Recommended Program
The Every other day Diet
You Can Lose All The Weight You Want
While Enjoying Your Favorite Foods Every Week.
Fitness, Hygiene, and Diet For a Long-Haul Trucker
By Rick Huffman
Based on its research, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) says that obesity in trucking is rampant. In response to the research, the Associated Press notes that many truckers do not wear seat belts because their stomachs get in the way, about one in four have sleep apnea, and half of all truckers smoke, compared to about one-fifth of all Americans. All of these are risk factors for high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. According to a study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 75% of truckers are overweight, and 25% are obese. Clearly, trucking poses a challenge for a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a Toronto researcher, claims that truck drivers live ten to fifteen years less than the average North American male, who lives to 76.
The concern for lack of health and fitness among truckers even spawned a reality show on CMT called Trick my Trucker, where the driver gets a makeover and a guide for healthy living. Outside of landing on a reality show, is there anything a trucker can do to battle against a lifestyle that is not conducive to healthy living?
Trucking does not compare to a normal job. A long-haul trucker does not have the option of hitting Gold's Gym after work every day, and few appear to have taken the advice of Chuck Norris with the purchase of a Total Gym. While there are a handful of drivers who pay attention to their health, the majority are among the unhealthiest eaters on the planet.
There are many reasons for lack of healthy habits on the road. For a National driver, spending three to six weeks living in a truck simply has a way of chipping away resolve. After working 14 hours, it is often difficult to muster the motivation to prepare a healthy meal. Fatigue and stress can highlight the appeal of comfort food in a restaurant. After veering off the path of healthy eating on the road, I can attest to the difficulty of getting back on track. Boredom and loneliness are the perfect scapegoats for an unhealthy meal or snack.
While it may not be possible to regularly get a gym-quality workout on the road, many drivers are taking a creative approach to avoid the dreaded "trucker's physique". A Wisconsin driver decided to start a walking routine. Instead of waiting around for his truck to be unloaded, he walked a mile or so into the nearest town. He also advises to park at the back of a truck stop. This forces additional walking in the course of a normal day. Another driver I met stored a fold-up bicycle in his truck. Not only did it give him an enjoyable way to stay fit, it provided added mobility during down time. It obviously worked for him, as he was lean and muscular.
The only limit to finding ways to stay fit on the road is the driver's creativity. I have seen a driver skipping rope at a truck stop, and another pumping iron on a weight bench beside his truck. I even found a contraption on the Internet called a "Truck Gym". A metal frame screws into the floor behind the driver's seat, and a series of resistance bands and adjustable rods, supposedly, affords a total-body workout without getting out of the driver's seat.
Personally, I carry a set of dumbbells and resistance bands on the road, and I walk as much as I can. I normally prepare my own meals, but I sometimes fall victim to an insatiable craving for the greasy fare of the road. The best advice for any driver is to prepare most meals in the truck, avoid fast foods and buffets, and exercise for at least a few minutes a day. Even Bojangles chicken, my personal weakness, seems a little less appealing when I watch a driver, with belly fat hanging almost to his knees, waddle toward the truck stop after having parked as close to the buffet as humanly possible.
Personal hygiene is another issue that proves challenging for some drivers. While there are those who swear they shower daily, I find it impractical to attempt a daily shower on the road. While it is theoretically possible, the sacrifice of sleep time would seem to outweigh the positives. My personal goal is to get a "real" shower every other day while doing a quick wipe-down with baby-wipes on subsequent days. For me, this is a more practical goal that I am usually able to attain.
The major truck stop chains are usually good about providing clean shower facilities. With the purchase of fuel, the driver gets a free shower. Among the nicest shower facilities I have encountered is at the Bosselman Travel Center in Grand Island, Nebraska. They are always immaculately clean, and they are almost large enough for a three-on-three basketball game. As an added touch, the staff leaves a pair of Hershey's kisses for the driver.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have encountered shower facilities that reflected a lower standard of work ethics. The most disgusting shower I ever saw was at an independent truck stop in Winnie, Texas. Used towels lay askew, and I would have bet that the shower's last cleaning occurred during the Bill Clinton administration. I asked for my money back, and took a baby-wipe bath in the truck.
I have seen many drivers who neglect oral hygiene. It never ceases to amaze me that while all major trucking companies offer dental plans, I see so many with missing or disgusting teeth. I admit that it can be a challenge for a driver to keep a medical or dental appointment, but I would take some time off work, or even quit the company, before I'd let my teeth rot and fall out. I believe the majority of truckers care about personal hygiene, but some lend credence to the negative Hollywood stereotype.
A personal source of amusement to me is when I see a male driver flirting with a waitress or cashier at a truck stop while he is dirty, emanating a foul odor, his teeth (if he has them) are stained with coffee and nicotine, and his butt crack is peeking above the back of his greasy Levi's. Still, he thinks he is God's gift to women. As one driver puts it, "People, in general, are either nasty or clean. Their occupation has little to do with it."
