Fuel The Machine
I frequently tell my clients to think of their body as a machine when it comes to what they put into it. The point behind this is that instead of putting sugar, processed food, empty carbohydrates, un-healthy fat, etc. into their bodies they should be fueling themselves with whole foods and options that will help them perform. If you really think about it our bodies are machines, machines built to do amazing things when fed the right fuel. When you fuel your machine with un-healthy food you suffer the consequences of: decreased energy, increased body-fat, higher stress levels, poor sleeping habits, etc. However, if you fuel your machine with lean protein, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and fruits you reap the benefits of: feeling better, increased energy, looking better (lower body-fat), mental clarity, better sleep at night, and an overall sense of well-being.
Our society has developed this emotional connection with food that is very unhealthy and causing an increasingly higher obesity rate. In reality a person can eat very healthy and for very little cost relatively easy but its this emotional connection with food that keeps people going out to eat, eating processed junk, drinking thousands of calories worth of soda every day. We as a society need to break this emotional connection with food and start eating like our ancestors did.
Our ancestors did not have the convenience (or curse) of being able to grab a hamburger at a fast food joint, they had to work for their food. Instead of running to the nearest fast food establishment they were running to chase down a buffalo or they were out gathering nuts & vegetables. This constant cycle of having to hunt or find their next meal was a way of staying active and in shape. A couch potato of today would have died off in a relatively short time back in those days without having a frozen dinner or McDonald’s so readily available.
I’m not saying that you can’t indulge once in a while but it’s when that indulgence becomes an everyday thing that a problem arises. The next time you go to eat a doughnut or a fast food burger think about the idea of eating simply to fuel your machine (body) for a minute and maybe it will help you make a better choice.
