While hitting the gym on a regular basis is always a good idea, there is more to reaching your fitness goals that just doing an extra set of burpees at the end of the day.
Proper nutrition is also a key component to helping make sure all that hard work in the gym pays off.
Here are seven of the biggest nutrition mistakes to avoid in the kitchen.
Relying on the same meals: Making plain grilled chicken breast and broccoli for dinner again? Boring. While it’s good to get into a meal routine, don’t resort to eating the same five or six meals over and over again—this is a sure-fire recipe for boredom. And if you’re bored, before you know it, you’ll be back to eating your old diet again.
Related: Consider honey for a pre- or post-workout boost
Vary it up by seeking out new recipes, and incorporating a rich variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet. Make it your goal to cook using a new vegetable every week. For example, never tried bok choy? Find a recipe using it. Never cooked with eggplant? Make an eggplant ratatouille. The variety will make healthy eating seem more fun and less like a chore. (sj-r.com)
Relying on numerous supplements: Scientific research should be the core premise behind the use of dietary supplements, but usually that is not the case. Remember, the supplement industry is not regulated, which means that advertisers can market claims that are not necessarily true.
For example, L-glutamine is one of the top 10 widely used supplements popular for increasing sports performance. The truth is, there is not a single study that shows it has a positive effect on performance in athletes who are otherwise healthy and obtain a variety of nutrients from their diet. (caloriecount.com)
Fueling up with energy drinks: While many so-called energy drinks make you feel cranked up, they don’t actually deliver usable energy to your muscles in the form of calories. After 30 minutes, the caffeine boost starts to wear off and you can feel worse than when you started.
And though some energy drinks contain calories in the form of sugar, those calories might not be usable, because taking in large quantities of sugar densely packed into small amounts of fluid can be hard for your stomach to digest. The calories wind up just sitting in your stomach instead of working for you. (stack.com)
Related: 5 benefits of adding flaxseed to your diet
Eating whatever you want just because you exercised: This may seem obvious, but burning more than 1,000 calories a day with exercise does not outdo a junk food filled diet. Don’t forget: diet and exercise is not just about weight, it is about health, too. Junk food does not provide the same healthful nutrients whole foods do.
Plus, if you have a day where you don’t burn off a large amount of calories, the junk food calories will catch up to you. (caloriecount.com)
Not eating regularly: Another mistake to avoid is not eating regularly enough. You may be eating three square meals a day, but by that last and final meal you feel the urge to binge eat because you are so hungry.
Instead, focus on eating regularly throughout the day. You can maintain better food control eating four to six times per day — and eating smaller sized meals to help regulate your blood glucose level. As long as you are tracking calories and keeping your daily total at the proper level, eating more frequently will typically enhance, rather than deter, your progress. (sj-r.com)
Not eating before exercising: While you don’t want to be full before a workout, eating nothing at all before exercising may be even worse. If you’re working out on an empty stomach, you won’t have the fuel you need to perform at your highest level. And you might actually cause your body to break down muscle as a source of energy—the opposite of what you train for. (stack.com)
Relying on multi-vitamins for nutrition: Though multi-vitamins do pack nutrients into a convenient, easy-to-take pill, they should be used to supplement your diet, not form the main part of it. Taking a quick daily dose of multi-vitamins may be tempting, but the value that authentic sources of nutrients provide cannot be replicated in a capsule.
Worried about your calcium intake? Eat more broccoli or nuts. Think you’re not getting enough vitamin E? Add extra spinach to your next meal. Making these changes may not be as easy taking a vitamin, but they will provide you with a healthier, more natural dose of those vitamins. (Men’s Fitness)
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