Picture the scene. It’s July in Ibiza, and the clothes are at a minimum. You have worked on your fitness in the spring, done your gym workout regularly, eaten what you think are the right foods, even read the fitness articles; but somehow it’s not quite worked. What went wrong for you? That weight loss program on Facebook promised results!
Ask any fitness addict and they will tell you that eating right is a key part of their beach body achievements. The problem is that workout nutrition is not something that everyone is an expert on; your best friend might be a gym Adonis with washboard abs, but this is not a sign that he can give you good advice on nutrition.
I know, you googled a workout plan and it tells you to eat lots of protein, so you’ve got lots of chicken in the freezer and some protein bars. Sorry to tell you, this is probably not going to work out well no matter how rigorously you stick to the rules.
But why?
The problem is that when it comes to nutrition all of us are a different case study – which is something that even our personal trainers can miss. Let’s not even start on the way the medical profession handles exercise and dietary advice.
Style magazines bombard us with their brand of advice, which if we’re honest boils down to eating fruit and buying a swimsuit that covers your winter indulgences while giving lip services to the idea of maybe doing some exercise. This is done of course with pictures of chiseled models, who while looking glorious, have nothing else to do but maintain their gloriousness.
For those of us living in the real world (that’s you and me for sure) we need to think about more than just pumping iron and reading Men’s Fitness to get the summer bodies we deserve.
This is where expert naturopathy comes to the rescue.
So, we can’t lift weights for you. We won’t put you through boot camp. What naturopaths like Natural Point do is work with your body to ensure you achieve optimum nutrition. Naturopathic dieticians like us understand that the building blocks of your beach body are made up of more than just protein- although of course protein is key to building muscle. We know that gorging on raw eggs and kale is probably not going to work.
By treating your body as an integrated whole (rather than just legs, bums and tums) naturopathy works to make your fitness regime work for your lifestyle, and not the other way around. We know that the way to get in shape, reduce the aches, and achieve your goals begins with understanding you.
This means that before you get on the treadmill or start hitting the gym, we should look at medical history, your family history, physical, mental and emotional condition, quality and quantity of sleep, exposure to toxins and yes, even your food allergies.
Working with the results of your consultation your naturopath will draw up an out an overall, long-term plan that emphasises:
- A genuinely balanced diet
- Nutritional supplementation that works with your body
- Stress level monitoring and emotional state
Understanding our stress and emotions, which are so often motivators for our plans to exercise in the first place, is key to making a workout plan that actually works. This is because stress influences sleep quality and duration, food choices, levels of insulin and glucose, and digestion and assimilation of food, all of these affect your ability to exercise and see results.
Imagine it like this: you are out for your morning run, and you hit The Wall. The sudden fatigue and energy loss that affects all runners at some time. You start to shuffle, your legs feel like lead weights and you just want to quit. Is The Wall getting higher really just because you’re not trying hard enough?
We don’t think so. We say that exercise goes beyond carb counting and glycogen loads. How we alter our mental state with correct nutrition plays a big part too.
A naturopathy consultation is quick and easy. A simple process at the start of your beach body regime that can ensure that this time, you will be proud of what you have accomplished.
Let’s begin!