Lifestyle Diseases: What they are and what you can do about them

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the world's biggest killers, causing an estimated 36 million deaths each year – 63% of all deaths globally.  Many of these illnesses are called lifestyle diseases – illnesses that befall us when we don’t prioritize healthy nutrition or fitness.  According to the American Diabetes Association, over 79 million Americans are pre-diabetic today, but only 11% are aware that they are.  Studies have shown that simply moving our bodies at least 30 minutes a day with some level of exertion can actually pause or reverse these concerns.  So why don’t more people make this a priority?

For most people, it is a difficult task to prioritize fitness as a critical part of daily life.  For others, the complexity associated with choosing the right gym, personal trainer, boot camp, and class is enough of a deterrent to not even start the process.  Avoiding the responsibility all together is often the first course of action and the one that sticks.  Layered on top of this is the availability of fast food locations that are both prevalent and inexpensive often usurping fresh, homemade, healthier options.  It is a recipe for building a nation of unhealthy and unhappy citizens.

Our future doesn’t have to remain so bleak.  As we have found with many of our daily chores, technology has often stepped in to make our lives better, easier, and more fulfilling.  Today, there are many options to consider in supporting the path to health and fitness.  Tools that help measure our progress – miles walked or stairs climbed – help to assure that work is being done.   Evaluation tools that assess body composition – lean muscle versus fat, weight, height, etc. – work to benefit where the body is today so that measuring success in the future can be validated.  Applications and programs also exist to help us track calories consumed versus burned, meals planned and shopping lists created – all to ensure we are eating the right things in the right amounts.

But just as technology is helpful, it also adds to the noise of confusion.  Consumers are expected to spend over $400 million dollars by 2016 on a wide variety of gadgets, gizmos, and tools that can support the success of getting fit.  This number doesn’t come close the $61 billion dollars spent in addition on the overall weight loss industry.    Most of the gadget dollars are spent by consumers hoping to capture the basic and necessary information about their bodies and their progress, but also for maintaining their motivation to get fit and to stay healthy.  In this digital age, consumers need to leverage the information and the ‘game’ of getting fit.

So what’s the answer?  Consumers need a solution that is both scientifically supported and digitally managed to ensure success.  A perfectly balanced program that both inspires competitive goal setting and tracking of results could be the key to getting many people off the couch and actively developing their fitness life.

At Koko FitClub we offer comprehensive programs of exercise and nutrition customized to your body and your goals.  There is no guessing or needing to remember what to do, how to do it or what weight at which to do it.  All the information about each exercise session is stored on you own webpage so you can track your progress and you  get a complete strength and cardio workout in only 45 minutes.   Come in and start your fitness life today.