Final Draft Of Research Paper

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Tiana Shepherd Professor Joyce Barnes English 1201 20 March 2019

The fountain of youth is closer than one thinks. It is true that individuals live longer today than they did 100 years ago. However, it is also true that individuals suffer from a wide range of chronic illness at an alarming rate. What if there is a way to maintain a youthful look and appearance? The answer to that question could be a healthy diet and exercise. There is a fountain of youth in all of us, but it comes with a price because nothing in this world is free. A healthy diet and exercise require determination and discipline in order to pay off in the long run. The idea is simple, a person trades their determination and discipline for a longer healthier life. A healthy diet and exercise routine are important in everyone’s life, because a healthy diet and exercise routine reduce the risk of chronic disease, it helps with weight loss, and it can substitute for medication in most cases. It has only been about 30 to 40 years that doctors have known that the food we eat has been causing long term effects on the body. Once a person pairs sedentary behavior with unhealthy food for a long time, that person will eventually run into some serious health problems. Before anyone blew the whistle on the contents of our food, people had no idea that it was unhealthy. According to the American Heart Association, there are two types of trans fats natural trans-fat and artificial trans-fat. Trans-fats can cause your bad cholesterol levels to be high and your good cholesterol levels to be lower than the should, and they have been linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Before 1990, there was little known about the adverse

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effects that trans-fats had on your body. Since, the FDA has required that labels be added to the packages of food containing trans-fat. The United States ranks among the highest in obesity, and that is a very disturbing fact. Obesity has been known to cause other chronic illness such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and in some cases heart attack. The diagram below illustrates some further complications of obesity, and what organs it directly affects ("The Fat Bastard Gazette", 2019). Some causes of obesity are lack of movement or prolonged sedentary behavior. However, on the other end of the spectrum, exercise is an activity that requires physical effort to sustain or improve one’s health. According to Kazayuki Kanosue in Physical Activity, Exercise, Sedentary Behavior and Health, “he states that it is now well recognized that middle aged obesity is strongly associated with both aging and a depressed autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, particularly the sympathetic thermogenic response to a highfat diet and an irregular food intake pattern.” It’s safe to say that in some cases, obesity is the result

of lack of exercise.

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Exercise should be done at least three times per week and can be an activity such as walking the dog. Individuals who are new to an exercise routine should begin with light exercise and gradually work their way up to a faster pace routine. However, there is another important factor in changing one’s lifestyle. That is, incorporating a healthy balanced diet. The amount of food a person takes in on a daily basis is key to the results and the prevention of obesity. An individual must burn more energy than they take into their body in order to burn fat. In the article Exercise and High Blood Pressure author Jenn Horton states, “Aerobic exercise could shave five points off your systolic blood pressure (the first, or top, number in your blood pressure reading),

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and three points off your diastolic blood pressure (the second, or bottom, number).” The key to this idea is consistency. Most researchers agree that obesity is caused by living a lifestyle of sedentary behavior paired with a high caloric intake. Some researchers also believe that obesity is associated with other chronic diseases such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Not all obese individuals have hypertension. In most cases, hypertension is directly linked to obesity. Exercise also helps prevent heart disease according to the Mayo Clinic in “7 Great Reasons Why Exercise Matters”. The article also states that no matter what your current weight is exercise will boost high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This boost in your good cholesterol helps keep your blood flowing smoothly to combat cardiovascular diseases. Although being active is important, a healthy diet is just as important as the physical activity portion. As stated before, we know that being as active as you can be, will help contribute to your health. Having a well-balanced diet is also just as important. Exercise can help with weight loss in most cases but, by doing just that. However, if an individual wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevent early chronic disease, then they need to follow a healthy diet. An individual can eat high fat foods such as pizza, potato chips, candy, and chocolate. Or on the other hand fruits, vegetables, and lean meat. Which diet will be the mostly likely to cause weight gain? The first diet will cause weight gain especially if an individual doesn’t burn the amount of energy that they take into there body. Let’s take the second diet and apply that with an exercise routine. This will surely produce some amount of weight loss. An individual will need to develop a routine that is at least 3 times per week. The Mayo Clinic recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate

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aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity ("7 Great Reasons Why Exercise Matters", 2018). In order to maintain a healthy body mass most individuals will need to change their lifestyle. For some people this will mean changing a lot about how they eat and live, and for others it will only require small changes. Most people have problems with making time to exercise. They also have issues with planning healthy meals. It is true that healthy food is more expensive than junk food. It is also less convenient for people to get healthy food. There are a lot of foods that need to be prepared at home rather than picking up on the go. As we move more into a technology driven society, individuals only care about convenience. Maybe this is the reason why nearly a third of the population is obese, according to the CDC. It has definitely taking society years to get into this situation, and it will take years to change this outcome. The fact of the matter is this, in order for an individual to lose weight and produce results, they will need to change their diet and incorporate exercise. This is one of the healthiest ways to get to the finish line. Some people get discouraged on their road to weight loss because the results are seen a lot slower than other methods. Exercise is hard and requires determination in order to get optimal results. Eating a healthy diet also requires determination and discipline. These two components together help prevent weight gain. Since we have gone over the proper steps of how to use diet and exercise and how frequent a person should be physically active, lets really take a further look at when a person should start. This topic is just not focused on one country because the ideal is the same all around the world. An individual should start a new healthy lifestyle early, and as early as starting from school age children. The last point in the thesis statement is exercise can substitute for medication for most people. The ideal is this, a person needs to incorporate as much physical

