Hello everyone. Today’s article is a guest post from Tom Corson-Knowles who writes regularly on the topic of health and fitness at his blog.
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There seem to be two major groups of health interested folks – those who are into fitness and those who are into nutrition. Of course, this is just a simplification because there are so many other kinds of people interested in different areas of health from emotions to spirituality to mind-body wellness and stress.
But the vast majority are either primarily interested in fitness or primarily interested in nutrition.
You know the nutrition folks – they’re more interested by shaving off a few calories from their meal than they are in exercising. They’ll drive across town to shop at whole foods but will often just take the escalator instead of the stairs. They’ll say things like, “I just ate a salad, I don’t need to go work out!”
Then there are the fitness folks. Quite the opposite! They’ll run 10 miles a day just because they can but when it comes to nutrition often times they just don’t pay much attention. They’ll say things like, “I just worked out! I can afford a nice treat,” and so they go buy ice cream or some kind of other sugary treat.
I believe that both nutrition AND fitness are important. In fact, they go hand in hand!
So here are some tips for you to become more balanced and healthy overall.
Tips For Nutrition Focused People
If you’re nutrition focused, chances are you could probably stand to work out some more. Doing at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise 3 times a week and at least 1 session of strength and flexibility training a week will do amazing things for your health, your energy levels and your physique.
The great thing about it is that if you’re already into nutrition, when you start to exercise more, you’ll get results faster, with less soreness and fatigue because your body already has the nutrition it needs to repair itself faster after exercise and build stronger muscles.
Tips For Fitness Focussed People
If you’re more focused on fitness, then you probably should be eating healthier. Do you find yourself so hungry that you just chow down on ice cream, burgers and unhealthy foods on a regular basis? Do you finish all your friends’ french fries and leftovers when you go out to eat?
Being so fit is awesome. You should be proud of yourself! However, you should also be more aware of your health and your nutrition. Although most fitness people think that working out helps protect their body, the truth is that working out can actually harm you if you’re not protected!
What do I mean?
When you exercise more, you burn more fuel for energy. This increase in your metabolism increases the rate at which your body produces free radicals. Free radicals are basically unstable molecules that damage your body and lead to aging and degeneration. In fact, scientists call the extra free radical damage from exercise, “Exercise-induced oxidative stress.” It’s basically just a big fancy word for cellular damage from exercise.
The good news is that you can protect yourself from this exercise side effect by eating healthier! Antioxidants from fruits, vegetables and berries are especially powerful in helping fight oxidative stress and protect your body from damage.
So if you’re a fitness focused person, that’s great! Keep it up. Just try to consciously add more fresh fruits, vegetables and berries into your diet every day. This well help protect you from oxidative stress and keep your body in good shape so you can continue your fit lifestyle.
Balance
You guessed it! It’s all about balance. Know what your strengths are when it comes to your health and focus on improving your weaknesses.
An old says goes, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” Find out what your weak links are in your health and focus on improving those. Yes, it may be tough at first – but it will provide the greatest health benefits for you in the long run.
Here’s to your health!
About the Author:
Tom Corson-Knowles is the founder of the Authentic Health Coaching podcast show and writes regularly on nutrition tips for weight loss.