You don’t need anyone to tell you that smoking is bad for your health.  Smoking impairs the immune system and is associated with a long list of cardiovascular, autoimmune, respiratory and neurological diseases. The list of common symptoms of tobacco-related diseases includes shortness of breath, persistent cough, and frequent colds or upper respiratory infections.

Specifically, the substances you ingest while smoking a cigarette have a direct effect on both the innate and adaptive immunity, suppressing the normal development and function of the cells that are responsible for driving immunity in the body. Nicotine, in particular, has been shown to be a potent immunosuppressive agent by affecting the immunosurveillance properties of dendritic cells, highly-specialized cells of the immune system.

Imagine this; your body fights for your survival every single day of your life, and in the meantime, you can be counteracting these efforts every time you decide to smoke. Is that cigarette worth your health?

2.  Drink Alcohol in Moderation

Alcohol is often associated with celebrations and anniversaries, but if you abuse it, your immune system suffers.  Alcohol consumption is a contributing factor to organ damage, specifically the liver, and is known to slow down recovery from tissue injuries. Try to stick within the standard drink guidelines, however it is important to remember that factors such as gender, age, mental health, drug use and existing medical conditions can change how alcohol affects you.

A standard drink provides 10g alcohol and is equal to:

• 100ml wine
• 285ml full strength beer
• 60ml port or sherry
• 30ml spirits. (2)

Alcohol intake exceeding the recommended intake disrupts essential immune pathways and, in turn, impairs the body’s ability to defend itself against infections. 

It is worth stating that alcohol-related immune system disturbances have been implicated in the development of certain types of cancer, including but not limited to head and neck cancers among alcohol users. Before you start thinking that this is a problem isolated to chronic alcohol users, keep in mind that acute binge drinking, also known as a Saturday night, has the ability to severely impair the body’s defence system.

3.  Try to Minimise Stress

Chronic stress is like poison for your body; it has a negative impact on every aspect of your health, and it’s even more dangerous due to its ability to creep up without you consciously acknowledging it.  One of the many systems responsible in the body for handling difficult situations is the immune system. Specifically, cells of the immune systems are equipped with receptors that recognize stress hormones, such as cortisol. 

Even acute stress can mess up your immune system by increasing the release of inflammatory-promoting cytokines in the blood, a special type of immune cell that signals other cells and affect their function. Stress, immunity, and disease can affect each other in reciprocal ways, but these relationships can be moderated by life stage, other environmental pressures and goals, stressor duration, and protective factors, such as good sleep. Make sure you have a healthy strategy to help you relieve the symptoms of stress like exercising or spending time with friends and family. 

4.  Get More Sleep

Speaking of sleep, it is a strong regulator of immunological processes and works to enhance the memory of the adaptive immune system. When you deprive your body of adequate sleep, you simultaneously make it more susceptible to many infectious agents. Sleep deprivation not only makes you more susceptible to infections like the common cold or the flu, but it also makes it so much harder to recover from the bacteria or virus infection that eventually manages to enter your system.  

While you are sleeping every night, your body uses this time to strengthen the immune system and move T cells to the lymph nodes, the vessels of the immune system responsible for filtering harmful substances. These T cells produce cytokines which are called to action when there is inflammation in your body or when you’re under stress. During periods of inadequate sleep, cytokine production is diminished, further hurting your immune system.  So, feel free to hit that snooze button, and in case you come down with the flu, feel free to hibernate for a few days.

5. Exercise Regularly – But Don’t Skip Rest Days

Most people have a love-hate relationship with exercise.  This particular argument will only add to your love towards exercise. Studies have proved that regular physical activity may enhance the immune system and provide protection against infection.

Furthermore, regular resistance exercise increases your muscle mass, which acts as a protein reserve when the immune system is working to stave off disease. Simply put, the more muscle mass you build through a healthy diet and regular exercise, the more equipped your body is to fight off infection and keep you strong and healthy. Conversely, getting rid of bacteria or virus infection will be a lot harder if you have been neglecting the gym.

But don’t forget to take your workouts outside. Exercising outside is a great way to both destress and reap the benefits of Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to an increased susceptibility to infection, so when the weather permits try to go outside and enjoy the sun.

Unfortunately, no one can stay young forever, and as the body ages, its natural defences begin to waiver.  The good news is that regular physical activity in the elderly may counteract the actions of time and boost the immune system so that it can protect the body from infection and disease.

Nonetheless, like everything else in life, too much of a good thing can be bad.  Being a couch potato suppresses the immune system, but the opposite extreme can be equally detrimental. Repeated bouts of strenuous exercise, also known as overtraining syndrome, can lead to symptoms like immune dysfunction, so make sure to maintain a healthy balance between regular physical activity and exhaustion.

6.  Eat Enough Nutritious Foods

Every system in the body requires energy to function properly. This energy is provided by food sources in the form of calories. Indeed, insufficient intake of calories may lead to micronutrient deficiencies and suppress the immune system and its vital functions. In fact, malnutrition is the most prevalent cause of immunodeficiency around the world.  

Food is powerful; it has the potential to make or break every chemical pathway in the body that sustains you. Because of that, it makes sense that the healthier your food choices are the stronger your immune system & subsequently your health will be. 

Certain nutrient deficiencies have the potential to alter immune responses and damage the way your immune response to infections. Vitamins and nutrients with antioxidant properties can provide protection against free radicals. Adding an abundance of foods high in naturally occurring antioxidants like citrus fruits in your diet is the key to maintaining a healthy immune system. Exposure to environmental conditions such as UV light, cigarette smoke can ultimately take its toll on the immune system and drive the production of free radicals in the body. Antioxidants fight the free radicals and restore the structural integrity of cells and membranes in the body. Examples of such antioxidants include zinc, selenium, iron, copper, vitamin C, A, and E. Foods high in vitamin C, A, and E, in particular, may also increase the activation of cells involved in tumor immunity.

Plant-derived bioactive compounds, known as phytonutrients, also play an important role in strengthening the immune system.  Polyphenols, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, carotenoids, and phytoestrogens, are some of the few phytonutrients that have the ability to enhance the immune system with their immunity-boosting superpowers. Dietary intake of phytochemicals promotes health benefits and protects against chronic disorders, such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and inflammation. Also, their natural origin poses lower side effects when compared to chemotherapy or radiotherapy and promises a brilliant future for their use in treating specific types of cancer.  

Finally, there is emerging research linking gut health to the immune system and there is promising research highlighting the benefits of probiotics supplementation in improving the body’s response to bacterial infections.

