We frequently talk about influencing how people make snacking decisions by installing nutritional vending machines as an alternative to their unhealthier cousins. There is a purpose for that. Indeed, it is not just a marketing tool for getting our vending machines into gyms and leisure centres. We talk about influencing snacking decisions because of what we know about fitness nutrition.
Fitness nutrition is essentially that link between diet and exercise. How many times have you heard experts say that in order to both lose weight and keep it off, you have to engage in regular exercise and consume a healthy diet? We hear it all the time. But far too often, people see diet and exercise as separate entities that are not linked in any way other than as strategies to lose weight.
Not only are they linked, that link is intrinsic to overall good health. Both exercise and a healthy diet are key factors to maintaining good health from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet.
The Diet Component
The word 'diet' has several different meanings. Sometimes the word is used to describe the entire collection of what a person eats. As an example, a healthy diet would include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. The word is used at other times to describe temporarily changing one's eating habits for the purposes of losing weight. Think of the keto diet as an example.
Fitness nutrition plays into diet inasmuch as it seeks to permanently change a person's eating habits. Not only does it seek to cut out high-calorie, high-sugar foods for the purposes of losing weight, but it also seeks to replace all of those unhealthy foods with healthier alternatives over the long term.
The Exercise Component
Medical science has proven that exercise does help to control weight. But it will not lead to drastic weight loss all by itself. That's why eating habits have to change if a person really wants to lose weight. Having said all that, the body does require regular exercise in order to maintain fitness. That's why doctors are constantly telling us to get out and exercise at least 10 to 15 minutes every day.
What does this have to do with fitness nutrition? Well, eating the right kinds of foods allows the body to realise the maximum benefits of exercise. Remember that your body requires fuel to do anything. It requires more fuel when you're exercising. Fitness nutrition provides that fuel with healthy foods that make exercise more productive.
Have you worked out the link yet? If not, here it is: fitness nutrition links diet and exercise by providing healthy foods that facilitate weight loss and maximise the benefits of exercise. No diet and exercise programme will achieve peak productivity if a person is not changing his or her eating habits. The foundation of fitness nutrition is to do just that. It is to help people achieve better health by changing what they eat.
