Which one is more important, food or exercise? It depends on what you want for your well-being. Exercise relieves tension and produces a stronger body that is less susceptible to injury. Food enhances your metabolism and provides energy derived from nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
As Americans are getting bigger and more deconditioned, the bigger question is what must people do to lose weight? Intuitively, most would say increase your exercise time and intensity. Essentially, burn baby, burn!
But, that’s not the answer. What you eat is a far bigger determinant regarding your weight and metabolic functioning. If you turn up your exercise regimen and refuse to enhance your eating habits, you could journey down a path of endless frustration. I see this all the time at the gym.
Let’s do some quick math. A glazed butternut donut from Dunkin’ Donuts is 410 calories. The general rule of thumb is that you burn 100 calories per mile jogging. If you ran on a treadmill for one hour, you may not even burn that off, depending on your pace.
The question is how many hours a day do you have to exercise to burn off all the highly processed food you may consume? The average person can’t afford to devote that much time to exercise, nor the stamina to withstand it.
Therefore, dietary enhancement, via greater fresh produce consumption, is the best way to deal with being overweight and out of shape. You can consume more food with fewer and higher quality calories, which takes less energy and time to burn off. It’s a simple fix that just requires a little discipline.
