Is Nutrition Important For Fitness?

Probably you know the answer to this question but if you want to ask the same, then it’s important to know that without having nutritious food you can’t achieve your goals working hard for hours and hours in the gym.

There is a misconception that when you work hard to stay fit exercising in the gym, it doesn’t matter what you eat. We feel as we are doing regular workouts; so, nothing will happen if you eat that pizza and french fries. But the truth is a combination of good nutrition and daily exercises can give you amazing results you dream of. Moreover, it is fact that poor diet can lead to sickness and diseases, isn’t it?

Before we check how important is nutrition for fitness, let’s check what nutritious food can do for the body.

Is Nutrition Important For Fitness

Benefits of Nutrition for The Body

Nutrition can be defined as the result you get when you eat a well-balanced diet. A food pyramid guides us on what to eat in how much quantities. It consists of 6 sections which are cereals or grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, oil, meat and beans. By eating all these foods as per requirement which is RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), you can keep yourself healthy.

From a well-balanced diet, you can get all the nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, etc. in required amounts. When you have all these nutrients in sufficient quantities, you don’t get deficiencies and you don’t fall sick; you can prevent many diseases.

Benefits of Exercising

The word, fitness first reminds us of exercising, isn’t it? If you don’t move your joints and don’t stretch your body parts, you become weak easily. Exercising everyday can give you flexibility, strength, stamina and can protect you from many diseases.

Exercising regularly can prevent many health problems like diabetes, heart problems, weight gain, mental illness like depression, etc.

There is a misconception regarding exercising as well. People think that only overweight or obese people should exercise in order to lose weight. Those who are lean and normal don’t need to exercise which is totally wrong. Each and every person should workout in order to stay healthy and fit.

Will Nutrition and Exercise Work Together?

The answer is yes; in fact, both should be combined to get best results.

When you eat balanced and nutritious food, you get energy and required nutrients. This energy should be spent and all the nutrients should get absorbed into your body properly. When you exercise your muscles get stronger and flexible. It also helps in proper absorption of all the nutrients and prevents wastage of nutrients.

  • Many say that one should take less carbohydrates but that is wrong. One should take carbohydrates in sufficient quantities. Carbohydrate is essential for brain to function; however excess carbohydrates gets stored in the body in the form of fat and so it should not be taken in excess. It is also important to take carbohydrates from right sources like cereals. Suppose you drink a can of soda; it is equivalent to three slices of bread. Carbohydrate from bread will break down and will be utilized by the body but carbohydrate from soda will only get stored in the form of fat. So, it is very important to consider source of the nutrient.
  • When you workout your muscles are at work and so proteins or amino acids are very essential. Proteins break down very easily when compared to any other nutrient. So, taking proteins is required quantities from right source is very important.
  • We say fat is bad but it is actually required. Check how much of fat your body needs and take it from appropriate source. Consider monounsaturated fats and avoid saturated fats. Monounsaturated fats can protect your body parts; but saturated fats can be life threatening.
  • Your bones can become brittle and decay if you have calcium deficiency. While working out your bones also are under pressure and so taking utmost care of your bones by providing calcium rich diet is important.
  • The same way vitamins and minerals are also important for your body for protection against diseases. They make sure that all the body functions go properly.

Fiber and antioxidants are very essential because they fight against free radicals and help in the removal of toxins in the body.

If you do not take all these nutrients in required quantities and if you run out of deficiencies then is it possible to stay fit by just exercising? So, eat healthily, exercise daily and stay fit.