A Rainbow of Phytonutrients
Diet is such a complex subject. I want to cover over the coming months or even year what foods are good for your health and well-being. I’m not going to look at what you should eat or consume to lose weight as such, as everyone is different. What works for one person in fat loss may not and rarely works for someone else without the loss of unwanted bodyweight such as muscle which then leads to a lower metabolism and plateau.
For my current personal training clients and those that have worked with me in the past know that I am a metabolic nutrition consultant and work with them to build a diet that is specific for their individual body types and hormone balance. Weekly or bi-weekly I will do body composition analysis to work out where they should be on their diets to hold onto muscle tissue and burn body fat.
Enough of how I construct diets for my Personal Training Clients. Over the coming months I will look into the following plus more:
What foods do for our health
What foods we should include in our diets
Vitamins and minerals
Foods for muscles and joints
Foods for stress relief
Foods for heart and circulation
Metabolic balance
Immune Support
And so on;
This blog is going to look at the colour of foods “A Rainbow of Phytonutrients”
So what is Phytonutrients?
They are bio-active compounds found in plants that supply the plant with colour and flavour. Although they are not essential to life they support the body in a number of ways:
Antioxidants; protect the body in a number of ways from free radicals which are unstable molecules produced through an unstable metabolism and exposure to the daily life of pollution which cause damage to our vital organs within our bodies including the largest organ of the body - skin.
There are over 1,200 phytonutrients that promote health within our bodies, and 50 or so essential vitamins, amino acids, minerals and fatty acids. More of these will be covered in future blogs so keep an eye out to help you live a healthy life.
So Antioxidants by colour:
As a personal Trainer I really believe in the Mediterranean diet as a traditional diet which covers much of the Phytonutrients department. This diet is manly based on colourful fresh fruits and vegetables with whole grains, healthy oils such as olive oil and red wine!!!
No wonder through studies is has shown that the elderly in the Mediterranean live longer healthier lives with the protection against heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The studies have shown that it can reduce the number of deaths from these conditions and that people that follow this diet show significant improvements in health and are 9% less likely to die young.
Wow…. Makes you think right? Add colours to your diets and see the improvements in your health and complexion.
Thanks for reading, feel free to leave comments and share, stay healthy ;-)
Andy Cross – Personal Trainer Milton Keynes – www.crosspt.co.uk
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