When embarking on a diet to keep fit, be aware that taking the correct amount of food necessary to support your lifestyle is essential. It is crucial to eat a wide range of foods to be sure of following a balanced diet that provides the body with all the nutrients it needs. Keeping fit with food, sport, or while breastfeeding is not tricky: Today, we will advise you on what to bring to the table if you are following a diet to achieve the perfect physical shape.
Keep Fit With Food
Staying fit doesn’t necessarily mean losing weight. What counts in a diet is a complete supply of all the nutrients necessary for the body that does not include excess food. Following a healthy diet that keeps you fit means limiting carbohydrates and getting suitable proteins and unsaturated fats, such as Omega 3 in fish, soy, some seeds, nuts, and vegetables. A proper diet, which is healthy and balanced, together with constant physical activity, turns out to be the simple magic formula for staying healthy. To keep fit, it is essential to eat well and choose foods that are low in calories and have a high satiety index, i.e., foods rich in fiber and water.
It is essential for our body to always be well hydrated. Drinking two liters of water a day and eating foods rich in water is one of the primary elements of a correct diet. Those who do not like water’s neutral taste can make herbal teas and teas without adding too many sugars. In extreme cases, honey is preferred. The Mediterranean diet, which is based on the unmistakable outline of the food pyramid, provides very valid and essential indications for those who decide to follow a nutritional regime that is based on the right balance of nutrients on the correct distribution of quantities on a daily and weekly scale and which allow the body to stay in shape.
In the habits of a healthy diet, the breakdown of daily calorie needs occurs through five meals: breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. It is crucial never to skip any of these meals. Even mid-morning or day snacks are essential to avoid getting too hungry for the main meals, risking overeating. In a balanced diet, it is also fundamental to vary the foods as much as possible. The excessive consumption of a particular food does not benefit the body but, on the contrary, can lead to solid food intolerances.
In the food pyramid and among the recommendations of the Mediterranean diet, constant consumption of fruit and vegetables immediately catches the eye, which must be eaten every day in at least five portions. Rich in vitamins, they are also of great help in the case of a diet that aims at weight loss and regulating metabolism. It is often recommended to consume fruit between meals or include it at breakfast, for example, as a juice. Vegetables are recommended as a side dish or, if enriched with various ingredients that ensure a complete nutritional intake, even as a single dish.
Raw or cooked vegetables must always be present on the table. Despite a limitation in the consumption of carbohydrates in a weight loss diet, nutrition experts suggest not eliminating them, thus imposing necessary sacrifices such as those to bread and pasta. These two essential foods must be present on the menu, but in small quantities and often alternated with Kamut and spelled pasta or wholemeal pasta and bread. When you follow a diet to keep fit or to regain your usual weight, try to limit the consumption of red meats and, in particular, sausages.
Try to prefer dishes based on white meat or fish, which is low in calories, very easy to digest, and is always a rich source of antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In this diet, reducing fats and sugars is essential: the sweet tooth will have to sacrifice limiting the consumption of overly elaborate and caloric desserts as much as possible. Strongly recommended, however, is dark chocolate that recharges the body with the right energy. Quality chocolate, which has a high percentage of cocoa and little sugar, provides proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins.
Consume it in small doses (about four squares of tablet per day), not alone and never on an empty stomach, and you will find a helpful ally that will help you keep your metabolism high throughout the day. Even in the condiments, it is necessary to follow particular rules. Try to eliminate the butter and replace it with extra virgin olive oil. This food helps the cardiovascular system stay young and robust, thanks to some good fats. The benefits of olive oil are also easily found in oil seeds, so we recommend that you include them in your diet, even as a delicious snack! You can also opt for dried fruit, such as nuts.
The latter is excellent to take before physical activity because it will give you the proper energy intake to face it. Also, pay special attention to the amount of salt used to reduce water retention and prevent some diseases. To flavor foods, choose spices: they will enhance the taste and give a right and healthy flavor to the dish. The rule of drinking lots of water always applies, starting with breakfast. A good glass of water with squeezed ½ lemon juice also has a detox effect and helps the body to purify itself.
Keep Fit With Sport
Also, in the food pyramid, we talk about physical activity, which is directly connected with the benefits that a correct diet ensures. The regularity with which it is practiced is fundamental. Running, gymnastics in the gym, and swimming are the potent antagonists of a sedentary lifestyle strongly contraindicated for those who want to keep fit and lose the extra pounds. However, it is also good to know that exercising too frequently, every day, can cause disturbances to the organism, straining it excessively.
Proper physical activity can consist of a few exercises in the morning, to be carried out in complete tranquility for at least 30 minutes. These are simple exercises to do, such as abdominals or small stretches. The recommended workout includes three days of activity every week. But dedicating yourself to fitness to reduce fat mass or to tone the muscles of the legs, buttocks, abdomen, and arms is of no use if the training is not supported by proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle that is important to achieve lasting benefits. To maintain the perfect muscle mass functioning, an average daily intake ranging from 1.1 to 1.5 g of protein per kg of body weight is sufficient. In the case of training at a competitive level, this dose reaches 1.7 g.
Therefore, the diet of those who decide to combine training with a healthy diet to restore tone to the body must contain low-fat protein foods, such as skimmed milk, yogurt, lean meat, fish, and legumes. Avoiding fats as much as possible and preferring vegetable fats found in precious extra virgin olive oil, fish, and dried fruit will be essential. An hour of intense physical training involves an energy expenditure that fluctuates between 400 and 900 kcal. Here is an example of a diet to follow on exercise days and suitable for an adult who does 1 hour of gym 2-3 times a week,
- Breakfast should include a glass of whole milk and 30g of cereal. In addition, orange juice or a seasonal fruit will complete the correct nutritional supply.
- For the mid-morning snack, you can consume one rusk, a teaspoon of homemade jam, and a cup of green tea. You can also add one tablespoon of almonds.
- At lunch, the indicated amount of pasta or rice per person is 80 g. Choose natural and healthy toppings such as a fresh tomato or vegetable sauce. As a second course, 40 g of flaked parmesan will be fine, also suitable for lactose intolerant. Proteins are essential for those who practice sports: it is, therefore, necessary to include them in every meal. Eggs, cheeses, white meat, and fish are the natural sources of protein that are best suited to a healthy diet. Always accompany the second course with a light side dish of vegetables, raw or cooked. Never skip meals. Otherwise, the risk is arriving Home in the evening with excessive hunger. In addition, remember that those who practice constant physical activity need that the nutritional intake is divided.
- Have a snack with seasonal fruit and a herbal tea of your choice.
- For dinner, bring to the table, for example, 200 g of grilled chicken and plenty of vegetables. Accompany everything with 70 g of wholemeal bread because remember that a portion of carbohydrates must always be present in the diet of a sportsman because they are the energy source of the muscles in activity.
The losses due to sweating must be compensated for with constant water consumption because sweating can lead to sodium, chlorine, potassium, magnesium, and calcium losses. This is why it is always essential to drink small amounts of water before, during, and after training. Very valid in this case are also fruit and vegetable centrifuges.
A healthy balance between food and exercise helps to burn fat in a more correct, practical, and faster way because, as nutritionists explain, wanting to lose weight, thinking about drastically reducing nutrition, and engaging in demanding physical exercises would only lead to experiencing the sport as an effort and to seek, after practicing it, a compensation that, despite good intentions, would end up inducing the consumption of high-calorie foods which the body feels the urgent need.
