Core Nutrition

"Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork."
~ English Proverb

There is truth to the adage "you are what you eat". Even if someone is slim, their junk food habits will manifest visibly as unhealthy skin, lifeless and brittle hair, smelly perspiration, or low energy. If you want to achieve optimal fitness, you need to monitor and control your eating habits. That is what Core Nutrition is all about - reconditioning your body to enjoy delicious, healthy, natural food for optimal fitness and health. Combining a nutritional diet with Core Hydration and Core Exercises will infuse your body with energy and vitality.

Core Nutrition promotes healthy cellular regeneration with "Real Food", that is, foods from plants nourished naturally by the sun and soil without chemical treatment. Real Foods are a high source of essential minerals, vitamins, enzymes, fibers and proteins. Although your body naturally invites Real Foods, unhealthy eating habits have reconditioned people to lose their natural inclination for them. Instead, people have conditioned their bodies to crave processed foods which contain toxic substances such as refined sugar, sodium, chemicals, additives, preservatives, and hydrogenated oils.

Protecting Your Body From The Inside Out

Who would have thought we could fight cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke … with a fork? One of the most important things we can do to protect our bodies from these diseases is to keep our organs in good shape. Whether or not we have a family history of cancer, diabetes, heart disease or stroke, what we eat - and how much we eat - can help reduce our risk of developing fatal diseases.

Core Nutrition is the practice of protecting our bodies from the inside out. This means, keeping our vital organs lean and clean. Core Nutrition is determined largely by decisions we make about our daily food and drinks intake. Let's analyze some facts. Our livers, intestines and kidneys must process every morsel of food that we ingest. When we overeat, especially foods low in nutritional value, we allow toxins to build in our systems. When the toxin level is too high, our vital digestive organs weaken. Our hearts also start to weaken and, inevitably, our bodies deteriorate. Nutrients from food are absorbed by the body as it passes through the digestive system:

• Nutrients are essential for cell growth, maintenance and repair.
  
• Nutrients provide energy to enable your body to function efficiently.
  
• Nutrients, along with fiber and water, are essential to your good health.
  
• Although nutrients can work alone, each depends upon the others to be the most effective.

Core nutrition means knowing your nutrients to maintain a lean and strong body. Your body needs a variety of nutrients to remain healthy. In fact, there are six categories of nutrients which our bodies need each day:

Carbohydrate - Carbohydrates perform numerous roles in living organisms.

• Serve for the storage of energy
• Serve as structural components of DNA.
• Play key roles in the immune system and fertilization
• Help preventing pathogenesis and blood clotting

Protein - Proteins are very important molecules in our cells. They are involved in virtually all cell functions.

• Growth and maintenance of body.
• Movement of the body.
• Defense against germs.
• Building of enzymes.
• Maintaining fluid and acid-base balance.

Fat - The main function of fats in the body is to provide energy:

• By supplying energy, fats save proteins from being used for energy and allow them to perform their more important role of building and repairing tissues.
• Fats also carry the fats soluble vitamins A, D, E and K into the body and help in the absorption of these vitamins in the intestines.

Vitamins & Minerals - Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients—because acting in concert, they perform hundreds of roles in the body. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies lead to many problems from anorexia to obesity, organ malfunction, confusion, depression and fatigue.

Minerals in soil and water easily find their way into your body through the plants, fish, animals, and fluids you consume. But it’s tougher to shuttle vitamins from food and other sources into your body because cooking, storage, and simple exposure to air can inactivate these more fragile compounds that are important to:

• Help shore up bones,
• Heal wounds
• Bolster our immune system
• Convert food into energy
• Repair cellular damage.

Water - Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight and we can't survive for more than a few days without it.

• Water reduces fat deposits in the body
• Water flushes out waste and toxins
• Water helps maintain muscle tone
• Water moisturizes skin and provides joint lubrication and shock absorption
• Water helps in regulating body temperature.

IMPORTANT: Soft drinks contain high amounts of sugar and acids, which are added to give sodas their characteristic good taste. Unfortunately, both these components pose significant risks to our health. Soft drinks are a key culprit in the development of cavities obesity and related health problems.

Eating for a variety of reasons

"The first wealth is health."
~ Emerson

Have you felt sleepy, sneezy, grumpy or dopey lately? We’ve all been there. What they didn’t tell you in that famous fairytale is that these dwarfs’ dour dispositions could have been drastically improved with a few good dietary adjustments.

Heart disease and cancer are two of the leading causes of death in the world. Evidence suggests that some of the root causes of these illnesses are related to overeating and insufficient nutritional intake. Eating when our bodies don't really require food can easily lead to overeating. And overeating can lead to health related problems. We eat for a variety of reasons:

• Because it is time to eat and we feel hungry
• Because we are celebrating - we are happy and excited
  
• Because we are anxious, sad or nervous
  
• Because we are upset, angry or frustrated
  
• Because, "food is there" and for some reason, we feel we "have to"
  

Despite this awareness, the consumption of refined processed and junk food continues to be the main staple for many people, which in effect, starves the body of its required nutritional needs. Busy and hectic lifestyles make it too easy to turn to processed or junk food as quick and easy options.

Relax when you eat – it’s more important than you think

Relaxation is perhaps the single most important key to health and well-being. It is the antidote to stress, junk food, drugs and alcoholism which is known to contribute to the development of disease. Relaxation isn't just about peace of mind or enjoying a hobby.

Being in a relaxed state allows the production of adequate digestive enzymes and lets our nervous system regulate the digestion of foods. It’s also important to remember that the gut is super connected to emotions, so having feelings of stress and anxiety when we eat is tied to digestive malfunction.

Relaxation is a process that decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body. Relaxation techniques can help you cope with everyday stress and with stress related to various health problems, such as cancer and pain.