Eating Is An Investment
Sep 08, 2017
So many people work so hard in the gym for so many hours to see mediocre results. Honestly, most people actually do some kind of exercise… you can go up to people that you wouldn’t even think workout and they will tell you all about how they train with some trainer or they go on a jog a couple times a week, some may even train pretty hard several times a week but they still look like they haven’t exercised a day in their lives. Why is this? Well, a lot of it does have to do with genetics and body types. But I believe that being fit and overall healthy throughout life is 75% what we eat. The other 25% is the exercise we do and the rest we get. We must learn to eat for our body type and the stage of life that we are in.
When I became certified the first half of the book was about nutrition, most of my classes in college are nutrition and how to eat in your stage of life for what you are doing. There are formulas that health professionals use to determine the caloric intake of a particular individual. One formula that I particularly like is called the basal energy expenditure (BEE) formula. This formula takes into account weight, height, age, and the activity level of the individual.
Everyone’s needs are different, we must know what our body needs and fulfill those needs. The problem is that we are more than fulfilling our caloric needs but not fulfilling our nutrient needs with nutrient dense foods. I have said before that we need to fit as many “micros” into your “macros” as we can. What I mean by that is we need to fit as many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (micronutrients) into our proteins, carbohydrates, and fats (macronutrients). The macronutrients are what give us energy or calories, we need these in larger amounts, thus the use for “macro”. Our micronutrients are also known as trace elements because we need such a small amount of them per day. Most have heard the term “empty calories” … this term is used for foods like white bread, candy, and soda because they have plenty of calories but no nutrients. We only have a certain amount of calories per day to get all of the micronutrients that our body needs, so if we are eating calories that do not have micronutrients then we are wasting those calories. So next time you are wanting a snack maybe try having a nutrient dense food like and apple (throw a little bit of peanut butter on there too for those peanut butter lovers) instead of those cheez-its you love so much.
The times we eat and what we eat are so important. Our body has specific nutrient needs at specific times and if we are not acquiring them then our body cannot function the way that it was made to. If we are tearing down our bodies (in a good way) in the gym, then we must eat the right foods to build it back up stronger. Picture a log cabin, if you tear that log cabin down with the intent of building it back up stronger and don’t have the new materials to do so then you won’t be building anything. There is a partnership that exercise and nutrition has… they are both critical to being overall healthy. We must gain a new perspective of what that partnership looks live in OUR lives. Every single thing we do is an investment into something… therefore eating and exercising is an investment into our body. If we want to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, then we must make good investments.
The only way to know exactly what being healthy looks like for you is to have God's perspective of your life, only then can you have the right mindset of what God is calling you to and how you can be available for him. I don’t care what anyone tells you, Jesus is the only one who can FULLY deliver you from the wrong perspectives and from the things that you have always struggled with. I even feel like there are people who are reading this who are dealing with shame because they have such a hard time with weight management and eating right. They feel alone, overwhelmed, and like nothing will ever change. Make no mistake, Jesus sees you and he cares. Hebrews 4:14-16 says “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”. Pray about it, ask for his perspective, and see who he wants you to partner with. Whether that be a trainer, a friend, or someone in your family. He SO desires to lead us into the fullness of what he has for us in every aspect of our lives.
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