Food for thought
I got asked an interesting question yesterday (and yes, feel free to keep them coming) …
Now first of all, I want to put a disclaimer .. I am NOT a nutritionist so any “advice” I give is merely my opinion and what I have learned along my journey.
Right back to the question …
Think of yourself as a car and food as the fuel for the car. Sweets/Cakes/White Bread etc are what I would classify as nitromethane which is what they fuel drag car racing cars with. It will give you lots of energy for a very short space of time and then you stop. So that type of fuel isn’t extremely useful if you want to take a trip across country.
It is fuel, but not a great fuel for the long haul
Another way to look at it is like this.
Think about the car you drive each day. It was built to run on a certain fuel. My car was designed to run on a 96 octane fuel, yes it will run on one that is 91 octane, but I won’t get the full use of the vehicles performance because its lacking nutrients and if I dare put diesel in it .. well it would just break down completely!
Your body is the same. It requires complex carbohydrates for fuel, adequate protein to ensure your muscle mass is provided for and good fat to ensure that your joints are lubricated. You my friends are all high performance vehicles!
High Performance Vehicles need quality fuel
If I had 10c for every person I hear that proclaims how they would literally die without bread/pasta/daily cuppa latte/*insert other to die for item here* I would be far far richer than Bill Gates!
What people forget is that food is fuel, you eat to live .. we were not designed to live to eat.
Athletes “get it” they eat in a way that ensures they can push themselves faster and further, they see themselves as machines and their body as a tool. We all need to think each time we reach for something .. is this going to get me where I need to go?
How much you can eat depends on many things that include your metabolism, the sport you do (if any), how much muscle mass you carry, if your trying to lose weight, put on weight etc etc .. but the foods that you should be using regardless of your goal are pretty much the same. Complex carbs, lean protein and good fats (with some fruit and veg thrown in for good measure) 🙂
However do not fret my friends .. even high performance athletes eat cake and sweets … they just save it for a special occasion (and a special occasion is not that the weekend has arrived) 😉
Till next time