Balanced nutrition, especially in terms of adequate vitamin, mineral and protein intake (for those essential amino acids), enhances the resistance against infections. If you are not sure that you can provide everything your body needs through your diet alone, it might be worth investing in a quality multivitamin to help cover any inconsistencies from your diet. 

7.  Maintain a healthy body fat percentage

It has been observed that overnutrition can potentially increase the risk of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.  A healthy body fat percentage ranges between 10-20% of the total body weight for men and 18-28% for women. Therefore, a percent body fat higher than this may impair the immune response.

Studies have shown that the link between obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes could be explained through the subsequent activation of the innate immune system. The same system that is implicated in the pathophysiology of obesity-related liver damage.  A healthy immune system does an excellent job in protecting you from disease, but permanent activation causes the release of immune cells that promote inflammation in the body, making it a lot harder for the immune system to concentrate on its primary goal; to keep you healthy.  

The solution is simple in this case. You can reverse the negative effects of a high body percentage by improving your body composition. Less body fat, specifically visceral fat, equals less immune cells circulating in the bloodstream, promoting inflammation and wreaking havoc on the natural processes of the body.  

In addition to losing fat, gaining more muscle mass, as we spoke about before, can further improve body composition and reset a dysfunctioning immune system, laying the foundations towards long term health.

                        Regular Body Composition Analysis is the ideal way to monitor your fat percentage.

You may read this article and think that all these are just too much change for you. Small changes are still a step in the right direction. Change your habits one at a time to help support your immune system, and it will help you bounce back quickly next time you catch a common cold. After all, a strong, healthy body depends on your daily decisions.

Contact My Body Composition Solutions for an analysis of your composition and more information.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA blog ‘7 Ways to Boost Your Immune System’written by  Rafaela Michailidou is a Biomedical scientist, and a freelance health and wellness content writer. Aspiring to help people achieve their goals, she is currently studying to be a Health Coach. 

 This article includes words and phrases that link to several other information resources.

(1)  Source: According to a 2015 report by AIG.

(2)  Source: eatforhealth.gov.au

Why this is better: It’s safe to assume that in most circumstances, when people want to get “bigger”, they want their muscles to get bigger, not their waistlines.  By defining your goal as being Lean Body Mass gain (muscle is the biggest component of Lean Body Mass) and putting a number to it, you have a numerical goal to work towards.

“I want to lose 10kg of fat”

Why this is better: Similar to getting bigger, when people say they want to lose “weight”, it’s safe to assume that they really want to lose fat.  You don’t want to lose muscle – muscle is metabolically active tissue that serves many important roles: from maintaining your metabolism to supporting healthy bone density to keeping a healthy immune system.

It’s likely that some muscle loss will occur when you try to lose fat, so by monitoring the changes in your body composition, you’ll be able to keep an eye on this and minimize any losses that may occur by making the necessary corrections in your diet and exercise program.

Tracking Changes In Your Body Composition Lets You Set Reachable Time-Based Goals

Sometimes, you start a fitness journey because you have a special event coming up. Maybe you’re going on a vacation and you want to have a rockin’ body when you hit the beach.  Maybe there’s a wedding coming up, and you want to make sure you fit into a new/favourite dress.

Point is: there’s a deadline you want results by, and you want a solution that will help you get there. This is a really common situation, so common that nearly every fad diet or gimmicky product makes time deadlines a critical part of their marketing. These diets and products all claim to solve an immediate problem, which makes people feel better, and which is why popular magazines just love promoting them (looking at you, Cosmopolitan).

There are no shortcuts to losing weight, gaining muscle in a very short amount of time. But instead, by tracking your progress by tracking your changes in body composition, you can actually set real goals with real results that you can actually achieve.

Let’s build on the goals we made before, this time adding a reasonable time frame.

“I want to build some muscle in the next 5-6 months”

When you try to build develop muscle and Lean Body Mass, there are a lot of factors that go into whether or not you achieve that goal.  What type of exercises you do, the degree to which you properly perform your exercises, whether you lift heavy with few reps or light with many, how often you strength train, how often you rest…the list goes on, and that doesn’t even include proper nutrition.

However, assuming that you do everything perfect and you’re a beginner, experts posit that you can gain roughly 1 kg of muscle a month with consistent, proper training. If you’re not a beginner, your rate of lean mass growth will be slower as you get closer to your genetic limit for natural muscle development.

Knowing this, if you’re just getting started, you can track your progress every month and expect to see up to a 1 kg increase every month until you reach your goal of 3-5 kg of muscle by following a challenging lifting program.

Here’s how your composition history can look with muscle gain:

When you use your body composition to track your progress, it suddenly doesn’t matter as much how much you can lift, or how many reps you can do. Instead, what matters is that you’re working towards a physical goal – getting bigger and more muscular – and you’re doing it in a way that you can reliably track towards a realistic goal.

“I want to lose 10kg of fat in 5-60 months”

In some ways, losing Fat Mass is easier than building Lean Body Mass and muscle.  There are many types of exercise that encourage Lean Body Mass development, many workout plans to organize them in, and it requires significant amounts of rest and recovery. Fat loss, on the other hand, requires less arguably less planning and actually occurs faster than muscle gain. 

To lose Fat Mass, you need to be in a caloric deficit (taking in less calories than you use) and maintain it carefully over an extended period of time.  This isn’t rocket science, and virtually every peer-reviewed study that includes groups that undergo a caloric deficit experience fat loss. Here are three published in 2015 alone. Hypocaloric diets work.

How quickly can you lost fat? Many studies and health groups, including the Centres for Disease Control, report that by reducing your caloric intake by 3,500 calories a week typically results in ½ kg of fat loss.

Here’s how your composition history can look with fat loss:

Note: ½ kg of fat loss, not weight loss.  If you’re just a scale to measure your rate of change, you may experience even more “weight loss,” but if you’re on a hypocaloric diet, especially one that focuses on cutting out carbohydrates, you might experience additional water weight loss.

That’s because water bonds to glycogen at rate of about 4 grams of water: 1 gram of carbs. If you’re much lower on carbs than you usually are, you’ll be retaining less water and weigh less accordingly.

When you use your body composition to track your progress with fat loss, you can account for what’s actually being lost when you see your weight decrease on the scale. This helps you avoid mistaking your weight loss for water weight loss or (hopefully not) muscle loss.

Why is this important to know? If you’re tracking your body composition changes instead of simple scale weight changes, you won’t be confused when you gain a few pounds back after reintroducing carbs into your diet.  You’ll know that this weight is water, not fat.

Also, by being patient and tracking a pound or two of fat loss each month, you can stay motivated by knowing you’re making real changes that will last in your body. Gaining water weight is as easy as refueling on carbs, but gaining actual fat? That requires you to be in a caloric surplus over a period of time.  Eat within your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, and you can expect your fat mass to remain stable.

