Why Nutrition Is More Important Than Exercise

When it comes to losing weight, nutrition is greater than exercise. The famous saying is that ‘what you eat in private you will wear in public.’ The rule of thumb is that good health consists of 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. If a person can cut down eating unhealthy foods everyday, over time those changes will add to big changes and weight loss. We all know someone who has stopped drinking soda or given up unhealthy eating for a while, and a short time later, had dramatic weight loss change.

It’s important to know what you put into your body. If you want to lose weight you cannot put garbage into your body and expect weight loss. That doesn’t add up. My nutrition is not perfect, I still struggle with it.  Some days I want to eat that chocolate cake or have an extra slice of pizza, but I know I cannot do that every day and expect to lose weight. That’s just not possible, so you have to find your balance. My advice for you is start by cutting out one unhealthy habit a week and continuing. Eventually you will be surprised by the changes to your bodies.

I found that my problem was a lot of unhealthy late night snacking. To fix that problem, I replaced my unhealthy snacks with yogurt and fruits. Eating healthy snacks and drinking a lot of water eventually led to no snacking at all.  I am learning to control my late snacking because I am not ignoring this problem and I have realized why I eat so many snacks. Often it is due to me being tired, bored or the fact that it’s 3am and I need something to keep me awake at work.  Please make time to get to know yourself and why you eat certain things because for every action, there is consequence. Everyday is not going to be perfect when it comes to nutrition. You just have to learn to have balance between nutrition and exercise.

My Five Simple Nutrition Tips

1. Drink water- drink half your body weight in water.
2. Cut down late night snacking after dinner, if you must have a snack, try light fruits. Have a light healthy snack after dinner but not too late. Late and overnight snacks more easily contribute to extra calories and increase weight gain, which I know from working nights.
3. Cut down sugar – I do not add sugar to tea or coffee. If I eat products which contain sugar I just make sure that there is no more than 15 grams. I limit my coffee to just cream when I work.
4. Limit carbohydrates by eating more complex carbs such as sweet potatoes, cauliflower rice or oatmeal. You can also eat 100% whole wheat bread, pumpkin.  I am still struggling with that one because I love bread and rice. I have used bulgur wheat for my substitution for rice. It is low fat, high fiber, high protein and rich in vitamins and nutrients.
5. Limit sodium intake – reduce your intake of sodium to alleviate being bloated. When you go grocery shopping, please read the ingredients in your foods and you might be surprised at the amount of sodium in some of your favorite dishes.

“Just because you don’t see results after a day, or even a week, don’t give up. You may not see changes, but every smart choice you make is affecting you in ways you’d never imagine”.