Fueling Movement in the New Year
It’s no secret that diet and exercise go hand in hand. We’re going to explain a bit about how your body uses the fuel you give it and send you off with a fun and simple recipe to take with you.
Before we get started, we need to talk a bit about the body’s design and how it works.
The movement of the human body is carried out by skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is divided into two categories of smaller muscle fibers. Those are:
o Fast twitch muscle fibers (think short bursts of speed, power and explosiveness)
o Slow twitch muscle fibers (think lower intensity, longer distance endurance running)
Fast twitch muscle uses carbs/sugars to create energy anaerobically (without oxygen) whereas slow twitch muscle uses primarily fats to create energy aerobically (with oxygen).
No matter how you choose to get your body moving, it’s still important to make sure you’re always fueling both.
Salt/minerals also play an important part in the role of the nervous system telling our muscles when and how to make us move.
Protein on the other hand isn’t typically used to produce energy, unless absolutely necessary. Instead, protein is used for growth and repair.
The basic fuel our bodies need to make us move are carbs/sugars, fats, protein and salts.
We can sum all this up in terms of calories.
Everything the body does requires energy, and the amount of energy our bodies use is measured in calories.
We can divide energy use into two categories:
o Resting energy used at rest for basic bodily functions. o Active energy used for physical activity/exercise.
The number of calories we need day to day thus is the combination of our resting and active energy needs.
Hopefully this gives you a little more insight on how the body uses the fuel we give it to make us move. We’ll send you off with some simple and easy, yet efficient fuel inspiration to pack into your favorite Naked band, or vest, and get your body moving. Check out our trail mix recipe below!
NAKED TRAIL MIX: Makes about 1 Cup (about 621 calories total), for 4 servings. (About 155 calories per serving)
o 1⁄4 cup Walnuts (good source of fat and protein)
o 1⁄4 cup raisins (Good source of natural sugars)
o 1⁄4 cup dates (Good source of natural sugars)
o 1⁄4 cup classic granola* (Good source of fat and Carbs)
o 2 tbsp chia seeds (Good source of fat and protein and dietary fiber)