Tracking Changes In Your Body Composition Helps You Reduce Negative Changes In Your Body

Unfortunately, the truth is that “positive” results– increases in muscle and decreases in fat – usually come paired with negative consequences.

·  Gaining Fat with Muscle

If the results you’re working for are muscle gain, you may end up experiencing some unwanted fat gain as a side effect.  This is due to the nature of the diet you should go on to encourage muscle tissue growth: namely, a caloric surplus.

Getting sufficient nutrients/calories – particularly carbohydrates and protein – is essential for encouraging increased muscle and strength. However, just as eating fewer calories than you use causes a decrease in fat, eating more than your body “needs” will cause a gain in fat over time.

For some people, gaining a little extra fat is not a big concern, but for others it is – especially if clothes start to not fit properly.  By tracking your body composition changes, you’ll be able to track both muscle and fat gain, allowing you to change your diet or exercise routine if you feel that you’re gaining too much fat.

·  Losing Muscle with Fat

The opposite is true when you try to lose fat. With large reductions in fat due to a hypocaloric diet, you can lose Lean Body Mass and Skeletal Muscle Mass.  Muscle is healthy tissue that you should work hard to preserve.

Fortunately, you can minimize the loss of muscle while reducing fat mass by increasing your protein intake and by performing resistance training. In a study of overweight police officers, the group that ingested casein protein supplements and performed regular resistance training experienced less loss of muscle tissue and increased strength vs. the group that simply dieted.

By tracking your body composition changes, you’ll be able to keep an eye on any losses in muscle development.  Just like for people who want to build muscle, if you see that your negative change – loss in muscle – is becoming too great when you track your body composition changes, you can made the necessary adjustments to your diet and workout plan to help mitigate that loss.

Tracking Progress and Setting Reachable Goals Leads to Success

Tracking your progress over time is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your reach your health and fitness goals.  Whether that’s gaining muscle, losing fat, or both, by accurately tracking your progress with something measurable instead of something visual – like a mirror – or unreliable – like scale weight – you will be able to reach your goals faster.

That’s why tracking progress with your body composition delivers results: it offers objective, measurable values in your body that translate into physical results.

With more muscle and less fat, you’ll be stronger, look fitter, and will be healthier. You’ll be able to gauge this progress objectively instead of guessing, and you’ll be able to make smart adjustments in your training as needs be.

Contact My Body Composition Solutions for an analysis of your composition and more information.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA ‘Why Tracking Changes in Body Composition Leads to Results’

originally published on March 24, 2016..

 This article includes words and phrases that link to several other information resources.

First, let’s examine how the stress hormone affects your Fat Free Mass (your muscles and muscular development). As far back as 1964, researchers have suggested this hormone hampers protein synthesis. Protein synthesis = development of new muscle.

Researchers mimicked a stressed state in healthy test subjects by adding cortisol to their systems via IV and oral tablets. They found that cortisol and inactivity were linked with loss of Lean Body Mass, muscle loss, and negatively affected body composition overall. While inactivity can have this effect alone, the catabolic effect of cortisol seemed to play a significant role in muscle loss.

While we may not understand everything about the stress hormone yet, researchers are beginning to understand the effect that chronic stress can have on muscle recovery.

A study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research in 2014 was conducted to determine the relationship between stress and muscular recovery. Over the course of a 4-day period, the subjects’ perceived energy, fatigue, and soreness levels were measured after a bout of strenuous resistance exercise.

Over time, perceived stress can end up wearing away at both your mental and physical health. What’s worse, it doesn’t take weeks or months to start seeing the effects. It only took 4 days for researchers to notice a statistically significant impact on perceived energy, fatigue and soreness levels.

And it’s not just in our heads either. The results from the study also showed that over time, stress (whether it originates from an external event or perception) negatively influenced the recovery of muscular function after exercise.

Fat Mass *

Of course, that’s what we found just from looking at Fat Free Mass. Next, let’s look at how cortisol affects Fat Mass.

In 2000, University of California’s Health Psychology Program conducted a study designed to assess whether women with central fat distribution displayed consistently heightened cortisol reactivity when presented with nerve-racking situations.

What the study concluded was that stress-induced cortisol secretion could contribute to an increase in Fat Mass. Interestingly, when comparing subjects with greater fat content vs. leaner subjects, they found that the leaner subjects were more at risk than the subjects with greater body fat percentages.

The implication of this study suggests a fat gain positive feedback loop could occur if left unchecked: more stress -> more cortisol ->more body fat -> more stress

This is where the danger starts to become apparent. It’s not that it hinders one specific aspect of your overall fitness development– it impacts every aspect of it. Building muscle and losing fat becomes harder while under stress while gaining fat becomes easier than ever before. It’s clear that feeling stressed out can have a serious effect on your body and fitness level.

And that’s not the worst of it. Sure, there’s plenty of data that shows how stress makes it harder to reduce body fat and limit the benefits of exercise. But there’s just as much concern in the fitness community that elevated levels can derail one of the most important factors to achieving a healthier body: your diet and sleep.

How Stress Can Derail Your Diet and Sleep

Keep in mind that achieving a healthy body composition is more than just building muscle and losing fat.

Maintaining a proper diet and getting enough sleep every night are necessities if you expect to make meaningful progress but that it can be difficult if you suffer from chronic stress.

A study conducted in 2016 by the Health Care Department or the Metropolitan Autonomous University was designed to observe whether there is a relationship between obesity, depression and emotional eating. Depressive symptoms have often been associated with obesity, and the study ventured to see how anxiety and depression can trigger emotional eating and subsequent weight gain.

Emotional eating occurs when people eat to deal with stressors – often overeating high-calorie sweet or fatty food. After examining the results of over 1,000 subjects and their emotional eating habits, the data suggested that depression-related emotional overeating can have a statistically significant impact on obesity and that emotion management may prove effective in obesity prevention.

Stress is hard enough to handle in small doses, but chronic stress can have complex, detrimental effects on your emotional health (which in turn, ends up impacting your overall health). While the benefits of maintaining good nutrition and managing your calories are well established, it is becoming clear that how you address the triggers of stress is just as important when you are constructing your diet plan.

But stress can impact not only your diet but your sleep. The average adult barely gets enough sleep as it is, with about a third of adults reporting less than 6 hours of sleep every night. Chronic stress can make it harder to fall asleep, resulting in an endless cycle.

Consider the findings of a study conducted in 1997 by the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine. The expressed purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between sleep loss and cortisol levels.

