Why is eating healthy an important part of achieving peak fitness?
Here at Embody Fitness, we use the latest exercise techniques to help our clients achieve optimum fitness and improved mental and physical health. However, it’s no use working your hardest in your gym sessions if you don’t support your body by providing it with the fuel it needs. While most people recognise that diet is a key part of weight loss, many don’t realize that eating healthy is an important part of fitness, too. While cardio and strength training go a long way towards helping you get fitter and stronger, you can’t truly create the body you want without eating a balanced diet and hydrating properly.
Unfortunately, the idea that you can counteract a bad diet by spending hours and hours in the gym is simply not true. No amount of exercise can undo the harm that fast foods and additive-filled products can do to your body and mind. Whether you want to build muscle, prepare for a race, become faster, recover quicker, or improve your endurance, maintaining a healthy diet is just as important as your exercise programme. However, when we say ‘healthy diet’, we don’t just mean eating nothing but salad. While fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and healthy fats are also an essential part of a balanced diet.
In this blog, we will explore why nutrition and exercise work hand-in-hand, and how a healthy diet can help you take your recovery, results, and overall fitness to the next level.
You can’t perform at your best if you’re feeling weak and hungry, or heavy and sluggish from eating too much processed food. To function at an optimal level, and maintain the energy you need to become stronger and faster, you need to eat balanced regular meals that incorporate proteins, fats, and complex carbs. At Embody, our popular meal plans are all created by qualified nutritionists and customized to suit each client. Spanning tasty homemade recipes that are all macro-calculated to suit you, they ensure you are eating exactly the right amount for your body and goals.
Muscle growth occurs when muscle fibers break down during exercise, and then rebuild during recovery. Eating an adequate amount of protein enhances and speeds up this process of muscle repair. This helps you achieve noticeable results more quickly, and stay motivated to keep working out.
It’s impossible to improve your endurance if your body is running on an empty tank. To ensure you don’t start flagging part way through your match, race, or session, fuel up on a healthy snack or a meal filled with whole grains and carbs a few hours beforehand. Most experts recommend eating a healthy meal one to four hours before working out, and refuelling with a post-workout meal no more than an hour after exercise.
Exercising regularly naturally increases your risk of injury. But, following a balanced diet and keeping your body healthy and strong reduces your likelihood of developing chronic physical injuries.
Consuming vitamins and mineral-dense foods like fresh vegetables and fruits improves your immune system, the body’s defense against disease. Avoiding illness means you don’t have to miss any vital workouts, and that you suffer no setbacks during your exercise journey.
While exercise is a great way of boosting your mood and easing anxiety, following a balanced diet is also effective at easing stress and depression. Consuming healthy foods provides you with the clarity, concentration, and motivation you need to stay on track, complete all your workouts, and work your hardest during every minute you spend in the gym.
For more detailed guidance about how to support your workouts with proper nutrition, please visit our Meal Plans page.
