Fitness and Nutrition Go Hand in Hand

We see lots of professional athletes on television eating anything they want in copious quantities and yet looking fitter than they should considering what they are putting into their bodies. But this is just the result of great genetics and you need to remember that these elite athletes are really the exceptions to the rule. Most of us need to consider fitness and nutrition as one and the same thing in order to achieve even a modicum of athletic performance.

This means that in addition to all of that gym time you are putting in you need to be careful about what you are putting into your mouth. When we are young we tend to think that we will live forever and nutrition is not of paramount importance. In this country unfortunately there is a marked increase in childhood obesity because we are not

educating our children on the benefits of fitness and nutrition. Kids grow up eating junk food and sugary soft drinks and way too much juice and not nearly enough fresh fruits and vegetables like they should. Teachers and parents need to take a much closer and careful look at this glaring deficiency in our children’s nutritional upbringing.

The bad habits our kids develop carry on into their teen years and later into their adult life. Obese children become obese teens who become obese adults. The risk for heart attacks and clogged arteries and diabetes becomes life threatening for these obese people. Studies have shown that they live shorter lives. The ones that do make it into their golden years are beset with a multitude of health problems. These problems could have been avoided with earlier training in fitness and nutrition in their social strata.

If you teach a child to eat raw broccoli and carrots at an early age, that is what they will crave for the rest of their lives. Their muscle density and bone strength becomes superior and they end up becoming the elite athletes among their peers. Not only do children whose parents focus on fitness and nutrition have superior physical strength, endurance and agility, but their mental agility is also enhanced. They are able to focus on their schoolwork better and generally get way better grades.

Fitness and nutrition should be mandatory educational courses for our kids from pre-school through high school. Unfortunately many school cafeterias around the country continue to serve lunches and snacks that are high in saturated fats and calories and low on nutrients. It is of vital importance that we as a nation respond with urgency to this serious problem that involves our most prized resource, our children and their very future.

We cannot continue to ignore the benefits of fitness and nutrition education at an early age. The very future of our nation depends on our children. It is only right that we should do everything we possibly can to make sure that they are receiving the very best fitness and nutrition courses and motivation that we can give them.