How important is a healthy diet? There are two phrases used in the fitness industry that describe just how important it is. The first is, “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.” You need to eat healthy to get the results you want. The second focuses on the importance of diet in your appearance. That phrase is, “A great body starts in the kitchen.” If you put junk into your body, you’ll end up with junk.
It’s not about dieting but making smarter choices when you eat.
When you diet, you have a strict list of foods you can eat and those you can’t. Diets often dictate the food at each meal. Eating healthy isn’t like that. It’s more about making smarter choices. If you’re hungry for a snack, it’s smarter to choose a handful of nuts or an apple, rather than a candy bar. Topping a baked potato with Greek yogurt is healthier and lower in calories than topping it with sour cream, so it’s a smarter move. Small changes like these make a big difference, but you’ll get the most benefit from making big changes, like cutting out food with added sugar and eliminating highly processed food.
It sometimes takes time to make changes.
Cutting out food with added sugar is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the best things you can do for your body. Sugar adds to the potential for a lot of serious conditions, which include high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. It’s really hard to give it up, since it’s highly addictive. The more you eat, the more sugar you want. It even alters your sense of taste so things don’t taste as sweet. That’s why once you give up food with added sugar, you’ll notice how truly sweet fruit tastes.
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet can also refer to calories.
It’s far easier to skip eating fries and a soft drink that exercising the extra hours to burn off the calories. Do you exercise longer or just skip the sugar laden soft drink and fries? The answer should be simple for most people, skip the soft drink and fries. Compare the number of calories to healthier options. The number of calories in just an order of large fries is the same as it is in 120 asparagus spears or 240 string beans. It would be tough to eat that much in one setting
- Healthy eating includes what you drink. Soft drinks with sugar contain about 100 calories and those that contain artificial sweeteners may be low in calories, but studies show they may increase belly fat.
- A healthy lifestyle should also include a good night’s sleep. Too little sleep increases the amount of hunger hormones and suppresses the hormones that make you feel full.
- A healthy diet includes adequate protein, which is the building block material for muscle tissue. It also should include healthy fat, since you need healthy fat to help burn body fat.
- No matter what your fitness goals, you need a healthy diet to achieve it. You need it to boost your energy when you exercise, help you lose weight and provide the materials to build strong muscles.
For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health and Fitness