Exercise, nutrition go hand in hand

NUTRITION AND exercise may well be regarded as the king and queen of the kingdom of wellness.
Unfortunately, many people only focus on one or the other and fail to enjoy all the benefits that both can bring. Nutritional experts point out exercise alone does not make people healthy.
Research indicates that too much exercise, especially endurance exercises like long-distance running, can actually accelerate ageing.
On balance, optimal wellness comes from a blend of 80 per cent nutrition and 20 per cent exercise.
Exercise requires nutrients: When you exercise, your body requires more nutrients than when you do not. Sweating during your workout increases your loss of minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium.
The elevation in free-radical production, caused by exercise, increases the need for antioxidants like vitamin C and E.
Planned nutrition is, thus, an extremely important part of any fitness programme. Even if you only exercise a few days per week, your daily diet and supplements is vital for best results.
After exercise, your body uses nutrients to strengthen and rebuild itself. If you do not provide the cells of your body with the right nutrients during that important period, your recovery will be compromised, and you lose the full benefits of all your efforts.
Exercise damages your muscle fibres (micro-trauma), which are in turn healed and repaired using amino acids from dietary proteins, resulting in healthier and stronger muscles.
Bones subjected to the stress of exercise afterwards strengthen and remodel using nutrients like calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
Optimise protein: Protein is the main food class that the body uses to repair and heal. Your own protein requirements depend on lean body mass and exercise programme.
In general, the more intense your exercise and the more muscles you have, the more protein you need in your diet. On average, women need 75 to 100 gm and men 100 to 150 gm of protein daily.
Sources of protein
Choose plant protein like soy, nuts, beans, peas and seeds, along with animal sources like fish, eggs, whey protein and organic poultry.
To speed up your recovery, have some protein like a soy protein shake within an hour after exercise.
Use energy foods: Complex carbohydrates, particularly fruit or fruit juices, vegetables, ground provisions, along with healthy fats, should provide for your energy needs. The more intense your exercise, the more high-energy foods you will need just before exercise.
Hydrate: Water is the largest component of the human structure accounting for more than two thirds of your body. Water is essential for healthy function and exercise increases your requirement for the liquid.
Water should be consumed before, during and after exercise to avoid dehydration. The more you sweat, the warmer the climate, the more water your body needs. Added electrolytes, as found in dilute fruit juices, coconut water and packaged hydration fluids like the one I use, H3O. Dehydration emphasises the signs of ageing on the skin.
Take supplements: With superior supplementation (I use a plan called Cellular Nutrition) your body can adapt optimally to the physical stresses of exercise. Several vitamins - B complex, C, E, A, D and K and minerals like magnesium, zinc, potassium and calcium are especially important. Take a high-quality multivitamin and mineral tablet with each meal to provides the recovering cells in your body all they need all the day.
Several phytonutrients, (nutrients that come from plants) also enhance the benefits of exercise and the best multivitamin formulations have some of them added. The list includes energy enhancers like green tea, ginseng, guarana, CoenzymeQ10 and muscle builders like creatine. I also recommend taking extra antioxidants and the omega 3 fatty acids.
If you exercise without good nutrition, you waste much of your effort. So experience greater fitness, stronger muscles, joints and bones, better cardiovascular health, improved mood, balanced emotions, a lower risk of disease, less body fat and a more youthful body.
Once you get to age 40, your body starts ageing faster than before. Studies have shown that after 40, without the proper nutrients and exercise, your body will age an extra six months for every passing year. That means that if you are now 40, when you get to 50 you may look and feel like 55, and by 60, you could have a 70-year-old body.
After age 35, most people begin losing the muscle that helps prevent them gaining more body fat. That means you not only lose muscle, the tissue that gives your body shape, tone and strength, but you also get fat, the thing that contributes to many diseases. These negative changes are reversible as there are specific ways to eat and exercise that can slow and even stop this rapid ageing process. You can look younger at 50 than you did at 40.
You may email Dr Tony Vendryes at tonyvendryes@gmail.com or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on POWER 106FM on Fridays at 8 p.m. His new book 'An Ounce of Prevention, Especially for Women' is available locally and on the Internet.