Many people generally start down the road of living a healthy lifestyle
by starting an exercise program. This is great and will lead to some
quick results, but eventually you will begin to plateau and realize that
exercise is not the holy grail of healthy living.
In comes diet. At this point, you may be consistently exercising but want to see even
more
results. Diet is also not the holy grail of healthy living, but when
used in conjunction with exercise, diet can continue to spur on dramatic
change for your mind and body.
Great, so now you realize that diet
and exercise both play
crucial roles in your overall fitness. But what comes next, and what do
you eat, and when? This is the part of the game that many people begin
to lose track of their goals because they either find things too
confusing or too complicated when in fact, living a healthy lifestyle
should be neither.
I will be the first to admit that I hate counting numbers. I feel as
that if I become too attached to counting grams of this and grams of
that, not to mention the number of calories I consume, then I will be
too controlled by it...and besides, that system does not seem
sustainable to me.
Instead, I learn as much about diet and exercise as I can, so that I try
and eat good things at correct times rather than trying to worry about
how much to eat. We all could take a page or two out of the training
manuals of serious athletes. Athletes are extremely regimented beings,
they eat at specific times and specific amounts. Unless you are training
for the Olympics or the upcoming NHL season, you don't necessarily need
to be
as regimented on quantity (as long as you are keeping things reasonable) but instead, worry about
what you are eating depending on what you are doing for that day. Let me give you an example.
Necessity Eating - The human body is essentially one big ball of
fuel (and a motor - your muscles) wrapped in skin. The average human
being stores enough body fat on them to last them days without food. We
picked up this genetic trait from our ancestors who may have gone days
without eating because they didn't have a McDonalds to go to, they
actually had to
hunt their food. The problem is, fat is a
slow-burning fuel. Think of it like a diesel fuel. Your body can burn it
very efficiently and uses this fuel for majority of the day, but when
it comes to intense exercise, most people can't (and shouldn't) go at a
high pace for more than an hour or two tops!
The reason for the limited time of intense energy expenditure is because
as your pace picks up, your body begins to transition to another form
of fuel; glycogen. Glycogen is the jet fuel for our muscles. This is
when your body ingests carbohydrates (bread, pasta, Snickers) and
packages it into glycogen and stores it in your muscles (mostly) and
liver. So, you could go wandering around the mall all day and almost
never touch any of your glycogen stores, but as soon as you start
intense exercise, your body begins using it more rapidly. One of the
main reasons for extreme fatigue towards the end of your workout is the
almost-empty glycogen stores in your body. You will inherently never let
your stores drop to zero, but as you get lower on the fuel gauge, you
begin to slow down.
So, why is this important? You may have heard of carb-loading. Athletes
like to have carbohydrate-rich diets before athletic events to load up
their glycogen stores so they have plenty of energy when they need it
during their event. That is great because the high-energy expenditure
during a sporting event burns all of those carbohydrates off in no time!
Having said all of that, non-athlete humans like to sit down and enjoy a
big pasta dinner full of fatty cheese and sugary sauces as well. That
is fine, if you are ready to go out and exercise when you are done
eating, but most people don't do that, they finish their "carb-loading"
and go watch tv, or read a book, or even going for a light walk is
troublesome.
Your body wants to burn these carb calories off right away, that is why
you get an insulin spike after a carb-rich meal. When you begin to
realize that those carbs aren't going to be burned off any time soon,
your brain says, "Alright, pack it in, lets store these carbs for
another time" and boom, straight into your fat cells.
My point here is, if you know you are having a relaxing night watching a
movie or some tv after a long day, fine, have a dinner that is low in
carbs such as some fish and veggies. Wait, I thought veggies were carbs?
Yes, veggies
are carbs, but they are also mainly water and vital
nutrients your body needs. Your body still burns carbs at a slow rate
here and there during quick bouts of energy (climbing the stairs,
picking up your child, etc.) but if you are not sustaining your energy
expenditure, you are far better off eating nutrient-rich carbs like
fruits and vegetables rather than breads and pastas.
Breads, pastas, and sugary treats have their place in our diet. The goal
here is to plan your diet accordingly based on your energy needs for
that day. You're going out for a run? Sure, grab a Snickers bar
beforehand, it will give you that extra boost you need. Sitting down to
watch the football game? Stick to your vegetables.
Quote of the day:
"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
~ Benjamin Franklin
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