How to Make Smart Food and Fitness Choices
By Linda Ray
Smart food and fitness choices include eating and exercise programs that provide enough energy and nutrition to play 18 holes with vigor and feel good at the end of the day. While fad diets and energy drinks are continuously being touted as a sure fix for lacking energy, obesity and aches and pains, the best way to maintain health is to stick with a lifestyle that incorporates healthy eating and the right kinds of fitness regimens.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Keep your caloric intake to its proper levels to support your activities while maintaining a healthy weight. Since golf is considered a moderate activity, men between the ages of 18 and 60 should consume an average of 2,800 calories per day. Women who play golf regularly should eat between 2,000 and 2,200 calories a day.
Choose grilled, rather than fried foods when eating out. Avoid creamy sauces, extra cheese, French fries and bacon. Consider ordering the kids' portions at fast-food restaurants and stick with whole grain breads and muffins.
Snack on fresh fruits and nuts. Keep a bag of almonds or walnuts in your golf bag for added energy on the course. The nuts are low in fat and can help reduce cholesterol levels and promote a healthy heart.
Include exercises that target the areas of the body that are prone to overuse and injury in the game of golf. Stretch and strengthen your wrists and arms with routines such as weight lifting designed to work the wrist muscles and stretching that helps you maintain range of motion.
Add aerobic exercises to your regular golf-related activities. While walking, bending and twisting are excellent movements that can help improve your game, exercises that provide increased heart rate are vital components of a well-rounded fitness plan. Swim, run or ride a bike for 30 to 60 minutes at least three to four times a week.
Tips & Warnings
Engage some of your golf buddies in another sport with you to make the rest of your fitness program as fun and engaging as golf. Agree to run on your days off or join a softball team together. Visit the gym with a partner and run on a treadmill side by side while you explore ways to improve your golf swing.
Limit alcohol consumption. Although moderate amounts of alcohol may improve levels of HDL cholesterol--the "good" cholesterol--the Mayo Clinic says the difference is negligible and not worth the side effects. For those who do drink, women should limit their drinking to one a day and men to two a day.
About The Author
Linda Ray is an award-winning journalist who's spent more than 20 years doing in-depth research and reporting on trends in health care and fitness for newspapers and magazines, including the "Greenville News," "Success," "Verve," and "American City Business Journals." In addition to sports and alternative therapies, Ray has extensive experience covering banking, commercial development and people. Ray has a bachelor's degree in journalism.
