Get to know a few tips to help you renew and recharge …

Whether you are training for a sporting event like a Triathlon, CrossFit games, or just basically working out at the gym, you need the right kind of fuel, in the right amount, at the right times, because proper nutrition is essential for maximizing performance and meet the energy demands of training and competition.

As an athlete, nutrition is crucial for performance and recovery to achieve and maintain the desired body composition and weight needed for the practiced sport.

In the hasty paced life, we get too busy and stressed to balance our life demands; workload and workout responsibilities leaving us tired and starving. Consequently, we may not get a proper chance to have the exact needed meals and usually go for the faster option like to-go pizza or burger. We wrongly assume that working out will invalidate our nutritional choice mistakes or that it’s okay to eat big, forgetting how nutrition is essential for the performance and recovery. Yes! Eat big, lift big doesn’t work through all the time.

The main key to truly having stable energy throughout the day and be able to sleep calmly through the night is keeping our blood sugar stable and loading up on the most nutrient-packed foods. We need good nutrients to live and thrive to perform our best to live active, vibrant lives.

Eating whole foods every 3–4 hours helps to stabilize your blood sugar. When you wait too long between meals or eat processed foods that spike blood sugar – leading to a crash in energy – you’re more likely to reach for sugar, fat, or caffeine to keep your energy up. In addition, lack of sleep can lead to inefficient body regulation of energy balance, metabolism, and appetite. Strive for 7-8 hours of sleep each night; this will help you to boost your daily energy.

Generally, the food that gives us energy like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein and wild fish in addition to beans, eggs, nuts and seeds along with healthy oils, avocado, raw chocolate and chia seeds and definitely having some fresh air would help to have even more awesome energy. Unlike food that depletes our energy like artificial junk food, processed foods, refined grains, soft drinks, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, trans fat.

One of the basics that help sustain your blood sugar is balancing your meals with good lean protein, healthy fats and slow digesting carbs. Always make sure to EAT SLOWLY and chew thoroughly. Chewing well helps aid digestion and give your brain time to register you are full before you over-eat. Also, if you are aiming to lose body fat, try to eat up till you are no longer hungry, feeling satisfied but not full. When we eat too quickly, and without full attention, we miss knowing our hunger and fullness cues. Try to avoid meal-time distractions like TV, Social Media, etc.

As we are looking forward to building a healthy lifestyle, it’s proven that building habits over time with small changes lead to long-lasting results. That’s why habits can be more powerful than willpower. They are a sequence of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that are usually supported by the social and/or physical environment.

Everyone’s lifestyle affects his/her eating habits from the ability to plan, schedule & structure our food meals. Also, food that gives one-person energy may deplete another person’s. Following others’ diets is not the right choice.

Knowing that motivation can only give a jumpstart and it is not enough to keep us going, we need to be accountable for our choices to meet our goals and needs. Consistency is the key; it’s the most important factor for success, all-or-nothing typically can’t be consistent & the more structured we become, the more consistent we will be. Consistency doesn’t mean perfection; it’s the level you feel you can comfortably achieve, progress, regress & maintain …

Here are a few tips that can initially help you to focus on good food quality & how you can do it consistently leading you to thrive your day, sustain the energy level you need. Start with one or two tip and build on them…

• Befriend your water: the hotter it is, the more hydration you need. Getting enough water is an everyday essential as we even often we mistake thirst for hunger. Even mild dehydration can alter your body’s metabolism, so aim to drink eight glasses a day and limit soda.
• Fit your fruit, that’s because when you eat fat along with fruit, you slow the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream, which helps prevent those nasty insulin spikes. By combining some low-fructose fruit with some fat and protein, you’ll feel fuller for longer.
• Choose real carbs & go crazy for vegetables as they are high in fiber which slows digestion and promotes stable blood sugar levels. In addition, Veggies fill you up with water & fiber volume. Whole grain carbohydrates should always be chosen over refined varieties. Do you know that brown rice is simply taken straight from the plant? it has all bran layers intact and thus contains all of its naturally-present nutrients. It promotes good digestion, quenches thirst, balance blood sugar & controls mood swings.
• Have your protein with each meal, our bodies require protein for cell growth and renewal, blood sugar stabilization, and energy. We’re literally made out of the amino acids that make up protein. Many foods contain protein, but the richest sources are animal products like meat, dairy, eggs, and fish, and plant sources like beans, nuts, and seeds. Grass-fed beef and free-range chicken are healthier choices & organic yogurt and cage-free eggs are great for vegetarians, while tofu and peanut butter are good vegan protein sources.
• Go for good fat; we need the good fat to be nourished fully and to ensure our metabolism is running correctly. Having a fat intake will leave you feeling full and less likely to crave a sweet treat. Do you know that Vitamins A, D, E, and K, the essential vitamins in vegetables, are soluble in fat only? Yet make sure to limit its portion as it’s a sneaky source of excess energy like oils, nuts, nut butter.
• Snack smartly, snacks can fuel you up and help you get through the day. to keep our energy up and metabolism humming i.e. a handful of nuts, chia seed pudding, energy bites, smoothie, bone broth soup, veggie sticks with hummus, a hard-boiled egg with veggies, or whole fruit with nut butter.