Eat on the go and stay healthy: PART ONE
When we eat on the go we tend to eat crap. We know eating junk is bad but we still do it!
This is a massive obstacle to being a healthy, strong and happy human.
So let’s talk about why this happens and how to fix it.
Our bodies are fuelled by what we choose to eat. Some of what we eat promotes or maintains good health, we could call this a ‘good food choice’. Sometimes what we eat damages our health, we could call this a ‘bad food choice’.
Now most fitness professionals will say improving your health is simply a matter of making more good food choices, and reducing bad ones.
Then why do we all struggle?!
Yes, eating good food most of the time is important because making a lot of bad food choices could lead to diabetes, heart disease and other serious conditions.
But how do you eat good food if you’re in a bad mood, tired and it’s 11pm and you just want to go home?
There needs to be some situational context to fitness advice.
So first we need to get into a position where you are able to make good food decisions 90% of the time, no matter how you feel.
MOOD
Steady blood sugar levels, good digestion and good hydration contribute to a good mood. When you’re in a good mood you’ll make better choices, when you make better choices you remain in a good mood. Success compounds.
When you are trying to improve your life, make no mistake, a good mood is vital to develop and sustain. Simply because it is easier to go to the gym when you feel good, and harder when you feel like crap.
BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS
Many people feel sleepy after a high-carb, heavily processed lunch, which has a negative impact on productivity at work. Eating healthier food midday helps mental focus due to steady blood sugar levels.
CALORIES
Plus, we gain fat when we eat more calories than the body uses. Processed junk food usually contains lots of calories so you could be eating hundreds of calories more than your body needs every day, and quickly gain body fat!
. . . . . . . .
Once you’re eating good stuff most of the time you’ll maintain a better mood, lose fat, stay sharp at work, lots of energy to train and reduce your risk of dietary related disease.
That’s why you want to make better food choices.
Now let’s look at how you can make those choices
UNCONSCIOUS BEHAVIOUR
Practice being healthy, and you will re-learn new, healthier behaviours and delete the old patterns.
The first step of this ‘healthy practice’ is to understand WHY you make poor food choices.
A poor food choice, let’s say a slice of pizza, may be comforting, it may improve short term mood (whilst decreasing longer term mood/alertness as stated above), it may be cheap and easy to buy, convenient and there may be social pressure from colleagues or friends eating the same thing. The longer someone has been unhealthy, the more ingrained the thought process will be and so it’s harder to resist the situation.
We all eat junk food from time to time, it is easy to do. Let yourself off the hook. But be aware of what you are doing each day. Watch everything you say and do and notice the behaviour that is detracting from your goals, e.g. negative response to others, bad mood, sleepy, staying up late, eating a bucket of ice cream, skipping your workout.
This is all your unconscious behaviour and it can be VERY difficult to self evaluate in an honest way, so consider asking a friend or hiring a coach to give you some brutal honesty.
But once you’ve noticed your unconscious behaviour you can start to build good behaviours and destroy bad habits through this awareness.
When you are aware of what you’re doing, watching yourself, you’ll notice the real you - the unconscious you - making poor choices.
Then you step in and make a better choice.
When you are making good habits automatically you’ll be lean, strong and happy.
Rise Above
Ant
Anthony Shaw
Head Coach
Raw Strength Gym, Warrington
PS - if you want help, we have a 6 week program called RISE. You get teamwork, support, advice and a solid direction for your life so that you can feel good, look better and live a life of purpose.
Click here to find out more: http://rawstrength.co.uk/built/