10 Things You Need to Know about Nutrition & Fitness

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

29 Jul 2006 06:50 AM

The following 10 things are what you need to know about nutrition and fitness. It's not just that you are what you eat, but you are when you eat and how you eat. The following list comes from Pamela Smith's Eat Well, Live Well. A nutritionist, Pamela Smith teaches that people become fitter by eating healthier.

• Never Skip Breakfast - Breakfast has the reputation as the most important meal of the day for a reason. It provides you with a boost for your energy levels and metabolism from the beginning of the day rather than letting your metabolism slow down to conserve energy for later output
• Eat a healthy snack every three to four hours - by eating at frequent intervals throughout the day, you will actually minimize your calorie consumption and avoid a crash that leads to binging as you can overeat at the standard three meals a day
• Eat carbs along with proteins - you should be sure to eat balanced meals rather than just all protein, all carbs or all fat
• Increase your daily allotment of fiber - have you seen the advertisements on boxes of Raisin Bran and Special K? Eating plenty of fiber helps your body's digestion and helps you maximize your diet
• Cut back on excess and bad fat in your diet in order to improve your cholesterol and heart health as well as helping to reduce your weight. The fact is that one ounce of fat contains twice that many calories
• Eat Vegetables and Fruits - they contain lots of vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Eating plenty of vegetables and fruits helps you live and feel healthier
• Eating healthier and more frequently can help you to get your vitamins and minerals from a food source rather than a vitamin supplement - remember you need a source of many water soluble vitamins on a daily basis because your body will not store them
• Drink plenty of water - you need plenty of hydration and while the average estimate is 64 ounces a day, others suggest you drink an ounce of water for every pound of body weight
• Cut back on salt, sugar, caffeine and alcohol - none of these substances are vital to your survival and the average diet is overloaded with the first three. As a coffee drinker, you can cut back on the caffeine by switching to decaf in the middle of the day
• Skip Fad Diets - Fad diets sound great on paper, but the problem with them is they diets based one eliminating potential vitamins and minerals and they are usually only effective while you are on the diet and your weight yo-yos when you come off of it

What other nutritional tips can you think of to help promote better fitness and health? Check out our Food blog for some great recipes and suggestions!

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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