Top 3 Workout Food Myths that Could be Sabotaging Your Health
Are these popular diet myths holding back your workout at best, and at worst, undermining your health? A great workout plan can’t be founded on motivation and fitness gloves alone. No matter how much support your gain from your Gripad workout grips, you still need to take care of yourself and eat properly if you want results at the gym.
Myth 1: Carbs are bad.
The Atkins and Paleo diets are founded on principles that have merit but, in some ways, workout culture has distorted and oversimplified the core arguments underlying these philosophies. Carbs are not bad; one of the three macronutrient that make up all food (the other two being fats and protein), they’re our primary energy source and essential to our survival. Just choose complex carbohydrates like those found in vegetables and whole grains like whole or steel cut oats, brown rice or quinoa. Skip the processed cereals, cookies and crackers from a box. Complex carbohydrates basically mean that the sugar is still attached to fiber, therefore it breaks down slower in the body and gives sustaining energy. A simple carb, like many boxed breakfast cereals, white bread, and white pasta, are processed by removing the fiber, most of the nutrients, and only leaving the sugar behind, therefore breaking down very quickly leading to rapid blood sugar spikes and crashes.
Myth 2: Meat is the best protein you need.
Red meat has gotten a bad rap over the past decade or so, and mostly because of the way we are raising cattle. Red meat can be healthy, but it’s only as healthy as the animal it came from. Raising animals the way nature intended; grass fed and pasture-raised, has been scientifically proven to produce meat that is higher in omega-3 fatty acids which are essential to a healthy brain and body. Healthy meat comes from healthy animals, and can be a healthy protein source, but too much of it can have negative effects as well. Corn fed animals have higher amounts of unhealthy cholesterol, saturated fat, and omega-6 fatty acids. Protein is an essential macronutrient needed for the basic building blocks of muscle (amino acids) but is found in almost all food sources, including plants, not just animals. Vary your protein sources by trying beans, legumes, nuts, wild caught fish, poultry, and eggs.
Myth 3: Calories in, Calories Out
Health Counselor and owner of The Green Life Health, Laura Wald (link to http://www.thegreenlifehealth.com/#!meet-laura), tells us that, “Food is more than just energy, it’s about nutrition and feeding your body what is needs. One of the most pervasive myths in the fitness world is: calories in, calories out. Despite how much we want to believe it, we cannot eat what we want and just work it off in the gym or on a run. In other words, not all calories are created equal! A well-balanced, nutrient dense meal, abundant with crisp greens, roasted sweet root vegetables, and a marinated grass-fed steak can have the same amount of calories as a brownie or soda….would you substitute a meal for a brownie or soda and expect to get the nutrition your body and brain needs? I hope not! So, it’s not the number of calories that matter most, it’s what IN the calories. It’s time to replace the old mantra, of calories in, calories out with ‘Quality over quantity’. Give your body what it needs and it won’t crave extra energy (calories) through artificial or processed sources like caffeine, chips, or sugar.”
