10 Days of Body & Mind Recovery, Day 8: Quality Nutrition

Do you count macros? Focus on how many grams of protein, carbs and fats to have each day? Earlier in this series I talked about post workout nutrition and making sure you get in plenty of protein.

Protein is important for repair and recovery. It’s our building blocks of muscle, and when protein is lacking but training is intense your body won’t be able to build up the muscle you tear down during training. So yes, ample protein is critical for recovery.

What I’ll cover today is micronutrients, or the quality of the food you’re eating. Yes, if you want to lose weight or gain weight it comes down to calories, plain and simple.

But, quality nutrition that’s high in micronutrients is going to help you create that deficit (or surplus) with more success.

That’s because quality nutrients help the body function optimally...like your hormones, metabolism, cells, brain function... they all work better when you’re consuming higher quality, nutrient rich foods.

Quality nutrition also fights inflammation. If you recall, training is a stress to the body, and so are many things in our environment. All these stressors create inflammation. Tearing down our muscles, overtraining, poor quality nutrient lacking foods, toxins, etc. What you want and your body needs is an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle. Vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Achieving this through a whole food, real food, variety filled diet ideal.

You’re going to get the most bang for your buck through plants and produce. These foods are highest in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that will support your recovery and the inflammation process.

Each time you go to eat make it a priority to choose not only protein rich food, but nutrient rich high quality foods.

Take note of how you feel and share what you notice!