Nutrition: The Basics...

There is a world of conflicting information out there and a plethora of fad diets, so what do you really need to know?

Here are the basics…

The average adult should be aiming to get 50% of their daily energy intake from Carbohydrates, 30% from Fats (the good kind!) and 15% from Protein. Now, let me highlight at this point what I mean when I say ‘energy’… food. Food is our energy, it is our fuel. It is an essential piece of daily life that keeps us healthy, strong and alert.

Energy contributes to every factor of our bodily functions and it should not be taken for granted.

In society today we have demonised food, we have forgotten how necessary it is, how fundamental to health and wellbeing it is and how completely incredible it is. Good nutrition is vital to a healthy body and mind, in order to achieve the best from our bodies, we must fuel them well.

Restriction seems to have become the go to method for weight loss, somewhere along the way we have become lazy and uninspired. How many of you have tried the ‘amazing new diet’ that guarantees you weight loss? Does it guarantee you sustained weight loss? No. Because when we get down to the basics, to achieve a sustainable and healthy weight loss, we must understand what our body needs.

Every body is different, it needs different things, to be refuelled and fuelled according to the tasks it is undertaking, for example, if you are about to embark on a marathon, your body will have significantly different requirements to that of someone sedentary at their desk.

What are you asking your body to do? Have you given it the energy it needs to complete the task?

One of the most common problems encountered within the fitness and nutrition industry may come as a surprise to you, it is people not eating enough. Now, you may be under the impression that the less you eat, the more weight you lose. In it’s simplicity, this may be the case, but let’s dig a little deeper. We are asking our body to move, breathe, think, exercise…how can it do this? By being hydrated and fuelled well. When we cut down our energy intake to a level that creates too high a deficit, we are putting our body into starvation mode. When we are at this point, our body will begin to store the energy you do give it as fat, as it is not being efficiently fuelled, Now, if your goal is weight loss, you do not want this to happen.

In order to lose weight and sustain and maintain this loss, you must be eating enough food to match your body’s requirements. Not one person is the same, we all need different things and it is by providing this insight and by developing an education into your own body’s needs that you will see changes.

Here at Functional Training Collective we are committed to helping you see this change and to understand what your body needs, so if you are ready to forget about that ‘amazing new diet’ and begin a new lifestyle, we can help. Together, we achieve more.

FTC.