Long story short, the study concluded that when your body doesn’t get enough sleep, your cortisol levels can rise anywhere from 37-45%, which according to researchers can “accelerate the development of metabolic and cognitive consequences of glucocorticoid excess.”

Translation? The increased cortisol levels can seriously threaten your muscle development (never mind the reduced GH and testosterone levels caused by your lack of sleep) and make it that much harder to reach your fitness goals. Even partial sleep loss is enough to raise your cortisol levels and bring on the entire host of problems that come along with it.

Understanding and Managing Stress

When you embark on your fitness journey to improve your health, there are so many different factors that come into play you might start to feel overwhelmed, especially when it seems like you aren’t making any progress.

Ironically, worrying that you aren’t making any progress may reduce/limit any positive benefits that you get from exercise.

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools you can utilize. Making sure you get enough sleep is crucial to managing for both your stress levels and mental health. Research has shown that mindfulness practices like meditation, pilates and yoga can help lower stress, along with other positive benefits.

The key to stress management is to make sure you have something positive that you can turn to in your time of need. Because if you don’t have a plan, stress can cause health problems and end up as one of the biggest barriers between you and your fitness goals.

The fact that chronically elevated stress levels have a negative effect on the humans is hardly a revelation these days – symptoms ranging from a depressed emotional state to compromised immune system has been well-established. The more we study stress and try to understand how it specifically affects the human body, the more we realize that it might be one of the underlying issues holding us back in the pursuit of a healthier, happier life.

Don’t let stress hold you back!

Contact My Body Composition Solutions for an analysis of your composition and more information.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA ‘Can Stress Hurt Your Fitness?” originally published on October 12, 2016 and updated on November 21, 2018, for accuracy and comprehensiveness. It was written by Brian Leguizamon, a content marketing specialist. Brian has worked with Shopify, Gigster and a bunch of start-ups you’ve never heard of. 

 This article includes words and phrases that link to several other information resources.

You probably don’t think about your body composition when you’re thinking about your metabolism. But you should.

You probably think about it in terms of speed: “My metabolism is fast” or “my metabolism is slowing down.” 

People are naturally afraid of their metabolism slowing and the weight gain they know comes with it. To some extent, those worries are well-founded.

Metabolism is linked with weight gain and loss because of its a biological process involved with energy and calories.  

A well rounded and accepted definition of metabolism is: the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function. 

Notice how it doesn’t mention anything about the speed you process your food. That would be digestion.

In medical terminology, metabolism Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the minimum number of calories your body needs to perform basic bodily functions. This includes all the involuntary processes in your body such as breathing, digesting food, pumping blood, brain activity. BMR is usually expressed in terms of calories. Your Basal Metabolic Rate also has another interesting quality: the more Lean Body Mass (which includes muscle, water, and minerals) you have, the greater your BMR will be.

When we talk about metabolism, we should always start the conversation with how many calories your body needs. But because your BMR and Lean Body Mass are linked, that means any conversation about metabolism becomes a conversation about your body composition.

Your BMR is calculated when you have an InBody composition analysis. Having this available to you is a valuable tool when monitoring your body’s overall health changes. 

Metabolism 101

Let’s take a deeper look at what you might call a “slow” metabolism. Far from being an issue of fastness or slowness, weight gain is almost always the result of a caloric imbalance that goes unchecked over a long period of time.

To clarify, your Basal Metabolic Rate is not the only factor that plays into your overall caloric needs, and it’s not the total amount of calories you need in a day. There are two other major influencers, which are:

• Your energy level–how active you are 
• The thermic effect of food–the energy your body uses to digest your food

These taken together with your Basal Metabolic Rate provide your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This is the number of calories your body burns in a day.

BMR is a necessary piece of information to estimate TDEE. Although they’re not exact, there are multiplication factors for estimating your TDEE based on your activity level and BMR. These are based on multiplying your BMR with an activity factor–a number between 1 and 2–that increases the more active you are (and decreases when you are less active, regardless of your appetite).

The table below gives you multiplication factors to apply to your BMR to establish your TDEE. Using this information will assist in determining how many calories are required to maintain your current body weight.

In our previous example, the person has a BMR of 1437. They consider themselves to be moderately active. Therefore, their TDEE is 2227 calories. If weight loss is their goal, they work on fewer calories, if weight gain is what they’re after, then a surplus of calories will be required.

As with any dietary plan, you will expect to see changes over time.  All this hard work has to produce results, right? So, how long will it take to see results? Unfortunately, that is going to vary for each individual. A good rule of thumb is to weigh yourself every 1 – 2 weeks.  If you are looking for a more precise analysis, you should get your body composition measured as well. Another important factor to consider: your BMR. Since your BMR is closely linked to your lean body mass, any changes will affect the number of calories you burn.

For example, if your plan is to gain lean body mass, and over a period of time you are successful in doing so, your energy needs are going to increase. This is why it is so important to be measuring body composition.

A diet is much more than creating a calorie deficit. It’s important to use a BMR calculator or body composition analyser to understand how much energy your body needs. Without this information, you won’t know how much food you need to add or remove to your diet in order to achieve your goals. With this information, you’ll see quicker results and reach your goals faster.

Improving and Increasing Your Metabolism

With the correct exercise and dietary plan, you can make your metabolism work for you. It all goes back to improving and maintaining a healthy body composition.

Because your body needs more energy to support itself when it has more Lean Body Mass, working to increase your Lean Body Mass can actually increase your Basal Metabolic Rate, which can have a huge impact on your TDEE once you factor in your activity level.

Many people simply maintain their metabolism or avoid a “slowdown” (which as we’ve seen, is a myth right up there with muscle turning into fat) is an important goal. How can you be sure to stay away from creating a decrease in your metabolism?

In short: by maintaining the Lean Body Mass that you already have. That means maintaining your Skeletal Muscle Mass.

Your Skeletal Muscle Mass isn’t the same as your Lean Body Mass, but it is the overall biggest contributor to it. It’s the muscle that you can actually grow and develop through exercise, and increases/decreases in SMM have a strong influence on increases/decreases in Lean Body Mass.

Skeletal Muscle Mass is best developed through strength training and resistance exercise along with a proper diet. A regular exercise plan that includes strength training and resistance exercise will help you maintain your Skeletal Muscle Mass.

This can be especially important as you age. As people become older and busier, activity levels tend to drop and a proper diet can become harder to maintain as responsibilities increase. Poor diet and nutrition can lead to loss of Lean Body Mass over time, which leads to a decrease in overall metabolism–not a slowdown.

So what can be done to improve and increase your metabolic rate? Just like with most things in life, the key is finding your body’s perfect balance. 

