Why Nutrition is More Important than Exercise to Get and Stay Fit

If you’ve ever joined a gym or an exercise class, you know that the main advice for staying fit is to eat healthy and exercise regularly. But what does that mean? How much exercise do we need? And how much healthy food? 

The truth is, in either case, it’s more about nutrition than exercise. The importance of diet over exercise is proven by science. For example, many people are very active but also lead unhealthy lives. As a result, they struggle with obesity and other problems caused by their lack of attention to eating right. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Diet has a significant role in how your body functions and even how your genes react to stressors both inside and outside of your body. This article will detail why nutrition is more important than exercise to get and stay fit. 

Read on to learn why nutrition is more important than exercise, and more importantly how to get and stay fit.

Why Diet is More Important than Exercise

Exercise is important to maintain or increase muscle strength and flexibility, but diet is more important because it’s what fuels your exercise or at least helps you maintain a trim figure if you’re not into exercising. If you exercise and don’t eat properly, you may lose weight, but your body will either burn muscle or fat or both, leaving you weak and at risk for injury. Or if you’re like many workout fanatics, you may work out and burn a lot of energy, but then completely undo all your hard work by demolishing it with junk food high in simple carbohydrates and sugar. 

If you don’t have the nutrition you need, your body will have to use energy from your muscles, leaving them weak and at risk for injury. And you may end up putting on more weight than if you hadn’t worked out because your metabolism is higher and you feel a strong desire to consume more food than before. The question is, what kind of food are you eating, and is it a healthy substitute for the not-so-healthy foods you may have been eating?

Eating the right foods can provide the energy you need to fuel your workouts and also help speed up recovery. And eating healthy doesn’t have to be restrictive if you’re counting calories. If you simply shift your mindset to one of abundance rather than scarcity, you can eat all of the healthy vegetables, lean protein and favorite fruits for meals and snacks throughout the day that will have you feeling full, healthy and happy. 

Additionally, healthy eating helps prevent injuries from both over-exercising and under-exercising, which is crucial for adopting lifestyle changes on your journey to optimal health and fitness.

Good Nutrition Makes You Feel Good

If you are eating a high-quality diet, you will likely find yourself feeling better physically than you might if you were eating poorly. Eating healthy foods like leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, lentils, poultry and oranges can help prevent or manage conditions like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis. 

A healthy diet of broccoli, carrots, beans, berries, and nuts (just to name a few) can also help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, such as breast and colon cancer. Eating a balanced diet also ensures that you are getting the necessary vitamins and nutrients that are critical to optimal health and function. Some of the most important nutrients include proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

You can generally get all of the required nutrients your body needs by purchasing the foods found along the grocery walls of your favorite supermarket. The key is to buy unprocessed foods that are found in their natural state, like fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins. 

And best of all, when you begin losing excess weight, you obtain another added benefit of feeling stronger and lighter on your feet, because you are no longer carrying extra weight on your frame. And your clothes will fit better, so you won’t feel like you are stuffing yourself into constricting attire.

Nutrition Helps You Look and Feel Fit and Strong

The benefits of a healthy diet go far beyond just preventing diseases. Eating nutritious foods can help you stay fit and strong. Eating a balanced diet can provide the energy and strength you need for daily activities. A healthy diet can also help you manage your weight and prevent weight-related conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. 

When you eat a healthy diet, you are also more likely to avoid conditions like acid reflux, ulcers, constipation, and diverticulitis. A healthy diet may even help you improve your mood, sleep better, and improve your cognitive function.

Proper Nutrition Helps You Lose Weight

If you want to lose weight, you don’t want to eat unhealthily, but you do want to pay special attention to what you eat. This requires mindfulness about what foods you bring into your kitchen, what you’re craving, what you reach for, pick up, put into your mouth, chew then swallow. There’s a lot of steps in this process that you need to be mindful of so that you can catch yourself before succumbing to unhealthy temptations. 

You want to make sure you are eating the right kinds of foods so that your body burns fat instead of muscle, while also eating enough so that your body has the energy it needs to function. You don’t want to go hungry, but you need to be strategic about what and how much you eat. 

There are many different diets and eating regimens that are touted as the best way to lose weight. Some of them are good, and some are bad. Many find success in using a calorie counter app, like the user-friendly MyFitnessPal (free on apple or android), which not only allows you to simply track the food and calories you consume, but also tailors your consumption targets spread across meals and snack to provide you with an aim point to achieve your goal of shedding fat each week.

There are many unhelpful myths about weight loss that can lead people to do more harm than good. It’s important to know what is true and what is false when it comes to weight loss so that you can eat healthy, exercise regularly, and reach your goals. The rule of thumb here is that abundance mindset we talked about at the beginning, eating more and plenty of healthy low-sugar, low-carb foods rather than the scarcity mindset of reducing all the foods you are accustomed to eating that led to your current predicament. 

Finding healthy substitutes for junk food and drinking lots of water is key. This often overlooked aspect of eating lots of veggies and drinking more water flushes your system of stored sugars and salt and keeps you feeling full, helping to drop the pounds.

Conclusion

Nutrition is more important than exercise because it provides the fuel for optimal health, fitness, and energy. Eating healthy foods will help you feel better both physically and mentally, reduce your risk for disease, and stay fit and strong. Of course, it’s also important to exercise regularly to get the most out of your diet and keep your weight in check. And the best part is that when you take care of your diet, you are also taking care of your exercise routine. 

It’s important to remember that both diet and exercise are important, but nutrition is more important because it fuels your exercise and is what makes you feel and look good. If you eat well and exercise regularly, you will become both healthier and more fit. But patience and discipline are key. If you apply these two virtues to your health and fitness journey, you are more likely to experience lasting lifestyle changes that will yield exponential benefits. Now, what’s holding you back from starting?

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