Health & Fitness on the Web

Working out can be really fun, especially if you let your fingers do the training. Or at least the searching.

We are of course talking about getting more information on what might be the best health or fitness advice for you – without having to pay a whole lot of money to see a doctor or even to enroll in a gym. So, where do you search...the Internet of course.

The question is: Are there any truly Filipino websites on health and fitness? The advantage of knowing what these are is that at least we are sure that whatever advice they might give, we can be sure that these are made for the Filipino audience.

For starters, you might want to check out the website of the Department of Health at www.doh.gov.ph. The website is a good source of information on what projects the government has – healthwise of course. Under their health information they have seven categories ranging from "health situations" in the country to "health news." The health news are summaries of news bits about health from different newspapers and publications. One of the interesting programs of the government concerns herbal medicine and traditional healing practices. But it is unfortunate that there is not much information you can get from the site because it is not "clickable." Likewise, much of the information here is on health rather than fitness.

You can start searching for fitness information at www.GoPinoy.com, described as "the Philippine portal for Filipinos worldwide." It has links to the websites of some of the hospitals like The Philippine Heart Center, Makati Medical Center and St. Luke’s. Included in its links are the websites of The American Eye Correction Center, The Prostrate Treatment Center of the Philippines and The Philippine National Red Cross, among others.

Healthy Options also has its own website. As you know the Healthy Options store, which has several branches in Metro Manila malls, is one of the best places to get natural health products. You can check it out online at www.healthyoptions.com.ph. Any true health buff would love their website as it is loaded with information that can be useful to readers and surfers, including the latest studies on dealing with certain illnesses, the natural way. Their information search topics also include a health library, products and press releases. The site also carries its own Healthy Option digest.

Next, www.tinajuanfitness.com is one of the most focused Philippine fitness websites around. Here, Tina Juan, a fitness instructor and columnist, shares with her readers not only her weekly articles but also tips for losing weight and working out which are really helpful. She has letters from readers which she answers by giving them the necessary information they might need. Last week, for instance, she had advice on housework versus working out at the gym. Her site also has useful links to other fitness sites (although not necessarily Filipino) like Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA), fitnesslink.com, a US site which promotes healthy lifestyles through education, and prevention.com, the online version of the US Prevention magazine.

You might also check out the www.getasia.com.ph, which has a sports and health section likely to be of use. It features a sport of the week, sports and health events in the Philippines and fitness venues ranging from sports, alternative health and organic/health food. It has a good listing of organic health food stores with information like addresses and phone numbers.

The Internet is indeed a good place to start your search for living a better lifestyle. Information to prod you onto wellness is indeed abundant, but unless the information you pick up from the sites becomes stuff you include in your daily life – the search remains just a search. So, do use the journey that begins, quite literally, with a click of your fingers, to focus on the goal of well-being and healthy living.