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activity along with a well-balanced diet from school age up into adulthood. This lifestyle will prevent most obesity which can lead to other chronic illness along with depression. If an individual can start as early as child hood the better off that the person may be in the long run. Medication in most cases is given as a last result in most cases. For example, I was given a medication for hypertension, but it was the last result. We went over a diet and an exercise routine and at that time I was not willing to do what was needed so as a result, medication was prescribed for me. This does not have to be the case for all. If a person is taught from early childhood for example, in the film No Excuses! A Film about Quality Physical Education. Catherine Himberg is a physical education teacher who decides to start a physical education program at the Storefront Academy in Harlem. She states, “--- that this school was selected because of the high rate of obesity in Harlem, the fact that unhealthy foods where within walking distance of the school, and these foods were the cheapest.” In the film she explains that this is where the biggest difference could be made. She uses this film to document how starting a physical activity program to teach school age children the benefits of how a healthy diet and exercise could impact a child’s life in a positive way. She also sheds light on how these same children will go home and show their parents what they learned in school, thus creating a ripple effect with the program. The research thus far points to this, once an individual decides that they are going to change their eating habits and incorporate physical activity, then they could possibly not have to take medication for illnesses that are directly related to obesity. There have been other researchers such as Dr. Sebi. Based on an article written by Michelle Kern, he was a native Honduran who refers to himself as, “an intracellular therapist and herbalist, and claims an organic vegan, largely raw diet will cleanse your cells of toxins and cure diseases.” Dr. Sebi

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believed that if an individual ate foods that were alkaline, they would be able to cure certain diseases. He believed that these disorders could not thrive in an alkaline environment. This is why he developed an alkaline diet.. Although people show signs of better health, most of his findings have not been proven by scientific studies. Along with other studies there is the weight loss surgery, called bariatric surgery. There are different types of weight loss surgeries that are decided based on the needs of the individual. Some people find that it is easier to get these types of surgeries because they want results faster than just diet and exercise. There is the gastric sleeve, the gastric bypass, and the lap band. These procedures can range from invasive to an outpatient procedure such as, swallowing a balloon. The costs of these type of procedures can be very expensive. Most individuals who seek these types of surgeries experience different levels of discomfort. However, individuals do seem to lose weight at a faster rate than just traditional diet and exercise. Once an individual loses the amount of weight that is ideal for them, they may start to feel the benefits of the surgery. These types of procedures are still being researched. Although people tend to lose great deals of weight, most individuals do not change their lifestyle after the procedure. So, the results can vary in the long run. Some individuals experience weight gain years after these procedures because they still revert back to their sedentary ways. We already know that improper diet and sedentary behavior result in weight gain. Depending on the caloric intake and a person’s metabolic rate, will determine how fast a person will return to an obese weight. Not to mention, the greater risk of serious illness. The point is, individuals can decide to receive an alternative treatment method to lose weight other than diet and exercise, in the short run. However, these same individuals will still need to have a healthy diet and exercise routine as a part of their lifestyle, to maintain a

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healthy weight. Yet again, we arrive to the conclusion that exercise and diet in most cases can substitute for medication. The latter is better, the cost is cheaper. The discipline will need to be great along with determination. After interviewing Monica Watson, the conclusion was that individuals view exercise as being something hard and time consuming and there are not really any benefits. In the interview, she stated “---she did not like exercise, because it made her feel tired and sore the next day.” Could this be the way that most people feel about exercise? Studies have shown that people are busier, and they tend to eat out more often than decades ago. People are so busy that they just are trying to get through the day without any interruptions. There is a fast food restaurant on every corner. As a matter of fact, there are blocks designated for just places to eat. It is now cheaper and more convenient to just pick something up on the way home. As opposed to, writing a list, grocery shopping, unpacking it, and finally cooking dinner. We live in a world of technology, were you can order and pay for groceries on your phone. Then, you can just pick them up. Nobody has time to think about what exercise routine and what is healthy to eat. Maybe this is why a third of Americans are overweight. There is a problem but until individuals recognized that there is a problem, things will continue to move in the wrong direction. As with every action there is an effect of that action, and an effect of that action, and so on. It has taken years to get to where we are as a society today. It will take years for us to get out of this situation. People used to inquire physical activity in to their daily routine. It was a part of their daily activities. It was normal to them to have to do these things. It is now normal to pay someone to bring our food to us. There is definitely a problem.

