Unlocking the Power of Protein: Essential Benefits for Your Health And Fitness
As we delve into the realm of health and fitness, one nutrient that consistently takes centre stage is protein. From building lean muscle to aiding weight loss, protein is the magic ingredient that helps us sculpt our dream bodies. But what makes it so vital? In this blog post, we’ll unravel the myriad benefits of protein and guide you on how to incorporate it into your lifestyle effectively.
The Importance of Protein for Health and Fitness
Protein, one of the three macronutrients alongside carbohydrates and fats, is the building block of our bodies. It’s responsible for the growth and repair of tissues, enzymes, hormones, and antibodies production – all of which are crucial for optimum health.
In terms of fitness, protein plays a pivotal role. It aids in muscle recovery post-workout, supports muscle growth and strength, and helps maintain lean body mass. Moreover, protein can also assist in weight management by promoting satiety, reducing overall calorie intake, and boosting metabolism.
1. Incorporate Protein at Every Meal: Aim to include a source of protein in each meal to ensure you’re meeting your daily requirements. It can come from a variety of sources, including lean meats, dairy products, legumes, and protein supplements.
2. Use Protein Supplements: If you struggle to meet your protein needs through food alone, consider adding a protein supplement to your diet. These are especially useful post-workout to aid in muscle recovery and growth.
3. Don’t Forget About Variety: While animal-based protein sources are high in essential amino acids, don’t neglect plant-based sources. They offer a range of other nutrients and can help diversify your diet.
4. Hydrate:High-protein diets can make you thirsty, so ensure you’re consuming enough water throughout the day.
Bodyfirst’s Protein Powerhouses
At Bodyfirst, we understand the importance of quality protein for your health and fitness goals. That’s why we offer a range of products to help you meet your protein needs.
Our Applied Nutrition Marine Collagen is a fantastic supplement rich in type 1 collagen, the most abundant protein in the body. It’s great for supporting skin health, joint function, and muscle recovery.
For a protein-packed meal, try Huel 100% Nutritionally Complete Meal. It offers a balanced macronutrient profile, including a substantial amount of protein, to keep you nourished and satisfied.
If you’re looking for a tasty treat that doubles as a protein source, check out our range of protein bars. They’re a delicious way to curb your sweet tooth while meeting your protein needs!
Conclusion
Protein is a vital component of a healthy, balanced diet, especially for those leading an active lifestyle. By understanding its benefits and knowing how to incorporate it effectively into your diet, you can harness the power of protein to reach your health and fitness goals. Remember, every journey starts with small steps, and every step you take with Bodyfirst is a step towards a healthier, fitter you!
Kickstart Your New Year Fitness Goals with Bodyfirst
As we bid farewell to another year and welcome a new one, we often find ourselves setting new goals and resolutions for the year ahead. Among the top new year’s resolutions, fitness goals stand strong and consistent. After indulging in festive feasts, the motivation to get back in shape is at its peak. But how many of us truly stick to these goals?
This is where Bodyfirst Nutrition, your trusted fitness nutrition store, steps in to transform your fitness journey.
The Importance of Fitness Goals for a Healthy Lifestyle
Setting fitness goals is not just about attaining that summer body. It is about embracing a lifestyle that prioritizes health and well-being. Regular exercise coupled with balanced nutrition is the key to maintaining optimum physical and mental health. It helps improve cardiovascular health, boosts mood, aids in weight management, and strengthens the body, among other benefits.
Furthermore, having clear fitness goals can keep you motivated and give you a sense of direction. They allow you to measure your progress and celebrate your achievements, making the fitness journey more rewarding.
Actionable Advice to Achieve your Fitness Goals
1. Set SMART Goals: Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Instead of vague goals like “I want to lose weight”, opt for “I want to lose 5kg in 2 months”.
2. Maintain a Balanced Diet: Nutrition plays a crucial role in achieving your fitness goals. Ensure your diet includes all essential nutrients. Limit processed food and sugar.
3. Consistency is Key: Regular exercise is crucial. Even small activities like taking the stairs instead of the lift can contribute to your fitness journey.
