Nutrition for Optimal Health and Fitness – Q Academy Victoria BC
I was young and gullible when I first started in the fitness industry, so naturally I found myself caught up in the fitness modeling side of the multi-faceted industry. I would catch myself looking at fitness magazines with all the ripped (dehydrated, photoshopped and malnourished) models and dream about one day making it on one of the front covers. To me, they looked so healthy. At that time I believed that being healthy was about how you looked. Boy, was I ever wrong.
I would miss family events because I could not take off a scheduled day at the gym. I would eat the same boring meal every day of the week! I would eat chicken, broccoli and yams every day because it was whole foods. The meals that I consumed were not providing my body with a wide range of phytonutrients and varied amino acids. That, along with the synthetic supplements I was taking, was basically malnourishing my body.
I could finally see my abs! Unfortunately, my stomach was also bloated because my digestion was all out of whack. I was not absorbing foods properly which led me to feeling ill and swollen. I didn’t realize how acidic I was, and how that toxic mindset had made me a very unhealthy person.
A few years ago, I met a new group of people on the HEALTH side of the fitness industry and my whole mindset towards health and fitness shifted. I found myself inside a lot more health food stores and out of the typical supplement stores. I was slowly making the transition to true health, healing my gut and nourishing my body PROPERLY.
Now, I keep my body nourished with various natural, whole foods. I supplement with Greens which have increased my digestion and helped me realize that it is less of “you are what you eat” and more “you are what you absorb.” It’s almost as if I can feel each and every cell becoming more alive and nourished.
Being an athlete, I still drink protein shakes. Previously I did not know it was possible to find a protein that didn’t make me bloat until I was introduced to a fermented vegan protein. I can now provide my body with the nutrients it needs without it affecting how I feel or look. Since this lifestyle switch, my performance has improved, I no longer feel sluggish, and I cannot begin to tell you the amount of people who I’ve had the same feedback from following this lifestyle switch as well.
I have realized that;
- Health is all about how we FEEL inside.
- Alkalinity and digestion play a big aspect in reaching optimal health.
- Enjoying life is more important than letting your appearance rule your life. It can become a never-ending hamster wheel where you’re never satisfied with how you look.
- When we eat certain foods just lose weight or gain muscle, you can create a toxic relationship with food.
- Food is Mother Nature’s gift to nourish every cell in our body.
We need to listen to our bodies and our gut, stop listening to the ads and instead feed ourselves some love!
By Julie French ( The Fit Gypsy)
