Are you a very health-conscious person? Do you want to know how to lead a healthy lifestyle? Are you interested in a healthy diet and body-building exercises? If so, this article is for you.
In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of a healthy diet and a lot about nutrition and exercise. Before that, does our diet affect our quality of life? Can eating healthy food and doing exercise make a difference in our life? Kindly read on to find out.
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Why is it necessary to eat healthily and exercise? Why do people say “Health is Wealth”?
Nutrition is a prerequisite for good health. For a person’s body to stay healthy and perform its functions properly, it needs sufficient nutrients. We are not plants, which can synthesize sunlight and water and derive nutrients from them. We derive our energy and nutrition from the food that we eat.
Therefore our food must be healthy and packed with nutrients to keep us healthy lifelong. Eating good nutrition can help us maintain a good BMI, reduce the risk of incurring deadly diseases, and keep us healthy.
Eating junk food or processed food can lead to obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiac disorders, osteoporosis, and certain cancers.
Eating healthy foods has the following health benefits
1. It can help in weight loss
Certain foods (both fruits and vegetables) are low in calories but high in nutritional value. They are called metabolic foods. Eating them can reduce your fat and weight by a fair amount. Make sure to ear before or after a workout for effective results.
2. It reduces the risk of cancer
Research has shown that eating fiber, and vitamin-rich foods reduces the risk of incurring certain cancers like colorectal cancer and liver cancer. It is also advantageous to combine it with a good dose of diet and exercise.
3. It controls the symptoms of type 2 diabetes
Foods that are rich in soluble fiber control the production and absorption of glucose by our cells. Therefore, they manage the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Also, you can visibly see the benefits of eating healthy.
4. It prevents heart attacks and improves the health of your heart
Fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin E prevent fat accumulation in our hearts’ arteries and thereby prevent heart attacks. Fruits and vegetables also contain other vitamins that improve cardiovascular health.
Exercise benefits our bodies in the following ways
1. It makes us feel happier
Exercising makes our brains secrete more serotonin and norepinephrine hormones, which are known to reduce our stress and anxiety levels. Hence, we feel relieved and happier after doing exercise. It also strengthens our muscles along with the benefits of a healthy diet.
2. It can help in weight loss
When we eat food, we derive energy from them. This energy gets converted to calories in our bodies, converted to fat, and stored in our bodies. When we exercise, our bodies convert fat into calories and calories into energy to enable us to do exercises.
Thus we utilize or burn fat when we exercise. Naturally, if the fat content in our bodies reduces, we also lose weight with the benefits of healthy eating.
3. It strengthens our muscles
When we exercise, our brains release certain hormones that enable our muscles to absorb Amino acids from foods better. Amino acids repair wear and tear in our muscles and promote their growth. Thus we become stronger by exercising.
4. It gives us energy
Eating food also gives us energy, but if we don’t do enough work, the energy is converted to fat and effectively stored in our bodies. Exercising, on the contrary, burns our fat reserves to give us strength. Hence, it is a healthier way to derive energy.
5. It prevents diabetes mellitus
Research has shown that lack of exercise is one of the major causes of our cells developing insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes). Doing exercise enhances our insulin sensitivity and thereby prevents diabetes (type 2).
6. It will reduce oxidative stress
Moderate exercise will stimulate our brains to produce more antioxidants that will reduce our oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when our body does not have enough antioxidants to neutralize free radicals.
While heavy workouts damage our muscles, moderate exercises reduce our oxidative stress and strengthen our muscles.
7. It will improve our cognitive ability
Exercising increases the blood circulation to our brains and other parts of our bodies. It also stimulates the production of certain hormones that promote the growth of brain cells.
Hence, exercising improves cognitive abilities like logical reasoning, creative thinking, memory, etcetera. It dramatically improves the hippocampus part of our brain.
8. It can help us sleep better
When we exercise, we spend our energy. Research has shown that low energy levels help a person fall asleep quicker. Low energy levels also improve the quality of our sleep.
9. It relieves pain
It might sound contrary, but experiments conducted on a few people showed that specific exercises reduced the pain associated with certain chronic diseases like low back pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic soft tissue shoulder disorder.
10. It enhances libido
Exercising tones our muscles improves our blood circulation, improves our cardiovascular health, and ultimately enhances our sperms’ motility rate. Therefore we have enhanced libido and better sex life.
Do you think exercise & eating healthy is worth it? How many times a week should I workout?
How many times one should or can work out in a week largely depends on one’s body and muscles’ health. If one’s muscles are powerful and one is a seasoned exerciser, one can do heavy workouts every day.
If one is just a beginner in exercising, one should not exercise more than four times a week as doing so will cause oxidative stress and wear and tear in one’s muscles.
One should also limit oneself to doing only moderate workouts if one is a beginner in exercising, as doing heavy activities will cause more physical harm than good.
Generally, people have become very busy these days with official work. If you are one among them, you can do moderate exercises on your weekends. Exercising even once or twice a week will do you a world of good.
Also read: Do Meal Replacement Shakes work?
