Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Nutrition #1


I am someone who exercises at least five times a week (a mixture of weight training and cardiovascular). And yet, as I entered my late 30s/early 40s, I saw my waist size inexorably increase.

As I was exercising regularly, I reluctantly realised that I was going to have to start thinking about modifying my diet. So, during 2005 I spent time studying the area of nutrition.

I soon discovered that:

1. The food industry tells a lot of half-truths.

2. Nutrition is not an exact science.

What we do know is that what we eat and drink provides our bodies with the raw materials it uses to power and renew itself.

If the body receives more fuel than it burns, it will:

a. expel it
b. use it to upgrade our body parts
c. convert it into fat

If the body receives less energy than it consumes, it will find that energy from its own reserves.

So far, so bleeding obvious. If we want to lose weight, we have to eat less (oh, and for those of you thinking 'I eat what I want, and I never gain a pound' or 'I really wish I could gain weight', 1. Most people hate you, and 2. You might still learn something from this stuff).

During the course of 2006, I discovered that eating properly is not necessarily eating less, and in following articles I am going to look at some of the ways I fine-tuned my eating habits, and lost 4 stone of fat in the process.
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