Balance Your Diet And Boost Your Metabolism – The Truth About Metabolic Flexibility

At times, a well-intentioned and thoughtful dietary plan doesn’t match the metabolism of the person practicing it. Even though someone may be led to believe that 1,800 calories is right for his or her diet regimen based on age and gender, our metabolisms might not require that caloric intake, ultimately resulting in weight gain despite our well-intended efforts. 

In the end, most individuals will end up blaming their issues with weight loss on a “slowing metabolism,” illustrating the importance of understanding how the relationship between a balanced diet and body composition can actually lead to a boosted metabolism. 

Contradicting health articles do not help the confusion. They preach that carbs should be eaten before you work out, as they will improve your performance. They also say to eat more fats like peanut butter or avocados. Others say that if you don’t eat at all, your body will burn more calories, and you should instead refuel with carbs or recover with protein to build muscle. Is your head spinning yet?

You’re not alone if you ever feel like every health article you see contradicts the one you saw the day before.

This is where the perpetual carbs-versus-fats debate comes into play. Everyone’s quick to tell you about their success with the Keto diet or how more balanced macros improved their performance in the gym.

In reality, there’s no perfect diet. Everyone’s preferred macronutrient ratio and calorie intake depend on their unique resting metabolic rate, activity level, food sensitivities, and more. But there is one thing everyone can count on: 

Your body will – or should – use what you give it.

What is Metabolic Flexibility?

If you eat a lot of fats, fat will be your body’s primary source of fuel. If you eat a lot of carbohydrates, glucose will be your body’s primary source of fuel. If you eat more protein than anything else – you guessed it – your body will burn more protein for energy.

Metabolic flexibility is your body’s ability to adapt to metabolic demands. When things change – such as changing what time you eat breakfast or what you eat for breakfast – your body is forced to change the way it metabolizes your food.

When you eat, your food is either burned for energy or stored if what you ate was in excess of your energy needs. Any excess carbohydrates are stored as glycogen(which serves as quick energy reserves) or fat tissue if glycogen stores are full. Any extra fat is also put away for later use, as fat tissue.

How flexible your metabolism refers to how efficiently your body can switch between using carbs or fats for fuel – or, more importantly – how efficiently it can use what is already available.

Someone with great metabolic flexibility can burn carbs when they eat them. They can also burn fat when they eat it, or when they don’t eat at all. People with flexible metabolisms can “flex” between carbohydrate metabolism and fat oxidation relatively easily.

For example, a person with great metabolic flexibility does cardio in the morning on an empty stomach. Because their metabolism is highly flexible, their body powers through the workout on fat tissue that already exists. The same person, however, could eat oatmeal and a banana an hour or two before their workout and instead use those carbs as fuel (instead of storing them for later use).

A flexible metabolism gives your body more leeway when determining what fuel source to use. Take the example of the person doing fasted cardio in the previous section. If that person was metabolically inflexible and exercised on an empty stomach, he or she would first burn through the glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in their body – leaving the fat untouched.

This is why it’s so hard for many people to burn fat: They are metabolically inflexible.

If you’re very metabolically flexible, eating calorie-dense, sugar-laden, or very fatty foods from time to time won’t always be an issue for your body. Your body can convert those calories into energy without much negative aftermath. 

Those who are metabolically flexible carry more mitochondria in their muscles, which allows them to produce energy more efficiently. Having too few mitochondria, or having dysfunctional mitochondria, limits the amount of energy a person can produce. It makes switching between fuels difficult, which makes utilizing any stored body fat between meals almost impossible. This is why metabolically inflexible people tend to snack often.

Training Your Metabolism to be More Flexible

The key to understanding metabolic flexibility is understanding how insulin regulates our energy. A healthy person with normal insulin action can effectively switch between fats and carbs as fuel. An insulin-resistant person cannot do this as effectively.

Insulin is the hormone that regulates your blood sugar by taking glucose into your bloodstream. There are two primary states of being as it relates to a person’s metabolism: fed and fasting.

During fed conditions (e.g., having just eaten,) your insulin levels will be high due to incoming food. During fasting conditions, someone who is very metabolically flexible will easily be able to tap into stored body fat. The workings of insulin are vast, and you can learn more here, but these points are essential to understanding metabolic flexibility:

• All of the food you eat, regardless of its macronutrient composition, sparks the release of insulin.
• Insulin is a factor in deciding which fuel source your body uses.
• When insulin levels are low, your body primarily burns fat.
• When insulin levels are high, your body primarily burns carbs and stores fat.

One of the best–and easiest–ways to improve your metabolic flexibility is to exercise. If you’re generally sedentary, adding exercise to your days is a surefire way to kick your body into a fat-burning mode it’s never experienced before. If you already exercise regularly, add more variety to your workouts.

Varying the type of training you do (strength training, intervals, and some sort of aerobic or endurance activity) might just give your body the nudge it needs to tap into your fat reserves. Different types of exercise use different mixes of fuel and eventually may train your body to use different fuel sources during day-to-day activities.

Fasted cardio is one type of exercise intended to tap heavily into your body’s fat reserves. Doing high-intensity cardiovascular exercise with little to no glycogen stored can train your metabolism to be more flexible.

Another way to improve your metabolic flexibility is intermittent fasting (IF). Remember the person who used body fat as fuel during their morning fasted cardio? That worked because his or her body was trained to use the available energy in the absence of food.

Metabolically inflexible people would just feel atrocious in the same scenario because their bodies don’t know how to function without incoming energy (food). If you can’t make it more than two-to-three hours without food, you’re impairing your body’s ability to utilize your body fat. Work slowly to increase your spacing between meals.

Timing your nutrient intake can help your body use fat more efficiently, and the longer the fasting period, the more your body has to tap into its fat reserves, which may be one way to combat obesity.

You should also test out different macronutrient ratios. The fewer carbohydrates you consume, the more your body will have to rely on fat sources for fuel. This is the premise behind the ketogenic diet. Try cutting out added sugars and overly processed grains first. Then you can try reducing your carb intake even further by cutting out starches like potatoes. If keto’s not for you, try out the paleo diet, which is also low in carbs and higher in fat and protein.

While it’s encouraged to consume fats, avoid trans fats and too many saturated fats. Try to get your fats from nutrient-dense sources like olive and coconut oils, avocados, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish. Another good source is foods containing high antioxidants. Antioxidant consumption has been linked to a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, as well as an increase in insulin sensitivity. 

