By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
It’s said that the key to losing weight and maintaining good health is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. When you increase the amount you exercise, you increase the number of calories you burn. However, if you consume the wrong things, you could cancel out the progress you make through exercise, which is why your diet is more important.
There are many short- and long-term benefits to having a healthy diet. In the short term, you will see improvements in your physical health and in how your body feels internally. Just like your car after an oil change, everything runs so much more smoothly.
In the long term, you will see plenty of positives, including an increased life span and a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 18% of cancers are related to factors like poor nutrition.
I can keep throwing numbers and studies at you, but I find it more effective to speak from experience. Even if you don’t want to eat all the vegetables in the world or cut out meat, you can try not eating fast food. Once I stopped eating fast food for a month, and I felt amazing, with a lot more energy and an even bigger mood change; I was very happy-go-lucky during that time because I wasn’t so tired and sluggish.
Finding a good balance of nutrition and exercise is important, but your priority should be fixing your diet. Exercise goes a long way and strengthens your body, but what you put inside your body is what makes or breaks your overall health. What good is a nice exterior of a car if it has a faulty engine?
Some tips to maintain a good diet are eating a good breakfast, drinking a lot of water and eating fruits and vegetables. I love Whataburger as much as anyone else, and I understand the difficulty of dieting and the desire for specific foods. If you are really looking to become healthy and maintain it, though, you need to prioritize your diet.
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