Does exercising and eating healthy foods actually help me perform better, or think better?
Our brain is a kind of muscle, just like all the other organs in our body. It needs sufficient nutrients to perform its routine functions and to think about solutions to problems.
By eating healthy foods, we are supplying our brain with enough nutrients to complete all its parts. Thereby our cognitive ability enhances.
By exercising, we enhance our muscles’ ability to absorb Amino Acids and Proteins from food better. Amino acids repair wear and tear in our muscles and promote their growth. Proteins also strengthen all the powers and organs in our bodies.
Thus, we make ourselves stronger by exercising. A healthy body and mind enable us to do many things and are the keys to success in any domain.
Research has found that even slight changes in one’s diet can adversely impact one’s cognitive ability, sexual drive (libido), sleeping habits, and quality of life (energy and concentration levels).
How do you know if you are overtraining? Is it better to workout in the morning or at night?
Whether you choose to workout at sunrise or during the evening depends on whether you’re an early bird or a night owl. Do exercise according to your body clock and whenever you’re comfortable.
Just make sure that you set a convenient time for exercise so that exercising becomes your daily routine. Although you can exercise whenever you find the time, exercising in the morning around sunrise is generally preferred because both the body and the mind are fresh during that time. There’s more oxygen in the air.
Oxygen strengthens one’s muscles along with performing so many other essential functions. If you choose to exercise at night or evening, there is a chance that you may get caught up with your work and forget to exercise altogether. So try to exercise during the early morning if possible.
I’m sure that most of you are not seasoned exercisers. Limit yourself to doing only moderate workouts, as doing heavy activities will damage your muscles a lot and cause oxidative stress.
What is more beneficial, exercising and eating junk or not exercising and eating healthy?
Exercising has advantages like burning fat, making one physically and mentally stronger, etcetera, but that doesn’t mean that it can bail you out from eating junk food.
Exercising burns only your body fat. It cannot expel most of the toxic chemicals in your body. There are many harmful chemicals present in junk food and processed food that cause major health issues. For example, many junk foods (like hot dogs and wraps) contain trans fat to increase shelf life.
These trans fats enhance LDL levels or bad cholesterol in our bodies and make us more prone to heart attacks. Some foods contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), which boosts fat-storing hormones and makes people overeat.
Some junk foods which use Baking Soda in their making also contain Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Benzoate. Both of them are carcinogens and even cause severe thyroid damage. So kindly avoid these kinds of junk foods as much as possible.
Some processed foods like bacon and hot dogs contain Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite, which cause colon cancer and type 2 diabetes. Always prefer fresh organic meats to these kinds of foods.
Some foods use artificial blue, green, red, and yellow coloring agents. Artificial coloring agents are known to cause thyroid, bladder, kidney, and brain cancers. If you must eat junk food, always choose those that have the least number of coloring agents.
Some dishes like Fried Rice, Ajinomoto, or Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG) are added as a flavor enhancer. Small quantities of MSG (like a quarter of a teaspoon per pan of Fried Rice) do enhance the taste of Fried Rice and other dishes, but in larger doses, they can alter the levels of all our hormones significantly.
That is not at all desirable. It can cause us to become moody, along with causing many other health disorders. So use Ajinomoto only sparingly.
To conclude, I would say that it is better to eat healthy food and not exercise than eat junk food and exercise as exercising cannot nullify all the ill effects of eating junk food.
Also Read: 10 healthiest Benefits of Green Tea
How can one deal with procrastination when it comes to exercise and eating a healthy diet? Are there any methods?
Procrastination happens when a person is not very committed to their goals or does not understand something’s importance.
Whenever you feel lazy to exercise, think of exercise’s mental and physical health benefits and personal health goals. Then you will feel motivated to do exercise.
Here are the steps to avoid procrastination for exercise
- Curtail sources of distractions like TV shows, movies, hanging out with friends, eating junk food, etcetera.
- Remind yourself of why you wanted to exercise in the first place and your fitness goals.
- Set yourself a deadline to achieve your fitness goals. That way, you’ll be more serious about your workouts and work harder to achieve your fitness goals.
- If possible, exercise in the morning as you are fresh during that time and more oxygen.
- Eat healthy foods to support your exercises. Doing a heavy workout after eating junk food can cause a cardiac arrest (as there is severe pressure on your heart).
What are the benefits of eating healthy & exercise? 5 Actionable Steps.
You can stay lean and healthy by performing these simple exercises every day. They are:
1. Walk-Out Push-Up
This exercise will power all the muscles in your body and improve your blood circulation.
Start by standing on your feet with your feet about hip-width distance apart. Slowly bend forward and touch your hands to the floor.
When your hands touch the base, slowly move your feet backward until your spine is at an angle of 30 degrees from the ground.
Perform at least ten pushups and then move your hands back towards your tighs and slowly get up to return to the standing position.
2. Perform standard squats
Squats elongate the hip muscles. To perform a squat, you need to stretch your arms forward and make your palms face each other.
Then you need to push your knees forward slightly and lower your thighs until they are at an angle of 90 degrees from the ground.
