Is It Okay To Eat Unhealthy If You Exercise?

It's clear that the health of people overall in the recent decades has declined quite a bit. So much that we're the unhealthiest nation to ever exist in all of humanity. For example, with obesity you might think the main cause is due to lack of exercise. But the thing is, people are exercising more now than ever. We now have things like CrossFit, F45, yoga classes, etc., so there is some sort of exercise modality that most people go to and enjoy. There is still a good amount of the population that is sedentary, but not exercising enough isn't the main issue with weight gain and chronic disease overall. We've seen the biggest increase in chronic diseases in the last 100 years and the main things that have changed during that time is the way we eat and our environment.

Some people think it is okay to eat unhealthily if you exercise. This is more harmful than someone who eats healthy and doesn't exercise all that often. The way you eat has more to do with your overall health. A person who eats very healthy and doesn't exercise all that often will be able to lose weight easier and have less chance of having a chronic disease than someone who eats unhealthy but exercises often. Exercise is definitely important and can make a huge impact on your life and health, but the main issue with most people overall is the way they eat.

Consuming a diet high in processed foods can lead to health problems even if you are physically active. Your exercise performance might even suffer - you aren't fueling your body properly and your energy levels won't be optimal.

The average American consumes over 60% of their diet from processed foods. Our genes don't accept and recognize these processed foods/ food like products, which is why overtime you can develop chronic disease, weight gain, high blood pressure or just about any other chronic condition. Not only do processed foods contain minimal nutrients, chemicals, and harmful ingredients, but most of them act like drugs. They drive dopamine to your brain giving you a sense of pleasure causing you to eat more and more of it. Due to all this exposure to these dopamine driven foods it will make it harder to eat healthier since your brain is already overstimulated from these foods. Your body wants to keep eating more and more of those foods for that dopamine hit, but then you reach a point where your body becomes sensitive to dopamine, and you'll need more and stronger dopamine hits to keep your brain satisfied.

That also doesn't mean that you can't make your foods tasty and healthy at the same time. When you are out to eat at a restaurant for example, their goal is to make the food as fatty, salty, and sugary as possible. A salad from a restaurant is pretty much more dressing than veggies to make it tasty. They don't take healthy eating into consideration; they just want you coming back for more. The shift to healthy eating from processed foods and eating at restaurants, to cooking your meals often can be challenging. As nutritionists we are here to help you break that cycle of being stuck on those processed foods and have a balanced diet. It takes time for this and is a gradual process. When proper nutrition is combined with a good exercise program, you will see a massive change in just about every aspect of your life.