Nutritious Food for Fitness: Vitamin, Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat

Breaking sweat with fastest and toughest

Fitness is not easy, many do not attempt this exercise and training schedule because it is tough to maintain. Athletes and those training for a sports meet however have a different target to meet. Their bodies need more stamina and more nutrition. Here we see how to meet those nutrition needs and why some foods are better than others.

Know your food

Food consists of proteins, carbohydrates, fats along with essential minerals and vitamins. Normal food sources do not have all of these. When building muscles, one has to supply a good source of proteins that is necessary for building tissues and muscles. The body requires carbohydrates since more energy is expended in the work out.

1)   Health foods

a.    Turkey breast

Prepare it without skin to avoid fats. Chicken breast has 50 grams of proteins for every 200 grams. It has Selenium that helps fight cancer, apart from Vitamin B necessary for metabolic activities in the body. Most of all, it has Zinc, the element responsible for boosting sperm production in body.

b.   Olive Oil

Most of the fat present in olive oil is monounsaturated fats that are essential for transporting nutrients to all parts of the body and for synthesis of hormones. Saturated fats and trans fats block the arteries increase cholesterol and lead to a host of diseases. It has good anti-inflammatory properties.

c.    Green tea

It has loads of anti-oxidants that help in preventing diseases like cancer. It is a stimulant too and drinking one cup every few hours will keep you full of vigour.

d.   Eggs

Egg is a food you should eat everyday for amino acids and choline, a vitamin. These nutrients help both muscle building and brain development. However, the yolk is high in cholesterol.

e.    Milk

Essential for your body, milk contains nutrients that your body craves. If it does not get them, it begins to store fats and calcium thinking your body is in “starvation” mode. While you do not have to swim in milk, your daily glass helps you stay thin.

f.    Beef

Good source of proteins, beef is rich in iron and zinc. It also has niacin, phosphorus, selenium B12 and B6. Best eat lean meat and your body will get its nutrition without increasing cholesterol levels.

g.    Soy

A lovely food as far as nutrition goes soy has fiber, protein, vitamins and antioxidants, in addition to the minerals one normally gets from fruits and vegetables. You can have soya beans prepared as curry, tofu or make soymilk. Smoothies too are wonderful. The rich nutrients of soya bean help in fighting diabetes, heart disease, and help in menopause therapy.

h.   Almonds

Almonds make your heart healthy and augment your digestive system. They have high levels of Vitamin E, fiber and protein. They have unsaturated fats that is essential for your metabolism. Though they have good amount of calories, they do not make you fat.

i.     Bananas

Bananas simply top the list in potassium content along with avocados. It is rich in magnesium and all exercises result in loss of these two elements through sweat. Banana has fiber that helps slow digestion down to the extent it helps body metabolism to absorb the food for its energy requirements instead of storing it as fats. It has vitamin B6 that is used in many metabolic activities and brain functions.

2)   Aphrodisiac foods

a.    Chocolate

Chocolate is the king of aphrodisiac foods. Phenylethylamine stirs the glands and makes one feel sexy. Person also begins to feel happy a stimulated effect due to release of anandamide in the brain. This psychoactive chemical produces the feeling of wellbeing. Orgasm triggers dopamine release that also produces the feeling of wellbeing in the person. Cocoa also helps in release of tryptophan that is a component of the good-feeling hormone serotonin.

b.   Oyster

Oysters have long been linked to sex drive and mattress play, more for its nutritive content than for its suggestive vagina like appearance. It has plenty of zinc that boosts testosterone production, which in turn helps augment your sex drive. Whether athletes need higher testosterone can be seen in the number of international athletes who take testosterone boosters before an athletic meet.

Importance of keeping fit

Our body is a jointed structure dependent on muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. When we work, move or even rest, we arrange this skeletal arrangement in a manner that is comfortable. However, muscles get fatigued when the body is not physically trained. To train the body physically, one has to exercise.

By physical training, we mean that we expand and strengthen our muscles so that they become more efficient in doing work. They do use less energy and our body becomes less tired. Eating proper food keeps our body in prime condition. Nutritious food contains essential minerals and vitamins along with the required proteins, carbohydrates and fats.