You’ve probably heard it before—there is just no replacement for living a truly healthy life. However, with new diet pills and fads becoming popular every other week it’s easy to be worried that you’re missing out on a quick and easy fix to your weight problems. The difference between those pills (or diet craze) and your gym and diet routine is that the pills only fix one thing, your weight.
The healthy routine you have does a whole lot more than that. Here’s why there’s no good replacement for good nutrition and exercise.
It Improves Your Mental Clarity
Exercise: “Working out, especially between age 25 and 45, boosts the chemicals in the brain that support and prevent degeneration of the hippocampus, an important part of the brain for memory and learning,” according to Sophia Breene of Greatist.com. Set a workout routine in place now and you’ll experience the benefits for years to come.
Nutrition: Many processed foods cloud your mind, though you don’t even know it. Most processed foods are high in sugar, which causes your glucose levels to jump high and fast—the end result is a crash, which leaves you feeling tired and groggy. Whole foods such as fruits, veggies, nuts and whole grains digest slowly allowing you to experience a consistent energy flow; this is critical for your mental clarity.
It Makes You Happy
Exercise: If you’ve heard of runner’s high, then you likely know that working out makes you happy. But how does it work? Dopamine, the “happy chemical,” is released into your brain when you work out, leaving you feeling better than ever after a session in the gym, whether it’s good or bad. It also helps relieve anxiety and many symptoms of depression—this is your bad-day be-gone, and no skinny pills or extreme diet can do that.
It Helps You Live a Better Life
Exercise: When you first begin working with a personal trainer, you’ll work on basic exercises that help you perform your ADL, activities of daily life, such as reaching for a box, walking up stairs, or pushing your child in a swing. Simple exercises like the woodchop, squat or lunge improve every aspect of your life because they make it easier to do all the little things that you need to do to live.
Nutrition: Good eating habits help your body work properly, while poor nutrition can lead to migraines, acne, stomach pain and more. All of these things can stop you from getting drinks with friends, going on a date with your significant other or sitting through an important dance recital for your children.
Diet and exercise affects all areas of your life, and maintaining both are critical to being happy and healthy—no pill or diet craze can do that.