Wrapping Up

The link between our metabolism and body composition is strong, and it prompts many questions. How much Lean Body Mass do you have? What might your Basal Metabolic Rate be? What are the benefits of hot and cold exposure when it comes to your metabolism? These questions should be answered first before starting any weight loss or diet program. Getting the information you need and the answers to these questions by getting your body composition accurately tested is a great first step in your journey.

Contact My Body Composition Solutions for information regarding regular analysis to assist with monitoring your BMR.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA ‘Metabolism 101- A Look Inside Your Body’s Energy Engine”

published on March 18, 2020. This article includes phrases that link to several other information resources.

  (1) Source: InBody USA article ‘How to Use BMR To Hack Your Diet’ 15/03/2018

You try to go to the gym most days, but then you decide to take a rest day.  Maybe a rest day turns into a few days off….and before you know it, three weeks have passed you by without one day of exercise.  Like many who take a workout break, you wonder: “Have I lost my muscles?” or “How long before I’m out of shape?”

There are lots of reasons to take a break from your workout routine — vacation, harsh weather, work demands, family obligations, etc.  Even the most dedicated fitness enthusiast may be forced to stop for a while due to sore muscles, illness, or injury.

You shouldn’t push yourself to work out every day without a break because your body needs rest and recovery days to repair muscle fibres and strengthen itself between workouts.  It’s a well-known fact that training recovery is a critical component of an exercise program, and for most people, this consists of one to three days of rest depending on intensity of the activity.

However, if you go beyond a week without activity, you begin to experience the effects of “detraining” (also called deconditioning), a phenomenon in which you lose the beneficial effects of training.  As opposed to rest and recovery, detraining is an extended rest interval that results in reduced physical fitness. 

The good news is that deconditioning is reversible once you get active again. 

Factors that affect loss of fitness

The extent of fitness loss you experience depends on several variables. These include the length of your layoff, your age and your level of fitnss.

Time away from the gym

In general, just two weeks of detraining can lead to significant decline in physical fitness.  A study from the Journal of Applied Physiology concluded that just a fourteen-day break significantly reduces cardiovascular endurance, lean muscle mass, and insulin sensitivity.

What would happen if you took an even longer break from exercise – say, 2 months? One study found that 2 months of detraining in elite athletes resulted in unfavourable changes in body composition, impaired metabolic function, and development of cardiovascular risk factors.  Although the time it takes to lose fitness levels depends on how fit you are to begin with and how long you’ve been exercising, even the most religious gym-goers will experience loss of fitness after an extended hiatus.

Age

As people age, aerobic capacity, muscle quality, as well as agility naturally decline.  It is important to exercise and stay active as you get older to preserve functional fitness.  One study looked at the effects of detraining on elderly adults, both short and long term, and found that losses in fitness gains are compounded as you age.  It’s important to track how your body is changing as you age because the loss in muscle mass and strength can decline rapidly, and soon even daily life activities suddenly become more difficult.

Level of Fitness

The fitter you are, the longer it can take for your body to get out of shape.  For example, trained athletes tend to experience more gradual declines during detraining than your regular gym goer.  For someone who works out a few times a week and is “moderately fit”, it may take two to four weeks to see significant detraining effects.  Someone who is training more intensely will take longer to experience de-conditioning.

The physiological impacts on your body

When you stop exercising, many physiological changes occur.  You begin to lose the cardiovascular gains you’ve made, such as your heart’s ability to pump blood more efficiently, your body’s improved capability to use carbohydrates for fuel, and your muscles’ enhanced capacity to process oxygen.  Any improvements you’ve seen with your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar may diminish. You may experience some weight gain. If you’ve been strength training, the gains in muscle size, strength, and endurance you worked so hard for will taper off.

Aerobic Capacity

It is well known that working out is good for your heart – it becomes more efficient pumping blood, and as a result, getting oxygen to the rest of your body.  When you go a few weeks without physical activity, your heart not only begins losing its ability to handle extra blood flow, your body’s ability to effectively use oxygen, referred to as VO2 max, declines.

Research shows significant reductions in VO2 max within two to four weeks of detraining, which is attributed to decreased blood volume and cardiac output.  Another study found that most of the aerobic capacity gained through exercise over two to three months is lost within two to four weeks.

What does this mean for you?  After a few weeks of sitting around rather than being active, you’ll start losing your and cardio and find yourself out of breath after climbing that flight of stairs.

Muscle Strength

When you cease exercising, you will undoubtedly notice changes in your muscles.  They will become smaller and weaker. If you’ve been doing high intensity exercise or weight training, you’ll find a reduction in your muscular endurance.

A detraining period of 12 weeks results in decreased muscle mass and muscular strength, although the muscles can return to pretraining levels.  The good news is that retraining can occur more quickly as a result of a concept known as “muscle memory”.

While strength performance may be maintained for up to four weeks of detraining, power and endurance may decline significantly in this time period as found in one study.  In another study, postmenopausal women trained with resistance bands for twelve weeks and found a significant adverse effect on their muscle power during a four-week detraining period.

The bottom line? You may maintain your strength longer than power or endurance; however, after a month of sitting, you’ll find that carrying those groceries will be a bit more taxing and you’ll fatigue quicker than before.

Blood Pressure

Lowered blood pressure is a well-known benefit of regular exercise.  In fact, exercise is a medically accepted lifestyle change to treat hypertension.  A study that looked at the blood pressure responses in a group of prehypertensive men saw a decrease in blood pressure during a six-month period of training, and a rise in blood pressure after just two weeks of inactivity.

Of course, stopping your exercise routine does not mean you will have high blood pressure.  However, if you already have hypertension, it is important to realize you may need to consult with your doctor if you’ve been using exercise to lower your blood pressure and you anticipate a period without exercise.

Blood Sugar

Normally, your blood glucose rises after you eat, then drops as your muscles and other tissues absorb the sugar needed for energy.  Exercise is an effective way to lower blood glucose levels, but if you stop working out, your blood sugar levels may remain elevated after a meal.

Blood sugar levels have been found to have remained elevated after just 3 days of inactivity in young, generally healthy individuals. (1)  The unfortunate consequence of being sedentary is that consistently raised glucose levels raise your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The upside? Even a small amount of moderate exercise improves how your body regulates glucose and getting back to your routine will help you ward off preventable health conditions.

Fat Mass

One fear you may have is that your clothes will begin to feel a bit tight as your weight creeps up and your body goes from being toned and firm to plumper and flabbier.  Detraining has been found to have negative effects on body composition, with an associated weight gain and a decrease in metabolic rate.

A few factors may contribute to an increase in your body fat when you stop working out: 

First, your calorie requirement will decrease.  As you lose muscle mass, your metabolism slows down as your muscles lose some of their ability to burn fat.

