Nutrition

Nutrition is a major component for health, wellness, and fitness.  Avoiding obesity.  Staying lean. Gaining lean muscle.  Increasing energy.  Sleeping better.  Improving mood.  Avoiding many illnesses and diseases.  All possible through good nutrition.

Training is essential for developing and maintaining mobility, strength and athleticism, which will help us remain active and capable well into our senior years.  But nutrition is responsible for body composition by as much as 85%!  Neglect nutrition and your results from training could be minimal.

There are many "diets" and nutritional theories but I am in favor of the Paleo Diet, also known as the "Caveman" Diet.  I believe that our health is best served when we eat natural foods, the ones we were genetically designed to eat.  Those foods (which could be hunted and gathered) had the nutrients that our body needed to stay lean, healthy and disease free.

The theory behind the Paleo Diet is that, even millions of years later, we are still genetically the same as the Caveman and still need the same nutrients.  The modern diet of processed foods, agricultural foods (such as wheat and corn), and sugars (including high fructose corn syrup) are making us sick and killing us.  Therefore the reasoning is if we return to a natural diet, we will avoid becoming ill and live a longer, healthier life.

I have been following this diet since 2006 (for the most part) and have definitely experienced positive results and better health.  However, I have known all along that our "natural" foods are not the same as they were many years ago.

As a result of mankind's "progress" our environment has become polluted.  The products we use, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and even the natural foods we eat have become polluted with toxins which are detrimental to our health.  Our body's natural ability to fight such toxins has become overwhelmed.

Consuming naturally raised livestock, poultry and fish (hormone free, anti-biotic free) and organic produce (pesticide free) is a step in the right direction and will reduce the amount of toxins we consume.  These foods are expensive and hard to come by, so it may be difficult to consume enough of them.

Even if they are available to us, the environment in which the animals are raised and the produce is grown may be toxic from the pollutants.  Additionally, the soil may have been over-farmed for so long that it is now depleted of nutrients, which results in less nutritious food.  The essential vitamins and minerals that we need from this food may be severely depleted or missing entirely!

Nutritional supplements are a way to obtain those missing nutrients, as well as provide our body with the support it needs to fight environmental toxins.  I have been using them for many years (see this post).  There is such a large demand for these products that the market has become saturated with manufacturers and suppliers of these products.  Some are of a good quality, many are of a poor quality and do little more than waste your money.

I have done my best to obtain the higher quality products.  It has been worth it, as the results have spoken for themselves.  I am healthier now than I was 20 or 30 years ago!