Have You Exercised Today?

By: Dr. Don

Have you exercised today? Why not? I don’t mean to nag, but you and I both know that if you want to achieve ideal weight, a healthy weight, you have to start exercising!

Last week, we talked about how you needed to eat in order to lose weight. You need to ingest more of those good nutrients that your body needs to correctly digest and burn the calories you have stored up as fat. Well guess what? You need to eat the right nutrients in order to succeed with your exercise goals, too.

Why is it so hard to get started with an exercise program? Well, maybe your schedule is already too full. Maybe you don’t have the physical energy to get moving. Or, maybe you just can’t get motivated mentally.

I can’t clear your schedule. But I can tell you how to energize and motivate yourself to hit the gym. You see, you need to provide your body with whole foods nutrition so it has the energy to exercise. You also need to provide your mind with whole food nutrition so it can overcome the lethargy and confused thinking that muddles your efforts to start a new healthy habit.

You’ve heard the term “brain food.” You do indeed need to feed your brain! Sugary, chemical laden, over-processed foods gum up your mental works. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein provide your brain the fuel it needs to keep those synapses firing.

You also need the nutrients from those whole foods in order to build lean muscle mass. You can exercise until the overweight cows come home, but you won’t build an ounce of lean muscle mass if your body doesn’t have the right building materials.

What’s so important about lean muscle mass? Well, even at rest, lean muscle mass burns 20 times more calories than fat tissue. Trouble is, as we age, we lose lean muscle mass—about one pound per year after age 30. Each year, your body burns 400 calories less per day. That’s why exercise is so important. It not only burns calories, it rebuilds muscle mass that keeps on burning those calories 24/7.

Are you ready to start exercising? Only if you are getting whole food nutrition. But that’s no excuse to wait another day. Stock your fridge and pantry with the healthy foods that life is made of.

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