Secondly, you’re not burning the same number of calories as you used to because you’re moving around and working out less, so if you don’t adjust your food intake accordingly, those additional calories will be stored as fat. Something you should be wary of is visceral fat aka belly fat. 

So, if you eat the same way you’ve been eating while you’re on a workout hiatus, your body won’t be burning the extra calories without an adjustment to your diet– and you will likely put on weight.

 How to Manage a Detraining Period

The best way to stop fitness losses is to not abandon exercise in the first place.  That doesn’t mean you should never skip a workout. Honour your body with needed rest and recovery.  If you train hard, taking a break will help improve your muscle development and aerobic fitness and help you avoid overtraining syndrome.

But if you’re injured or very ill, you absolutely should rest.  Life can get in the way of your normal fitness routine, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Take time to rest and recover and get back on it when you’re feeling better. 

Here are some tips to help minimize the negative consequences of abandoning your workout schedule if you aren’t forced to completely stop exercising for an extended time:

Crosstrain or try “light” activity that’s not part of your usual regimen, such as yoga, walking, or bike rides.

Try a chair workout or add stairs to your daily routine.

Scale back your workout schedule if time is the issue.  Try just 1-2 sessions per week, break your workout into several shorter sessions, or incorporate a few sessions of high-intensity interval training.

Try working unaffected muscle groups if you’ve stopped exercising due to an injury such as a broken bone or ruptured tendon.

Maintain good nutrition while consuming adequate protein to minimize muscle loss.

Regaining fitness after a break

While it’s hard to predict exactly how long it will take you to regain your previous level of fitness, it probably won’t take as long to retrain to your peak condition as it did to become fit in the first place. Just don’t start adopting a sedentary lifestyle. 

Keeping track of your progress is a pretty vital part of your self motivation. Having a Body Composition Analysis when your ready to return is the best way of establishing a ‘line in the sand’ for your own comparison. Whether you’ve had them in the past or not is irrelevant. This is about seeing your progress from this point in time.

                                                 Contact My Body Composition Solutions for more information.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA ‘What happens to your body when you stop working out?’ byJennifer Boidy, RN is a freelance healthcare content writer from Manchester.

This post was updated on September 10, 2018, for accuracy and comprehensiveness. It was originally published on August 1, 2017.

  (1) According to a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

Fruit and vegetable intake

Definition: The proportion of people eating sufficient serves of fruit and vegetables each day to obtain a health benefit.

Calculation of this indicator is based on relevant dietary guidelines published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC 2013).

In the NHMRC guidelines, the minimum recommended number of serves of fruit per day is 1 for children aged 2–3, 1½ for children aged 4–8, and 2 for people aged 9 and over. The minimum recommended number of serves of vegetables per day is 2½ for children aged 2–3; 4½ for children aged 4–8; 5 for children aged 9–11, females aged 12 and over and males aged 70 and over; 5½ for males aged 12–18 and 51–70 years; and 6 for males aged 19–50. (1)

With the modern prevalence of cheap fast food and the standard Australian Diet, it’s no surprise that most Aussies don’t hit the daily recommended intake of 2 to 3 serves of fruits and vegetables.

However, nutrition-conscious Australians aren’t immune to it, either. The rising popularity of restrictive diets like the Ketogenic Diet and the Carnivore Diet may also be a contributing factor to declining fruit and vegetable consumption.

While most forms of the Ketogenic Diet allow for some vegetables and low sugar fruits, like berries, it is common to focus on the part of Keto that emphasizes “sausage, bacon, eggs, and butter” without remembering to include nutrient-dense plant foods.

The Carnivore Diet is even more extreme, omitting fruit and  because the body can’t store them. Following the Carnivore Diet, in the long term, might lead to decreased intake of essential nutrients and water-soluble vitamin deficiencies.

Between restrictive diets that deteriorate quality of life and fast food, many people may be missing out on the amazing health benefits that fruits and vegetables have to offer. These profound health-promoting qualities lie in the high antioxidant, fibre, and water-soluble vitamin content.

In this article, we will discuss the mechanisms by which the nutrients in fruits and vegetables can support health. By understanding these key components, you’ll be more motivated than ever to get your full servings of these amazing plants.

The Role Antioxidants Play In Health

If you’ve spent any time googling healthy foods, you’re sure to have stumbled upon the benefits of antioxidants. Antioxidants are needed for preserving our health and are a major reason why fruits and veggies are so beneficial.

Antioxidants Protect Against Free Radical Damage

Metabolic processes, like energy production, along with other factors, like environmental pollution, resulting in free radical production. These are highly reactive molecules that can damage cells and lead to oxidative stress in the body — which plays a role in the development of many diseases, including heart disease.

Our bodies have natural protective mechanisms to neutralize these damaging free radical molecules, including glutathione production, our body’s master antioxidant. When glutathione becomes depleted, as a result of increasing free radical load, the body relies on dietary antioxidants from food as a secondary defence. There are many studies that show antioxidant therapy as a promising treatment for oxidative stress in the body.

Fruit and Plant Sources of Antioxidants

Fruits and veggies like berries, dark-coloured grapes, spinach, kale, sweet potatoes, and carrots are all great sources of antioxidants. Purple-coloured fruits like blueberries and dark-coloured grapes contain an antioxidant called resveratrol that has been shown to have therapeutic potential for heart disease.

Beta-carotene is an orange-coloured carotenoid with antioxidant properties and has also been shown to be protective against heart disease. Orange and yellow coloured plant foods are a good source of the antioxidant carotenoid beta-carotene, or pro vitamin A, along with leafy greens.

Moreover, minerals like zinc and selenium have antioxidant capacities which can be found in vegan sources. Other notable minerals found in fruits and veggies are blood pressure lowering potassium, magnesium, and calcium.

Antioxidant Content of Various Fruits and Vegetables

Blueberry  14.98 nmol/100g dry weight

Strawberry  4.44 nmol/100g dry weight

Broccoli, cooked  0.5 nmol/100g dry weight

Curly Kale  2.8 nmol/100g dry weight

Routinely including these antioxidant-rich foods in your diet can help to reduce free radical levels and prevent oxidative stress from accumulating.

Fibre Is Your Friend!

Fibre has a wide array of health benefits including lowering the risk of developing diseases like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and more. It may also be beneficial for those who already have diabetes in its proven ability to improve insulin sensitivity — a major issue for diabetics. For those seeking to improve body composition, research shows that adding fibre to your diet can amplify weight loss goals. Although the exact mechanisms behind the benefits are not all defined yet, studies show a clear association with high fibre intake and markers of health. Considering fruits and vegetables are the highest fibre foods available to us, they are a huge contributor to fibre intake.

