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Your Personal Fitness Plan

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Your Personal Fitness Plan

Staying fit and relaxed is not only good for your health, it is good for you. If you want to enjoy life more, the tips in this article can help.

Guidelines for Eating Well

A healthy diet is as important to your fitness as exercise. MeritCare dietitians offer sports nutrition counseling to assist athletes in understanding the latest nutrient recommendations and to help them adjust eating habits to maximize fitness and performance potential.

Pulse Measurement

Find out how to measure your pulse and what that measurement means.

Choosing the Right Running Shoe

How do you find the best running or walking shoes for your feet, and when do you need to replace them? Athletic trainer Brad Reed provides tips you can use the next time you're sport-shoe shopping.

Starting a Fitness Walking Program

Regular fitness walking strengthens and tones muscles; increases stamina, metabolism and energy; burns calories and fat; relieves stress; improves cardiovascular health; lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. Plus, it's easy on the joints (low-impact) and checkbook (low-cost).

Fitness Injury Prevention: Tips For Exercising Safely

There's hardly an athlete alive -- "weekend," amateur, or professional -- who hasn't known the pain, disappointment and frustration that can result from a fitness-related injury. While some accidents are beyond our control, the vast majority of fitness injuries can be prevented.

Health Confidence: How to Take Charge of Your Own Health

More and more North Americans are taking charge of their exercise, eating, lifestyle and health habits, and are happier for doing so. Health confidence is the attitude that puts you in charge of your own health.

Sweat: Your Natural Cooling System

Deodorant manufacturers would have us believe that sweat is the bane of polite society and is to be avoided at any cost. But sweat is your body's natural cooling system. If you're active and you sweat, chances are your cooling system is doing its job -- if you don't sweat, it's time to watch out.

Treating and Preventing Heat-Related Illnesses

Heat-related illnesses are more common than you may think, and they can strike anyone, including highly conditioned athletes. In fact, people don't even have to be outdoors or doing anything strenuous to suffer from a heat-related illness.

Nutrition at the Supermarket

The supermarket has many foods to choose from. How do we know which are nutritious? Here are some tips to help you along.

How to Beat the Odds and Stick With an Exercise Program

How many times have you started an exercise program, only to quit within a year? You're not alone. The odds are a person who begins an exercise program will not be exercising a year later. But you can beat the odds.

Find A Medical Provider

Matthew Friederichs M.D.
Matthew Friederichs M.D.
Sports Medicine
Orthopaedic Surgery

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For over two decades, MeritCare has been a leader in clinical research. Visit our online guide to learn more about our current research and clinical trials.

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Every day, MeritCare is committed to quality health care and continuous improvements. Learn more in our online quality guide.