Core of Fitness and Health - Nutrition

The old saying “garbage in – garbage out” is very true when we look at our nutritional intake and what our body does with it. I will keep this post pretty basic as I am a Physical Therapist, not a nutritionist, but we can't ignore the importance of nutrition and its affect on our core physical health and fitness.   A key to good nutrition is not the latest fad diet of the month, but being true to the good old food pyramid (www.mypyramid.gov/).

We should be getting five to nine servings a day of fruits and vegetables. If you double your fruit intake you can decrease your risk for some cancers by 50%. Look for whole grains not the processed enriched flour. Studies show men can reduce heart disease by 27% with eating a whole grain cereal over those eating non-whole grain or no breakfast. Also look at eating proper fats, actually the kind of fat you eat may be more important then the amount you eat. Try to eat monosaturated or polyunsaturated oils such as those found in olive oil, nuts and beans.  An interesting article shows improved mood with low fat diet as compared to low carbohydrate diet like some of the fancy fad diets.  Plus it shows no improvement in reduction of weight.  Also Yo-Yo Dieting has shown to usually fail due to stressing the body to much and the body resisting, just another reason to stick to the old fashion food pyramid diet and not all of those fancy fad diets that try to trick the body.  A simple rule is stick to living foods the closer to the vine the better (if it's been processed enough to sit on the shelf for months think what it is doing when it's in you?) just as Jesus taught us in John 15 the importance of not straying from the vine.

Keep a diary of what you eat; it may surprise you. Always think about: “Does what I am eating add value or take away value from my health?” Also in that diary keep track of how much you eat; this will probably suprise you as well.  One big change in our diets over the last fifty years is portion sizes. We SUPERSIZE too much! In 1955 a McDonald’s meal consisted of a 3 oz. hamburger, about 15 french fries and an 8 oz. pop.  We have become so accustom to these larger sizes, I don't think many of us would be happy if we ordered our meal and got this portion size today.