Fibre and Gut Health

To add to the list, the friendly bacteria that live in our gut also thrive off of fruit and vegetable fibre. Because our body doesn’t absorb fibre, it becomes readily available to these bacteria ferment it. Anti-inflammatory short chain fatty acids are released as a by-product of this process and are key to protecting the health of the gut. They may also have metabolic implications, including appetite regulation and correlation with lower insulin levels.

Fibre-Rich Fruits and Veggies

Fibre is exclusively found in plant foods, which is just another motivating reason to boost your vegetable and fruit consumption. The level of fibre is dependent on the individual vegetable or fruit.

Fibre Content of Fruits and Vegetables

Lentils  11.7g/100g

White Beans, raw  17.7g/100g

Kidney Beans, (can)  6.3g/100g

Kiwi fruit   3.39g/100g

To protect the high fibre content of these foods, avoid peeling as this can reduce fruit and vegetable fibre content.

Water Soluble Vitamins

There are two forms of vitamins: water-soluble and fat-soluble. The fat-soluble are your vitamin A, E, D, and K (although one form of vitamin K is found in plant foods, the active form, vitamin K, K2, is primarily found in animal foods). In contrast, the B-complex and vitamin C make up the water-soluble vitamin family. B-complex vitamins are found in both plant and animal foods, whereas vitamin C is only found in fruits and vegetables.

Besides playing different roles in the body, fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins are maintained very differently in the body. In excess, fat-soluble vitamins are stored in tissues of the body, whereas water-soluble vitamins are excreted out of the body.

Both the B-complex and vitamin C play key roles in the function of the body. Considering their critical role in the body and our inability to maintain water-soluble vitamin stores, it’s important to replenish these vitamins daily through regular fruit and vegetable intake.

The B-Complex

There are eight B-vitamins in the B-complex. They all possess different roles within the body, however, the B-complex as a whole is often referenced for its role in energy production.

The Mechanism Behind the B-Complex Role in Energy Production

The B-complex works by acting as coenzymes for energy production processes in the body. Every single B-vitamin is required for completing the ATP-producing Krebs Cycle, the compound that powers every function of every cell in the body. For this reason, a deficiency in any one B-vitamin can really put a damper on energy production.

Folate, specifically, also plays a critical role in energy production. Folate is essential to the Folate Cycle which assists in converting homocysteine to methionine in the Methionine cycle.

Essentially, without regular intake of the entire B-complex, you might end up feeling fatigued and disrupting normal metabolic function.

The B-Complex and Gym Performance?

A vital component of reaching optimal body composition is successful gym performance. Proper energy production is so important to provide the energy to keep you working hard in the gym. And, as we all know, working hard is one of the main factors in achieving your body composition goals. Because of this, ensuring you are properly supporting energy production by consuming enough B-vitamin rich foods is something to keep an eye on.

Sources of the B-Complex

Although not a fruit or vegetable, beef, eggs, and liver are some of the richest source of the B-complex. However, seven of the eight (minus B12) are also found in abundance in plant foods.

B-Complex Vitamins Found in Fruits and Vegetables

Thiamin (B1)  Lentils (0.165mg/100g), Asparagus (0.11mg/100g)

Riboflavin (B2)  Spinach (0.2mg/100g), Avocado (0.1mg/100g), mushrooms (0.5mg/100g)

Niacin (B3)  Avocado (1.7mg/100g), Mushrooms (6.3mg/100g)

Pantothenic Acid (B5)  Mushrooms (3.6mg/100g), Avocado (1.4mg/100g)

Pyridoxine (B6)  Bananas (0.4mg/100g), Potatoes (0.3mg/100g)

Biotin (B7)  Banana (.12mcg/100g), (1.4mcg/100g)

Folate (B9)  Spinach (77mcg/100g), Asparagus (52.3mcg/100g), Brussel sprouts (45.8mcg/100g)

Some B-vitamins are easily destroyed by heat: thiamin (B1), pyridoxine (B6), and folate (B9). To preserve the nutrition of these foods, opt for eating them raw (obviously, only with plant foods!).

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is renowned for its immune-boosting properties, however, it is also important for healthy cholesterol levels, synthesis of crucial nutrients, proper absorption of iron, collagen maintenance, and assisting in energy production. There is also evidence that it may play a role in lowering blood pressure.

Vitamin C’s Role in Energy Production

In addition to the B-Complex, vitamin C also plays a role in energy production. It works by acting as a cofactor of transporting fatty acids, an energy source, to the mitochondria for ATP production.

As mentioned before, proper energy production and utilization of energy sources could play a role in gym performance, and, therefore, possibly help to improve body composition.

Sources of Vitamin C

Despite citrus fruits often being the spotlight of vitamin C rich foods, there are many other sources!

Vitamin C Content of Fruits and Vegetables

Red Bell Pepper 55mg/100g

Strawberries  29mg/100g

Kiwi fruit  64mg per medium kiwi

Broccoli  30mg/100g

Green Pepper  30mg/100g

In the same way as some B-vitamins, vitamin C is also destroyed by heat. To make sure you’re getting the most vitamin C out of your foods, consume these vitamin C rich foods in their raw form.

Conclusion

The well-known health benefits of fruits and vegetables due to their high antioxidant, fibre, and water-soluble vitamin content, like the B-complex and vitamin C, are the basis for the encouragement of including them in your diet. Government bodies currently recommend 1 and ½ to 2 cups of fruits and 2 and ½ to 3 cups of vegetables per day, depending on your sex and age, for optimal health.

Restrictive diets that exclude or significantly reduce plant consumption may result in deficiencies of these nutrients, specifically and most likely, vitamin C and fibre. It’s best to discuss a plan for implementing these diets in detail with your doctor after blood work, making sure adopting one of these diets won’t lead to deficiency.

You can include more of the plant foods mentioned above in your diet by consciously planning your meals. Try substituting your snacks for fruits or veggies or include a vegetable in every meal. If you meal prep, it’s really easy to prepare your fruits and veggies in bulk for easy access and consumption!

With the amazing health benefits of fruits and vegetables, abundant availability, and easy preparation, it’s so easy to get these beneficial foods into your diet and achieve optimal health and nutrition.

Disclaimer: This article should not substitute professional medical advice. When starting a new diet or exercise plan, always consult your physician and exercise professional first.

Information in this article has been extracted and edited from InBody USA ‘The Health Benefits of Fruit and Vegetables’ by Sophia Ruiz.Sophia is a health and wellness freelance writer & blogger. As an Instagram influencer, she uses her platforms to promote consumer empowerment through education.

(1) Source: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare; Aust health 2018