Then you need to slowly raise your thighs until you return to the standing position. Perform at least ten squats a day to elongate your hip muscles.
3. Jumping Jacks
Due to the modern sedentary lifestyle, the nerves in our feet have become highly numb and inactive. Jumping up and down many times a day activates those nerves, improves their sensitivity, and enhances blood circulation to our feet.
This is the most straightforward exercise of all and requires no explanation. Try jumping at least 30 times a day to derive tangible results.
4. Hip Bridge
This exercise powers the muscles in your back and legs and makes them more flexible. To begin this exercise, lie down on the floor upright, with your hands beside your hips and your palms facing downwards (towards the bottom). Keep your legs together and fold them at an angle of 45 degrees.
Then raise your hips so that they are at an angle of 180 degrees (straight line) to your knees and shoulders. Then lower your hips again until they lay on the ground.
Kindly note that there should be no change in the position of your legs while doing this exercise. There should always be an angle of 45 degrees between your legs and thighs.
You must breathe in deeply while raising your hips and breathe out profoundly while lowering them to the ground. This is also a pretty simple exercise, and you must do the sequence at least 20 times a day to get tangible results.
5. Plank
This exercise is excellent for your arms, buttocks, and back. To begin this exercise, lie flat on the ground with your face facing the floor.
Keep your arms folded beside your hips. Using only your shoulder arms, lift your entire body above the ground.
Lift your feet in such slowly in such a way that there are an angle of 180 degrees (straight line) between your shoulders, buttocks, and feet.
Then turn only your buttocks towards your left and right. Repeat this sequence for at least 5 minutes to get tangible results.
Is it OK to workout on an empty stomach? Is it better to exercise first or eat first?
Your body always likes to have some fat reserves. If you work out on an empty stomach, you burn more calories than when you exercise on a full stomach. Therefore, the next time you eat food, your body will absorb more fat from it than it would normally.
Therefore, it’s better to exercise a few hours after a meal when your body has enough fat reserves.
If you like exercising on an empty stomach and want to stay slim, follow a diet with less amount of fat in it so that your body does not absorb too much fat and gets back to standard size.
Also Read: Do You Know What Causes Boils? Find Out How To Get Rid Of A Boil Fast
These are the 5 healthy eating rules from Dietitians. According to Internet Research & Interviews.
Follow these diet tips given by expert nutritionists and lead a healthy lifestyle.
1. Eat junk food no more than once a week
Junk foods contain minimal nutrients, are rich in fat content, and contain many harmful chemicals. One should eat as little junk food as possible. Once a week is the maximum frequency allowed for junk food. Consuming more than that will harm one’s health in many ways.
2. Drink no more than one soft drink a day
Coke, Pepsi, Miranda, Mountain Dew, etcetera contain artificial coloring agents and artificial flavoring agents. They also have a drug called Caffeine.
These substances cause type 2 diabetes, various types of cancers, among other health hazards. So drink no more than two glasses of soft drinks a week.
3. Eat no more than one pizza a week
Any type of pizza is usually rich in cheese which causes obesity. Unless you exercise regularly, you will end up with a potbelly. Veg pizzas are better than pizzas that contain fatty meats.
If your pizza is made from whole grains, it will contain many more nutrients than regular pizzas. The tomato sauce given with pizzas is also nutritious as it has a lot of phytochemicals from tomatoes. So please choose the right one when it comes to tomatoes.
4. Eat vegetables, fruits, and grains that are rich in nutrients
Some vegetables, fruits, and grains contain many vitamins, proteins, and fiber that are good for your health in many ways.
Eat as much to stay disease-free and fit throughout your life. They contain a lot of nutrients and have no harmful side effects.
5. Have wine only on weekends
Wine contains a lot of fructose which will get converted to fat and stored in your body. If you don’t exercise regularly and burn those calories, you could end up with a beer belly. So if you don’t exercise regularly, have wine only on weekends. This will prevent obesity.
What do People Think About Benefits of Eating Healthy? According to Internet Research and People’s Opinion.
Take a look at these screenshots to know more about what people think about the benefits of eating healthy.
Conclusion
Health is wealth. We work so hard only to stay healthy and enjoy life. Unhealthy eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle only diminish our health and lifespan.
So eat healthily and exercise regularly to stay slim, fit, and disease-free throughout your life. You don’t want anyone commenting on your body or your lifestyle, do you?
People also ask
1. Can I have dairy products if I am lactose intolerant?
Lactose intolerant people should not have more than 12 grams (one teaspoon) of dairy products a week.
2. What is the best meal to have before a workout?
Foods rich in fiber and carbs like brown rice are ideal to have before a workout. They give you the energy needed to do exercises, and the fiber in them repairs wear and tear in muscles after a heavy workout.
3. Which vegetarian food items contain the most protein?
Vegetarian foods like tofu, beans, lentils, eggs, greek yogurt, edamame, nutritional yeast, quinoa, and nuts contain the maximum amount of protein.
4. What are the seven main nutrients found in food?
The seven primary nutrients found in food are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water.
