Simple Recipe For Fitness Success

From my observations, I find that when someone wants a change in their physical image and starts exercising, they focus on that change from the outside and overlook the change that needs to occur from the inside of the body. Most people tend to focus on training their bodies while neglecting their diet by overeating foods without any nutritional value. Other times, people turn to drastic measures by cutting calories to lose the weight without realizing that they may look good on the outside but inside their bodily processes are slowing because the body is not receiving quality nutrients to repair itself.  

In a recent article published by Tribune Media, Olympian and Orthopedic Surgeon, Eric Heiden, explains the link between diet and true physical fitness.

"Exercise changes virtually every tissue in the body via many different pathways -- metabolic, hormonal, neurological and mechanical—says Jennifer Sacheck, a nutritional biochemist and exercise physiologist at the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Prevention at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. To supply these changes, athletes need to consume specific nutrients. Junk food supplies little or nothing; the right food choices, says Sacheck, allow your body to make the most of the time and effort you're dedicating to exercise and help you achieve your fitness goals faster."

Read more here!

Heiden states, "even the most robust exercise program won't grant you true fitness if you don't take control of your diet," to which I fully agree. It is a simple fact that we often forget the harder we train. The more obsessed we are with exercising, we tend to believe that we can just "burn it off later." This is the reason why we see minimal results!

Now, I am definitely not a supporter of the "popular" diets in the media today. There is one "diet" that I believe in and will be discussed in a later post. I believe that one needs to consume foods from every food groups to get a complete set of nutrients needed by the body that one food group cannot provide. Not only that, these "miracle diets" often take extreme measures that the body cannot handle for a long period of time and thus results in the "yo-yo" effect. A successful diet cannot and will not happen overnight or in a few days, it's a lifestyle change! The key is to find what works for your body and for your lifestyle in the long run. We want to live a long and happy life so we must provide our bodies with the right fuel to keep up with us!