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In the early years people did not live as long as people do now. Technology has allowed us medical break throughs that were unheard of in the early years. People were more active and people at healthier in the early years. There were less medications prescribed because they were possibly not invented yet. In the early years, people died from things such as fever and infection, and maybe here and there for heart attacks and strokes. People were not taking medications for hypertension and diabetes in the early years, because they were eating fresh vegetable and working to harvest those vegetables and food. Let’s take a look at today. People are having strokes and heart attacks and other serious illnesses at younger ages every day. People are taking medications at younger ages every day. I was 35 when I needed to start taking medication for hypertension to prevent a heart attack or stroke. This was due to years of eating fast food, drinking soda, and not regularly exercising. It was also due to the fact that I was overweight for my height. Once the diet and weight were under control, there was no further need to take medication, since that was the only thing prescribed at the time. The point is, we are reverting to a mortality rate of the early years because of the sedentary behavior from current technology and the diet that is now common to many people. Again, we know that obesity leads to chronic illness such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. If the first can be prevented, then this will greatly reduce the risk of further illness that requires medication. There are other illnesses that require medication. This is the reason why the research is based on the statement for most individuals because every case is unique to that individual. According to the CDC, stroke and diabetes are among the leading causes of death. However, there are situations where genetics are involved. So that people don’t get confused, there are people who are not obese they have chronic illnesses.

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There are researchers on both sides of the argument and there is a lot of common information about what is considered a healthy diet and exercise routine. In order for an individual to address their situation there needs to be a starting point. An individual will actually decide that there needs to be changes made in order to move in a positive direction. Each individual is unique, and their outcomes will be different from the next person. So even though all the literature about diet and exercise tell us to just do it, an individual will need to gain further knowledge of what their genetic makeup is, in order to see the benefits in the long run, and this behavior will need to remain consistent. There will need to be a complete change of lifestyle. Some people do better if they slowly incorporate slow changes to their diet, while some people still enjoy forbidden foods, but only in moderation. There is no way to cheat this strategy. If an individual does decide to revert back to their old ways, then they will be putting themselves at risk. There are other alternatives to actually exerting yourself into a routine, but the options are not great for the long run. An individual will eventually find themselves right back at square one. That is a healthy diet with an exercise routine will reduce a person’s weight. It will be a gradual weight loss over a long time, not a sharp decline in weight in a short time period. The fountain of youth is an idea. It is not something to be taken lightly. It is a way of life and it is all about discipline and determination. What is important to people? Is health and longevity of life important? Or do people just focus on today and the here and now? The results of this fountain of youth can be seen on individuals who have given their time an energy to a life full of healthy living. These individuals have decided to forgo the easier options in exchange for this beautiful fountain of youth later in life. These same individuals have decided that engaging in less activity is unhealthy, and that constant movement of these muscle that will one day pay

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off. These same muscles will help them continue to walk like they did in the days that they were once younger. This idea should from a young child and move on until older age. This is they way to stay drinking from the fountain of youth. Research has brought me to the conclusion that diet, and exercise can prevent some individuals from chronic illness, and weight loss, and from taking medications. However, there is more to it than just a simple diet and exercise routine. This same individual will have to completely change their lifestyle in order for this statement to be true.

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Works Cited

Abbott, Christmas. The Badass Life: 30 Amazing Days to a Lifetime of Great Habits--Body, Mind, and Spirit. William Morrow, 2018. Gurusamy, Jothimani, et al. “Exercise, Diet and Educational Interventions for Metabolic Syndrome in Persons with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review.” Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Aug. 2018, pp. 73–85. “Healthy Living & Lifestyle: 7 Steps to Take Today.” WebMD, WebMD, 7 Jan. 2019, www.webmd.com/balance/take-stock-health-habits#1. Horton, Jenn. “Exercising With High Blood Pressure.” WebMD, WebMD, 8 June 2014, www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/exercise-and-high-bloodpressure#1. Kerns, Michelle. “Dr. Sebi Diet.” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group, 2018, www.livestrong.com/article/485528-dr-sebi-diet/.

Kanosue, Kazuyuki. Physical Activity, Exercise, Sedentary Behavior and Health. Springer Verlag, Japan, 2016. Page, Randy M, et al. “The Influence of Friendships and Friendship-Making and Physical Activity Participation in Chiang Mai, Thailand High School Students.” International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 2005, pp. 95–103.

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Roussell, John Matthew, director. No Excuses! A Film about Quality Physical Education. Welcome Page - SupportREALteachers.org, 15 June 2015, www.supportrealteachers.org/no-excuses-a-film-on-quality-physical-education.html. “7 Great Reasons Why Exercise Matters.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 14 Dec. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/indepth/exercise/art-20048389.

Quinlan, Hank. "The Fat Bastard Gazette", thefatbastardgazette.wordpress.com/tag/obesity/. Watson, Monica. Personal Interview. “How Exercise Affects Daily Activities.” 1 Mar. 2019. “Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Nov. 1999, www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/intro2.htm.