You can work your butt off for months on end and have to squint to see the slightest changes, but then if you decide to take two days off from working out and deviate a little from your nutrition, you blow up like a balloon. What the heck, man?! Much of this frustrating scenario all comes down to that dreaded four letter f-word: FOOD!
WHAT YOU EAT MATTERS
There are a million different schools of thought when it comes to nutrition, and I will keep this simple for you.
1. You Are What You Eat Nutrients are building blocks and what you put in your mouth can aid in rebuilding muscle tissue and repairing joints, ligaments, bones and other areas of the body that create a strong muscular physique. The more nutrient dense food you eat, the more nourished your body is at the cellular level with building blocks to replenish the physical tear down from your workouts.
2. Optimal Hormonal Balance Nutrient-dense foods directly support hormonal balance. The more nutrient-dense your food choices are, the more likely you are to have healthier hormonal balance. Poor quality, highly processed foods not only do nothing to support hormonal balance, but these food-like products void of nutrients and filled with additives and chemicals can cause hormonal imbalance and create a host of metabolic-related health issues.
3. Optimal Metabolic Function Nutrients directly dictate your hormonal balance and health, and your hormonal health dictates the health of your metabolism. Your metabolism dictates how well or poorly your body responds to your entire fitness program (strength-training, cardio and nutrition plan). It is like a chain reaction that starts at the cellular level, which begins with food and generally “ends” with the health condition of our metabolism (not including any genetic or hereditary predispositions to hormonal or metabolic complications).
The bottom line is that regardless of your genetic make-up, hereditary predisposition or body type, your food choices and what you put in your mouth every day directly affects your progress or lack thereof over both the short-term and long-term.
Food quality can make a positive impact on a deeply internal health level and, thus, a positive healthy external difference in your muscle gain, fat loss, body composition physique goals. Think of it as your body rewarding you on the outside for being good to it (through healthy nourishment) on the inside.
