Looking for getting out of your rut and achieving optimal fitness? Reach it in 5 ways that all start in your gut!
Knowledge of your own body and personal health can open the roadblocks to optimal health. Allow yourself to change your mentality and take a trip to the farmer’s market! In other words, visit your raw food “farmacy.” Yes, it is all about creating your refrigerator and your kitchen pantry into something that can be used as your medicine cabinet and will provide your body the correct fuel to reach your optimal fitness performance. Allow fresh fruits and vegetables to be your best friend because they're overflowing with nutrients and antioxidants to keep your body in check and allow for a healthy, non-traffic-built-up digestive system. Your new diet can tell all that blockage to GET OUT OF THE WAY! Okay, okay, slowly and not so harsh; we don’t want to totally shock our bodies. Your gut, aka “the brain” to your body and your mind play a huge role in your daily living. Do you suffer from depression or any other mental illnesses or infectious diseases? If so, you’re in luck. If not, you’re still in luck.
The Digestive System
The digestive system is a complex system in the body that breaks down the macro-nutrients of our foods into micro-nutrients in order to feed our bodily cells and allow all other systems to function properly. If you do not feed your body properly during pre training, post training, recovery, etc, your body may feel weak, tired, or simply “out of fuel,” making your body more prone to illness and injury. Proper nutrition is key to optimal performance.
Making 5 simple changes to your diet can do wonders for prevention and protection. A healthy gut is your navigation to life. Utilize your inner physician. Becoming familiar with the mechanics of your gut can play such an important role in your immunity, mood, and overall well-being.
Fuel Up!
Carbs are the main source of energy your body needs to sustain and maintain fitness performance and endurance; this fuel is vital in order to survive. Unrefined foods like vegetables and whole grain foods offer this slow release of energy the human body needs.
When we do not provide our body with such foods, our performance levels will significantly drop. This is the result of our carb/nutrient levels being low.
Pump up the Protein
Protein is an important part of the training and the recovery process to fitness performance. Good quality protein helps not only restore muscle, but it helps repair muscle while you're in recovery mode. (1g protein for every 1 lb body weight). Easy ways to include more protein in your daily eating are by adding in Sunwarrior Protein powders, lentils, quinoa, tofu, tempeh, chia seeds, and chickpeas.
Hail to the Healthy Oils
Fats in healthy oils such as omega 3, 5, 7, 9, etc are extremely beneficial in the recovery and training process as well, aiding in the body’s anti-inflammatory processes and overall function of the cells, nourishing them to complete their jobs and allowing for flexibility and repairing of the membranes. Include almonds, pomegranate seed oil, coconut oil, macadamia nuts, avocados, seeds, walnuts, flax seeds, and seaweed into your diet to get more healthy fats in your life.
H20
Hydrating your body is the most vital part of your fitness performance. (Yes, loss of fluids in the body can result in a decrease in your overall fitness performance and recovery.) Drink up!
Need Nutrients
Nutrients are absolutely essential for metabolism yielding to energy. Therefore, it’s important to feed your body the full spectrum of natural vitamins and pre and probiotics that give your body (and your gut) the nutrients it needs to reach maximum performance. The body requires minerals for nerve functioning and other functions of the body in order to transport oxygen properly throughout the body and into the muscles. In getting these vitamins, we are feeding our bodies antioxidants which are beneficial for recovery post workout as they aid in repairing tissues and cleaning up free radicals during your next workout.
So there you have it: 5 ways to optimal fitness through getting your gut healthy!