I tend to agree.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Huffman
Recommended Program
The Every other day Diet
You Can Lose All The Weight You Want
While Enjoying Your Favorite Foods Every Week.
Women's Fitness Competition Diet
By Gary Pearson
Who says only men are effective leaders in the corporate and sports world? Women have become as competitive as men. The female species can also excel in people management and winning any sports game dominated by men like chess, tennis, basketball and track. If in the olden times only men would normally lift barbells and dumbbells, women can now do the same thing as coherently as men do. Weightlifting and bodybuilding fields are not anymore exclusive for men. Women engage in this type of competition as well. In fact, female bodybuilders and world-class athletes especially those who compete in the Olympic Games follow certain women's fitness competition diet to get them on the go all the time.
Women's fitness competition diet is more restricted than an ordinary career woman who spends 30 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes on strength training and 30 minutes on weight machines. It's even more intense than doing 100 crunches every other day or doing three sets of 12-repetition dumbbell lifting. Any athlete does series of workout routines and takes a certain food diet that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Amino acids are needed to develop muscles and enhance agility, alertness and vigor in everyone who's up for a long day of competition. Food that is rich in fiber and vitamin C is also part of the daily food intake among athletes. Fiber gets one to be completely full yet feeling light while vitamin C serves as a strong antioxidant. If you have several antioxidants in your system, you are far from getting colds, cough and headaches which may hurdle an athlete from performing excellently in her game.
Daily strength and resistance training is necessary in every woman athlete. Other than that, a highly balanced food diet is to be taken seriously on a daily basis. Lots of water intake is also needed. Energy-giving foods are meat, milk and eggs but they should also be at moderate amount. Calories are necessary to be burnt during the intense training. Junk foods are definitely no-no's if you want your brain and body to function outstandingly. A good diet also means not skipping any meals. Cereals would do for breakfast plus lots of fruits are good sources of vitamins and minerals plus good carbohydrates. Alcohol and coffee are not good to be part of the women's fitness competition diet.
Women may have weaker resistance than men, but it doesn't apply to all. If a woman is highly trained in fitness and she embraces women's fitness competition diet consistently, she may be stronger and firmer than a few of the male individuals. If your body is exposed to workout routines, it gradually increases its tolerance level. If it also takes in good and healthy foods, it will certainly combat sickness and loss of energy.
Gary Pearson is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
To learn more about women's fitness visit Diet and Fitness Today for current articles and discussions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Pearson
Recommended Program
The Every other day Diet
You Can Lose All The Weight You Want
While Enjoying Your Favorite Foods Every Week.
The 30-Day Lifestyle Diet
By Barbara Wayman
"Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable." -Sir Francis Bacon
Nowadays diets tend to have a bad name. Overly restrictive and temporary, they often ensure that people revert back to their old habits quickly, thereby eliminating long-term results. This year I've discovered a new way to apply the idea of a diet to a host of goals that have nothing to do with food. I've found that if I focus my attention on a specific topic and do one small task related to every day for 30 days, by the end of the month I've achieved remarkable things I never anticipated.
This is an idea you can have a lot of fun with. Just take an area of your work or life that you'd like to improve and then commit to doing one small thing related to that every day for 30 days. It's important to keep the tasks small so that you'll enjoy the process and stick with it.
So, if you want to improve your company's marketing, on day one, maybe read some articles on marketing online. On day two, stop at a bookstore and browse the marketing section. On day three, call some inactive clients and see how they're doing. To really give your 30-day diet an extra boost, do with in tandem with a friend, and commit to emailing each other each day with a YES or NO.
Here are some additional examples to get you thinking about what lifestyle diet you may want to embark on. Be creative and enjoy the process.
• Public relations diet - do something to help get your company's message in front of your top audiences every day for one month
• Money diet - do one small thing to improve your finances for 30 days
• Fitness diet - resolve to move your body in a small way each day
• Pleasure diet - increase your enjoyment and pleasure in life by making sure you do at least one thing you find pleasurable every day for a month
• Tolerations diet - make a list of 60 petty annoyances that are bothering you such as a messy desk, a co-worker's disrespect or a missing button on your favorite sweater. Then eliminate one toleration a day for 30 days
• Kindness diet - do one small act of kindness each day for 30 days
• Romance diet - do something romantic for your partner every day for 30 days
• Organization diet - take a small step each day to organize even just a desk drawer at a time. See how it adds up a month later
• Vibrant health diet - do one small thing a day to contribute to your or your family's vibrant good health
This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.
©2009 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC.
Barbara Wayman, APR, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, a free monthly ezine for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public relations. Get your free subscription today at http://BlueTreeMedia.com/ezine.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barbara_Wayman
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