Exercise - How much is enough?

OK we are convinced that Exercise IS the best medicine. So how do we go about it? Or to put the question in a more precise way, how much is enough?

Perhaps Dr. Harbinder Singh can answer that question. According to Dr. Harbinder, to maintain good health, one must undertake a minimum of 500-600 METs worth of exercise per week spread over at least 3 sessions or more per week. MET is short for Metabolic EquivalenT and 1 MET is the amount of oxygen consumed when sitting quietly which is approximately about 3.5ml of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. So if spread over 3 sessions, each session will be 600MET/3 = 200MET per session

Walking briskly at a speed of 5 to 6 km/Hr will approximates to about 4-5 METS per minute. Taking it as 5METs per minute, each session of brisk walking will have to stretch over at least 200/5 = 40 minutes. Or if spread over 5 sessions per week, it will be 600MET/5 = 120MET per sessions which will be equivalent to 120/5 = 24 minutes.

Looks like I will have to exercise more than what I am currently doing.

Exercise reduce colon cancer risk

Here is another study which reinforces the claim of exercise as the best medicine:

According to a review of 52 previous study and published in the British Journal of Cancer by US scientist, active people who exercise are 25% less likely to develop colon cancer. Lead researcher Dr Kathleen Wolin, from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis said: "These results give us a very reliable calculation of the positive effect that exercise can have on reducing colon cancer risk. It's very positive to see that exercise has such a clear benefit in reducing cancer risk and we hope it will encourage people to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle as well as treating it as a way to minimise their colon cancer risk."

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7883480.stm

Best and worst fruit, vegetable based on pesticide load

According to Environmental Working Group, the following are the 5 worst and 5 best vegetables and fruits to eat according to the pesticide load. Peaches are rated the worst because the pesticides are absorbed through the skin. Peaches are thus given a rating of 100% and the rest of the fruits and vegetables are given ratings in terms of percentage based on peaches as 100%. Apples is the second worst because apples were initially they are not grown in their natural environmental, have not developed natural resistance and thus treated with multiple pesticides. The best are onions and avocado rated at having only 1% of pesticides as compared with peaches.

5 worst fruits and vegetables

Peaches (worst)	100% (highest pesticide load)
Apples	96%
Sweet bell pepper	86%
Celery	85%
Nectarines	84%

5 best fruits and vegetables

Onions (best)	1% (lowest pesticide load)
Avocado	1%
Sweet corn (frozen)	2%
Pineapples	7%
Mango	7%

Read the whole list at The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies