What is Good Health Nutrition?
Good day everyone! Good health nutrition, this is part 11 in our twenty-part series designed to help you better understand Serious Weight Loss For Women.
Part 1: Mind Body Wellness
Part 2: Secrets to Weight Loss Success
Part 3: High Intensity Interval Training 101
Part 4: Blazing Your Way to Fitness with HIIT
Part 5: Beating the Calories with Wise Dieting
Part 6: The Truth About Crash Diets
Part 7: Shave Off Pounds Without Even Trying
Part 8: Enjoy Healthy Eating…Every Day
Part 9: My Weight Loss Journey
Part 10: Lifestyle and Weight Management
Part 11: You are here – Good Health Nutrition
I hope this post finds you well. I’m very excited about all the progress that you have been making in your fitness or weight loss journeys. Do tell me about your personal successes in the comments below!
Today’s discussion will center on an important factor that has a huge impact on your overall fitness level and general wellness: good health nutrition or your diet.
What do we really mean when you use the word “diet?”
For our purposes, the term “diet” essentially refers to “a collection of food items that a person regularly eats.”
It’s the foods a person consumes on a routine basis – as opposed to once in a while. Each one of us has some sort of a diet – whether they know it or not. For example, someone who eats burgers and fries six days a week is on a diet. But as you might guess, it’s a terribly unhealthy diet. It’s not exactly the good health nutrition we’re looking for.
When you decide that you want to lose some weight – whether it is simply to slim down, tone up, or lose 50 pounds, the best place to start by taking a close look at your current food choices. Examining your diet will help you determine how many calories you typically consume on any given day.
When you earnestly assess your diet, you’ll quickly notice where you may be deficient. The dietary habits a lot of people follow could mean that they are not getting enough essential nutrients and fiber. It could also uncover a water shortage in one’s diet.
How do you know when you’re consuming a quality diet and getting good health nutrition?
The best kind of diet provides a balanced mix of macronutrients and micronutrients in adequate amounts. Below is a key point summary of the essential nutrients your body requires in order to function in a healthy way:
Macronutrients
1. Protein – Protein helps repair and build muscle tissues. We all need some protein and you can find it in a variety of foods including grains and greens. Fitness buffs who like to engage in both cardio and weight training may need extra protein in order to build lean muscle mass.
Bodybuilders – both male and female – tend to eat larger quantities of protein-rich food. This helps build muscle strength and girth while keeping fat stores to a minimum.
2. Carbohydrates – The body uses carbohydrates as its primary fuel by converting it into something it can readily use – glucose – a form of sugar that the body uses for energy. Our bodies also store glucose in the muscles, where it gets converted in glycogen.
If you eliminate carbohydrates entirely from your diet, you’ll probably find it much harder to lose weight. That’s due primarily to the body’s need for carbs as its fuel – or main source of energy.
3. Fat – Although we normally think of fat as the enemy – It actually serves the body in several key ways, including vitamin absorption, transport and storage.
Fat can also boost your thermoregulation, preventing excessive body heat from dissipating, particularly in the colder winter months. Fat can also serve as padding around the muscles – which can act somewhat like a shock absorber.
When we consume more calories than we burn off by being active, we accumulate more weight. These excess calories are stored in the body’s fat tissues.
But when you workout to lose weight, you’re not actually burning off those fat cells. Instead, what happens is those fat cells shrink in size as the extra fat is burned off through exercise, or other activities.
4. Water – If you’re not getting enough water – there’s an easy fix. Drink more of it. Keeping your body hydrated is actually quite easy. But you need to pay attention and routinely reach for a glass or bottle of water. Make sure it’s as pure as you can get. Whenever you find yourself thirsty, reach for water 99% of the time – and you’ll always be sufficiently hydrated.
If soda is your beverage of preference, it’s time to make a significant change. Your body will thank you. Start by cutting down your daily consumption of soda to 1 or 2 servings a day. Try flavored sparkling water instead. It’s available in a variety of flavors and has zero sugar, zero sodium and zero calories.
Drink water as much as you can. You’ll discover that you have more energy and you’ll lose some extra pounds when your body is no longer under the constant influence of the diuretics found in most sodas.
5. Dietary Fiber – Dietary fiber is vitally important to maintain good cardiovascular and digestive health.
Fiber helps block “bad cholesterol” from being absorbed by the body where it can damage arteries and obstruct the healthy flow of blood. Fiber is so important that you should get some of it into every meal.
Insoluble fiber is also beneficial to the body. Since this type of fiber can’t be digested by the body, it serves to keep the colon clear and healthy.
Micronutrients
1. Vitamins – The body uses vitamins for healthy everyday growth and development. Vitamins also improve various functions in the body including eyesight and skin health. Various Vitamin deficiencies can weaken the immune system and trigger adverse health conditions.
2. Minerals – Since the human body cannot naturally create minerals, we need to get them from other sources. Fortunately, for the most part – we can get these inorganic substances from the foods we eat. One exception is vitamin B12, which we should all take in supplement form.
It’s up to you to make sure you’re getting good health nutrition. This means ensuring an adequate quantity and variety of minerals from your diet. Minerals vital to our health include calcium, iron, potassium and zinc. Minerals naturally occur in vegetables and fruits and meats.
How can you be sure that you’re getting enough nutrients?
Losing weight should never be about starving yourself or sacrificing your nutrition. Effective and permanent weight loss is the result of modifying your diet and consuming an abundance of the planet’s healthiest foods like beans, legumes, greens, cruciferous vegetables, onions, mushrooms and garlic, fruits, as well as nuts and seeds.
Superfoods should be eaten in abundance. Healthy, life-sustaining greens like spinach and broccoli are so low in calories that it would be difficult to eat too much of them. Change your diet to alt least 85% healthy, whole foods and watch what happens. It’s typically those nutrient-deficient junk foods like candy bars and hamburgers that lead to excessive caloric consumption.
Be aware of everything that you consume (even when you’re just snacking). You’ll uncover those problem foods that are causing you to pack on the pounds. Eliminate those and you’ll be on your way to a better, slimmer version of you.
