Eating healthy and weight training
If you have decided that you would like to finally get healthy and strong, then you have probably considered many different diets and techniques for achieving your goals. It seems as if you cannot go into a bookstore nowadays without becoming inundated with an avalanche of advice about how to achieve the body and the lifestyle that you want. Some of these books focus on the diet and nutritional aspect of a healthy lifestyle. These books will talk about the dietary needs of a human being and which food combinations work best for achieving a fit body. These books will also offer advice about which foods should be avoided entirely or at least indulged in with extreme moderation.
A whole other set of books and magazines offer advice about the proper role of exercise and weight training in a healthy and happy lifestyle. They might offer recommendations for a particular routine and teach you how you can perform various exercises either at home or in the gym. These books are great for learning new exercise techniques. It is rare that you will peruse through one of these books without becoming excited about the new exercise possibilities that are now open to you.
Another category of books focus on the role of the mind and of the emotions in any healthy lifestyle. Although diet and exercise are the core foundations, there has been a lot of research lately that indicates that these two pillars often are not enough to sustain the type of life that you have been seeking. Without the proper motivation and emotional mindset, you are likely to lapse directly back into your old habits of unhealthy living. These books also discuss the role of your social network. If you often hang around with people who are overweight or who do not eat healthily or treat their bodies with respect, then you will most likely find yourself emulating their behavior on an unconscious level whether you want to or not. This is summed up in the aphorism that "you are who your friends are". If you are truly serious about achieving the body, the health, and the life that you want, then it is often necessary to toss your old friends by the wayside and to acquire new friends who will pull you up to a higher level rather than drag you down to a more depraved condition.
By far the greatest mistake that the majority of people make when they decide to improve their health and lifestyle is to focus solely on the food that they eat. Most people decide that they should go on a "diet". At its most primitive level, these people decide merely to deprive themselves of calories for a short period of time with the hope that they will be able to quickly lose weight. The most pernicious aspect of this strategy is that it does seem to convey some benefits in the short term. The weight of the person will indeed drop. Unfortunately, what almost always accompanies this drop in weight is a similar drop in metabolism. As the person nears the end of their prescribed diet, their body will have shifted into a mild form of starvation mode. They will be extremely hungry, and their body will be conserving as much energy as it can. When they resume their regular diet, they will quickly gain back all the weight that they had lost. Even worse, they will typically end up with a worse muscle to fat ratio than they started off with. That is, they will have more fat at the end of the diet and less muscle. This is the opposite effect that the person had hoped to achieve.
A less primitive, but still far from optimal strategy is to focus on eating healthy foods rather than to focus on caloric deprivation. This strategy for a healthy lifestyle is far more sustainable, but it often does not give the person the full results that they want. They do receive benefits such as a better immune system and overall health, but there is often little to no change in body shape. You can eat all the carrots and broccoli that you want, but if you are still spending all your time sitting at a desk or on your couch, then your body has no reason or incentive to transform itself into the lean, fit, sexy machine that you are looking for.
The third method that many people attempt in order to get the body that they want is to focus solely on the exercise aspect without paying any attention to their diet. This is particularly prevalent amongst young men who wish to become strong and healthy. While they might indeed become strong, they are often lacking in health. These young men will spend hours every day at the gym lifting weights and running on the treadmill. Then after their workout, they will devour an entire bag of chips and obtain their food from the nearest fast food restaurant. Their body shape may look pretty good, but their body won't have the proper balance of nutrients that it needs. They will be more likely to get sick and to develop unnatural diseases. They may develop other ugly attributes such as acne or a double chin.
The best way to finally achieve the body and health that you want is to combine both healthy eating with a weight training and exercise regimen. The diet will ensure that your body has all the right nutrients and immune system boosting chemicals, while the weight training regimen will ensure that the fat and muscle of your body will be allocated in the way that you want. You will have a slim waist, a strong back, and wonderful skin. Even better, this is by far the most sustainable method by which to maintain your health. The other methods are all shortcuts, which can never work. Combining a healthy diet with regular exercise is more in line with human nature.
