3 Ways to Transform Your Body
Taking care of your body can be difficult in the modern world of luxury and comfort, and that’s because you simply demand less of your body. Despite this, health and fitness remain important, because a lack of activity can cause muscles to atrophy and can deteriorate your mental health. An insufficient diet can cause health problems such as a weakened immune system as a result of a vitamin C deficiency. Here’s what you need to know in order to live a healthier life in the modern era.
Diet
The food a person eats is intended to provide the body with the materials it needs to operate and maintain itself, hence the “you are what you eat” mantra. This means that a diet needs to address your body’s needs, and those needs are flexible. There is a generally agreed upon guideline for a healthy diet, but it’s not exactly one size fits all. It’s also worth noting that your diet needs to scale with your level of activity on a given day, as a workout burns through resources much more quickly than simply existing. For example, your body needs electrolytes in order to make your muscles move, but electrolytes are lost en masse in sweat, and the same is true of water. Carbohydrates and protein share the honor of being the most well known nutrients that you need, most likely because of their roles in providing energy and maintaining muscle. However, there is a distinct difference between simple carbs and complex carbs. The former is functionally interchangeable with sugar in that it provides a quick burst of energy that often goes to waste before causing weight gain. Complex carbs spread this energy out over a longer time period, making it more effective for energy maintenance and weight management.
Supplements
Dietary supplements like isolate protein are becoming a popular way of managing the needs of the body in the pursuit of weight loss and fitness, and there’s a very good reason for that. For example, protein can help repair muscles in the wake of a workout, but eating meat entails accepting other matters like fat. Likewise, the milk from which protein powder is typically made has a high fat content. Protein powder is typically more pure, free of that fat and other nutrients that you may not need more of. Supplements can also be used for vitamin deficiencies. Vitamin C deficiency can weaken the immune system, as previously mentioned, and a deficiency of vitamin D or B12 can lead to a lack of energy. Addressing these with vitamin supplements is a common method of making a diet complete, again without the additional material provided by eating food to gain these vital vitamins.
Exercise
Staying active is perhaps the hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle in 2020, as much of the recreation and work available doesn’t engage the body. This means that you’ll need to make time to pursue physical fitness on your own time, something many feel like they simply can’t do. However, the 7 minute workout can fit into any schedule, and the general recommendation is that you should get about 3-5 hours of exercise in a given week. If for whatever reason you actually don’t have time, doing nothing isn’t really an appropriate alternative, and doing whatever you can find the time to do is better than nothing. Even taking a quick walk once a day is better than refusing to participate. Finding the right workout for you will require some research and testing, as you’ll need to take into account not only your needs, but also what you’re currently capable of.
While you may have a number of temptations to sit and waste your days away, taking the time to stay in shape is negligible in the grand scheme of things. Likewise, eating better food is just a decision that you have to make in order to get the results you need. Using these tips, you’re already well on your way to a healthy, happier life.
Mikkie is a freelance writer from Chicago. She is also a mother of two who loves sharing her ideas on interior design, budgeting hacks, and DIY. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing the little ones or rock climbing at the local climbing gym.