4. Stay Hydrated: Water aids in digestion, keeps skin healthy, and helps in overall body function. Aim for at least 8 glasses a day. Having an electrolyte drink like Thirst, Per4m Hydrate or Naughty Boy Hydration with ensure you remain hydrated all day and replace any minerals lost through daily activities.
5. Rest and Recover: Ensure you get enough sleep. Your body needs time to recover and rejuvenate.
How Bodyfirst Can Assist in Achieving Your Fitness Goals
We understand the importance of nutrition in achieving fitness goals. We offer a wide array of high-quality supplements crafted to support your unique health and fitness journey. Whether you’re looking to gain muscle, lose weight, or enhance your athletic performance, we have you covered.
Our protein supplements help in muscle recovery and growth, making them ideal for those engaged in strength training. For those aiming to lose weight, our fat burners and meal replacements can help you maintain a calorie deficit while ensuring you get all necessary nutrients.
Beyond supplements, Bodyfirst offers valuable resources to guide you through your fitness journey. Our blogs and articles are packed with advice and insights from fitness experts. Moreover, our responsive customer service team is always ready to assist you in choosing the right products for your needs.
Embrace Your Fitness Journey with Bodyfirst
In conclusion, achieving your new year fitness goals is a commitment to a healthier, happier you. It may not be an easy journey, but the destination is worth the effort. Remember, every small step counts, and every drop makes an ocean.
Bodyfirst is here to support and fuel your fitness journey with our premium supplements and resources. Don’t wait until tomorrow to start your journey. Set your goals, gear up with Bodyfirst, and take the first step towards a healthier life today. Explore our range of products and start your journey to a fitter, healthier you. Here’s to a year of health, fitness, and achievements!
We’re at a point now when New Year’s resolutions, especially those pertaining to health and fitness – eating/drinking better, exercising are very trendy.
The concept is great, putting it into action maybe not so much.
The reason being is that people often (with the best intentions) set too lofty, unattainable goals in a noble attempt to begin righting all the ‘wrongs’ from last month (if you read the 12 tips of Christmas blog post you’ll know I don’t really think they’re wrongs). The fact is when looking to create healthier habits like those we come up with in New Year’s resolutions, we need to start slowly.
Don’t attempt to do too much all at once. Completely overhauling your diet to the point where it resembles nothing of your previous dietary habits or increasing your exercise volume by 500% will mean you’re doomed to fail. Why? Because it’s not sustainable, you can’t be consistent with it, you can’t adhere to it, and you rely on the finite resource that is willpower. Sure you might be able to keep it up for a few weeks maybe but the overload to your body and brain will find you pretty quickly.
Instead, look to make small positive changes to your habits (I’ll outline some below) and build on them over time, after all this isn’t a quick fix, quick fixes don’t last very long.
Make them almost ‘too easy’ or ‘too simple’ because then you’ll nail them, day in, day out, and you’ll be constantly moving forward. If you need some help, then get it, hire someone to help you but beware of anyone who has that quick fix mentality themselves.
Consider these ‘small’ changes to adopt over the coming weeks, not necessarily all of them all at once, think about building on your habit base.
Ask yourself “How ready, willing and able am I to adopt this habit?”
* Eat a serving of protein with your breakfast, or an extra serving during the day.
* Eat slowly, take the time to chew, savour and experience your food (you’ll end up eating less).
* Look for opportunities to be more active outside of your scheduled exercise (see the NEAT portion of the December blog post).
* Switch to diet sodas, or better yet, water.
* Slowly increase your exercise volume over time. If you’re starting with an exercise baseline of 0 then try a fast walk a few times a week and get into lifting some weights.
* Add an extra daily serving of vegetables or two each week.
Rome wasn’t built in a day…consistency is key, stick with it and you’ll soon see the results.
This is the compilation of tips to help you best navigate through the month with minimal effect on your health and fitness goals. It’s a great time of year so you want to make the most of it. Follow these tips and you’ll find yourself much better off come January. These tips apply all the time by the way , not just for December, they’re just especially applicable now. Enjoy.
