Mastering Your Diet: The Key to Health and Performance

The diet you are following will either make or break you!   

A balanced diet will help you maintain a healthy body and reflect positively on your daily performance.  

Good nutrition is an important aspect of leading a healthy lifestyle. Your diet, combined with physical activity, can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic diseases and promote your overall health.

Whether you are an athlete, a regular gym goer, or a person who just likes to maintain a healthy body, having a well-rounded diet that fits your needs is a major player towards your goal.  

Many people find it hard to eat healthy and try to maintain a balance in their lives, especially with the fast-paced life we live. The best advice I can give you is to start with small steps. Small changes lead to bigger ones that will have a positive impact on your diet and your own life.  

Start by writing down everything you eat and drink on a daily basis. Such a step is very important. Why? 

After the day ends, you will take 5 minutes to sit and scan your food journal. Look at what you ate today and hold yourself accountable if you ate some high-calorie or fried fast food. You will highlight it in your journal and remember it to avoid making such a mistake again, as your goal is to get healthier.

Another essential step that many must remember is reading food labels well. What do I mean by that? Do not only read the kcal and skip the rest of the label. Make sure you check the ingredients well. Oftentimes, there are many preservatives you do not want to put in your body. Check the amount of sugar, sodium content and types of fat in the product. Pick the healthier food for you and your goal.  

Think of your goals before you eat. Will that food help me get closer to my goal? Is that food needed in my diet? 

Do not find an excuse or look for justification for a cheat meal. Stick to your diet plan and stay in your lane. Often, people ask their nutritionist or dietitian for a cheat meal before they get close to their goal. That is the wrong way of thinking, and if you see a diet that involves deprivation, then know that any person won’t be able to stay on such a diet long-term, and such a diet is not a healthy choice. 

I am not a fan of the term `cheat meal` because a balanced diet will always provide you with what your body needs, and you won’t crave unneeded types of food that can negatively affect your body and delay you from reaching your goal or even performing well at your training.  

Fix the bad habits and replace them with good ones. Human beings live by habits. Look at your lifestyle and what led you to where you are. Try to identify unhealthy habits, like sleeping late or eating processed food, and change those habits to good ones that will get you to live a healthy lifestyle.  

Always aim for high protein. You may be able to live without carbohydrates, but you can’t live without protein. 

A common piece of misinformation is that people think protein is only for muscles and that a lot of protein can negatively affect your health. That is not correct at all. In fact, any person who is highly active on a daily basis will need more protein and amino acids to help his body recover and perform well.  

Right now, the recommended dietary allowance for protein is low and does not help a normal person stay healthy and strong. Not eating adequate amounts of protein on a daily basis often results in eating other macronutrients, thus affecting our body composition. 

As for athletes, you will definitely need to be on higher protein than the average person. The diet that you are following has a huge impact on your performance. Let us take an example of a boxer and a long-distance runner. Those two athletes are high-performers on a daily basis until the contest day comes. Most of the time, the boxer needs to make weight on the scale, so his nutritionist or registered dietician puts him on low carbs a few days before and keeps the protein moderate. The long-distance runner will be loading carbohydrates for a few days before. It’s very important for all types of athletes to eat according to a plan and take any necessary supplements, go to sleep early to get good rest and stay hydrated all the time. 

Now that you know how important it is to follow a healthy diet, start today and do not wait for a signal to save your health and save yourself from paying high medical bills from an unhealthy lifestyle.  

Eating clean and healthy today is less expensive than paying for medicine and hospital bills in the near future.  

You can find more from Alex at:

www.Fitnessresultscoach.com  

IG: thetraineralex