Can You Exercise Your Way to Good Health?

Exercise is a great stress reducer, brain booster, and chronic disease fighter. When many people start a healthy lifestyle, their first step is often a gym membership. Working out is a fantastic start, because it shows immediate results and makes you feel great. Unfortunately, a huge mistake is stopping with just fitness.

Why can't you out exercise a bad diet?

• Exercise burns relatively few calories, especially if you're overconsuming on the food side. The bonus? You also tend to eat more if you're exercising. 
• Remember how we talked about weekend warriors increasing their toxic load? It's a lot easier to over-do the oxidative damage if you're not setting up your body to fight it. 
• Right along with setting up your body for success, it's extremely difficult to maintain an exercise routine without the proper nutrition. Your body will become fatigued, leading to overtraining a lot more easily.
• This is less of a can't and more of a why bother. You're not going to get the full benefit from your workout if you don't compliment it with the right nutrients. Do you really want to put a ton of exercise into a fitness routine if you're only going to get a little bit out of it? 

So, what can you do? Make sure you're getting plenty of protein within 45 minutes of your workout. Get lots of leafy greens and colorful vegetables to load up on antioxidants. Green tea is also a great way to get a boost! Balance out your electrolytes by getting enough salt, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. They play a huge part in your body, especially during exercise. An electrolyte will make you feel lousy. Be consistent, both with your diet and exercise!