Nutrixercise

Nutrition + Exercise = Nutrixercise

An all too often question people ask when trying to lose weight or get into shape is, “Can I achieve my goals by either exercising or dieting, not both?” While you’ll certainly see results by improving your diet or increasing your physical activity level, these improvements will only be a small taste of what you can get by incorporating both into a healthy lifestyle. Nutrixercise is an important concept to understand because nutrition and exercise should always be paired together to achieve the best results.

While nutrition and exercise are different, they are very much related. A goal to get into shape or eat healthily is only looking at part of the overall picture. You have to ask yourself, why do you want to gain muscle, lose weight or get into shape? There are probably a few answers to those questions: look good, feel great, be happy with your body, but the most important answer should be to get and maintain a healthy body.

Health

Health has different meanings to different people. At the basic level, it means living your life happily and free from preventable diseases and conditions that can cut it short. These days there are drugs for virtually every sickness. Is your blood pressure too high? Take a pill. Is your blood sugar too high? Take a pill. Do you have cancer? Take a pill. As a society, we are much more interested in curing disease rather than preventing it.

Research shows that there are plenty of ways to prevent certain diseases. Proper nutrition and enough exercise are key to staying away from some cancers, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. These three diseases affect a growing number of Americans and in most cases, could’ve been prevented by taking a few easy steps.

Foods

Eating the right foods is extremely important to your overall health. You wouldn’t put bad gas into your car because it could cause thousands of dollars of damage. Why then, would anyone put bad food into their body? Bad food can cause tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills as well as a decreased life span and less productive life. This isn’t meant to scare you but to make you aware of what happens when you don’t practice good nutrition.

Calories

Eating the right amount of food and the right types of food make up proper nutrition. These two principles will help you avoid weight gain which will also help you avoid obesity and give your body the nutrients it needs to function properly. Why is it important to eat the right amount of food? Because excessive weight gain has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, strokes and type 2 diabetes. Eating the right kinds of foods can also help shield you from these same diseases and can even prevent certain types of cancer.

Exercise

Can someone lead a sedentary lifestyle as long as they have a perfect diet? No. Proper nutrition yields huge benefits, but it only goes so far. You can further decrease the risk of disease with increased physical activity. Exercising has also been shown to reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes while increasing your quality of life.

A lot of people are reluctant to start exercising because they have no idea how. They’re intimidated to join a gym and can’t stand the thought of running 5 miles per day. Exercising and being in shape doesn’t mean running Olympic races nor does it mean going to a gym and using those heavy weights. Exercise means being active with whatever activity you enjoy. Do you like swimming, playing a sport, being active in your garden, lifting weights or rowing? As long as it gets you moving for an extended period of time, it will be beneficial to your health.