apples
I often hear people in the gym wondering why they’re not seeing any results. You may be thinking – I just need to work a bit harder… You’re exercise routine may be absolutely perfect yet something is stopping you from getting the results you deserve – nutrition.
When it comes to the diet – the first thing that comes to mind is calories in vs. calories out – we’ve all heard this at some stage or another. You must burn more calories than you consume to lose weight. While this statement definitely has its scientific merit, it is the types of food we choose that really make the difference.
Let us examine a popular “healthy” cereal (brand will remain unnamed). The ingredients are listed on the back as: wheat, rice, sugar, dried fruit (sultanas, paw paw, apple), wheat flour, skim milk powder, vegetable oil (palm oil), honey, yoghurt coated currants (2%)(currants, sugar, palm kernel oil, milk solids, skim milk yoghurt powder, food acid [270], emulsifier [soy lecithin], flour, tapioca starch), almonds (2%), wheatgerm, molasses, coconut (1%), salt, barley malt extract, minerals (iron, zinc oxide), vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, vitamin C), preservative (220).
While this example is modest (it is advertised as a health food after all!), consider foods with even more flavours, colours, preservatives, stabilizers & refined flours or powders listed in the ingredients. Over time, these things place an enormous amount of stress on the digestive system. When your body is under digestive stress, many of the normal processes that are used to repair muscle tissue, free fatty acids and convert carbohydrate to energy become inhibited.
eggs
Factor in a tough exercise regime and you have a body that is chronically under stress. Your nervous system becomes sympathetic dominant (fight or flight mode) leaving you feeling tired, anxious, overworked & stressed. You continue to do this until your body tells you to stop and forces you to slow down (illness/disease/injury). In this state you are also more likely to be tempted toward comfort foods.
To provide an environment where you get the most of your training – you must eat fresh, healthy foods. If you are still feeling the need to eat “dead” calories – then it may be helpful to start optimizing your workout first to encourage a healthy eating regime. More about this in articles to come.
If you are interested in planning a diet for yourself, take the following steps to ensure a healthy nutritional plan to support your exercise program:
- Choose fresh foods over packaged foods. For example, at breakfast –choose a piece of fruit instead of cereal, make an omelette or have some yoghurt.
- Don’t over-eat. Overeating will cause a number of issues with digestion and blood-sugar levels: making you feel even more tired and fatigued.
- Eat slowly. This goes hand-in-hand with point 2. When you eat slowly you give your body some time to digest the food you’ve just eaten, hence you can monitor your satiety better.
- Spread your eating times throughout the day if you can. The easiest way to do this would be to make one big meal (e.g. chicken & salad) take it to work and periodically go and eat a little bit at a time.
Obtaining a healthy body is all about balance. If we begin supporting one system (nutrition) we can begin to appreciate the results of another (exercise).
Stay tuned as we will soon be introducing our Dietmaster nutrition program to Spirit. We will be able to sit down with you, discuss your goals and provide you with a specific 7-day meal plan and guidelines in a one hour consultation
Tags: calories, diet, food, Nutrition, sympathetic nervous system