gunk. Americans also tend to eat junk-food and sweets for snacks. So, on average, our bodies are getting way more energy than they need to do their job.

Those old t-shirts that compare beer guts to gas tanks are right. Your fat stores extra fuel. Proteins, sugars, and dietary fats are all petroleum for the body. When you get too much of any or all of these fuels, your body puts them into fat cell reserve tanks (like the hips or stomach). But all the junk food Americans eat is more like crude oil than gasoline. It burns dirty and goos-up your insides.

Vegetables, fruits, whole-grain flour products, skim milk, fish, and nuts work like clean-burning fuels for your body. You can eat a lot more of them than the sugary or fatty processed foods. The items listed above also contain the nutrients your body needs to enjoy an active life outdoors. However, if you still want to get skinny for looks, its as simple as this: Walk, hike, or run rigorously for at least 30 minutes a day and limit your daily calories to 1300 if you're a woman, and 1600 calories if you're a man. You will lose weight.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

James Freeman

Castle Rock , CO

James Freeman has posted 8 blog entries and 6 comments since joining on 6/12/2008. James Freeman 's average blog rating is 5.
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