1) Don’t adopt a ‘well f#*! it all then’ mindset You were never necessarily ‘off’ the wagon so don’t fret about trying to get back on. This happens a lot with people who have a tendency to eat in a restrict/binge cycle. They’ll eat immaculately most of the time..until they slip up. This slip up is viewed as an utter ‘failure’ of the diet and causes them to go off the rails because they think ‘oh well I’ve ruined my diet now because I had this one piece of cake so I may as well eat the whole thing and everything else’. I hope you can see how this is a flawed mentality to have. Eating one piece of cake won’t even come close to ruining any of your hard work (unless the rest of your diet is crap), eating a whole one and the rest might..So instead of beating yourself up for ‘slipping’ , instead consciously decide ‘oh yes I am going to have this one piece of cake and I am going to enjoy it’, then do so, and leave it at that. You can fit in the occasional treat, don’t deprive yourself so much that it causes you to eat 4 weeks worth of treats in one sitting. The most successful diets are sustainable long-term.
2) Don’t go out hungry Be it to a dinner, drinks, party, shopping, don’t let yourself be ravenous going out the door. This makes it much more likely you’ll overeat and make poorer food choices because we’re wired that way when we’re hungry. Ever notice how food you don’t usually find appealing suddenly doesn’t seem so bad when you’re starving, kebabs made in the back of a transit van anyone? Especially don’t be hungry when out grocery shopping, that’s how you end up with a lot of weird stuff in your shopping basket that you didn’t really want. Eat something good that will keep you full and energised like a mix of protein, fats, fibre & complex carbohydrates.
3) Keep sleeping Everything works better when you get a bit more shut-eye so keep getting as much sleep as you can even with the added commitments of the festive season, you’ll be a lot better off for it. You can find a full supply of sleep tips here -> Sleep Tips 101
4) Plan Ahead We’ve said already that the season brings with it a lot more opportunities to over-indulge on food and/or drink. Fortunately most of these situations we find ourselves in we already know about in advance. You have a big night out of dinner and drinks planned for Friday? Perfect! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday consider eating a little bit less starchy carbohydrates and fats to give you a calorie buffer for Friday night. Knock 10% off your daily calories on these days and all of a sudden you have a lot more to play around with at dinner. On the Friday itself, stick to lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, legumes and a small amount of healthy fat until you go out that night. Plan ahead so that you can make the most of the silly season without it having a big impact on your health or goals.
5) Slow Down Slow down, chew your food thoroughly, and take about fifteen minutes to eat a meal. It takes about this long for the satiety signals to kick in so that your brain knows you’re being/have been fed. It’s a lot less likely you’ll overeat this way and most people tend to inhale their food pretty fast and before they know it they’re ‘overfull’.
6) Up your NEAT! NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and is essential all the calories you expend on things other than formal exercise, sleeping & eating. Any walking involved in your commute, active at your job? That’s NEAT. Fidgeting, housework, gardening, pacing – all NEAT. While these activities might not account for much of a calorie burn on their own, taken together, on a daily basis, consistently over time they add up to a large proportion of our energy expenditure. So think of ways that you might increase your NEAT, could you park a bit further away going shopping? Could you take the stairs more instead of the lift or escalator? Could you go for a stroll while taking a phone call? There are plenty of ways to do it, see which ones fit in best for you and your routine. Studies show that NEAT levels are a big difference between people who are overweight compared to people who are relatively lean so while it doesn’t sound like much it definitely matters.
7) Show some compassion and self-love and enjoy yourself this season! It’s a wonderful time of year. There are lots of fun things to do and lots of opportunities to connect and reconnect with family and friends. Only the most neurotic of us wouldn’t make a single poor food choice or slip up at all for the rest of the year but that’s okay, we’re all human. So please don’t beat yourself up about the odd treat or drink here and there, it’ll happen, accept it, enjoy it and move on. Take the next opportunity to make a good decision and try to make them the majority, but not the all. Be aware and mindful of what you’re doing and implement these tips and you should hopefully find the ‘damage’ wasn’t all that much.
8) Keep it eating your protein, vegetables and fibre. Prioritise the P’s – the protein and plant foods. These are what will ll keep you fullest with minimal calorie contribution. So eat them, lots of them, all the time. Do that and you won’t have too much room for much else and you’ll be well nourished for it too. Energy levels will be nice and stable and keeping protein consistently at the level it needs to be is great for maintaining body composition.
9) Choose lower calorie alcohol Opt for low sugar , low calorie alcoholic beverages so that the booze doesn’t make up a huge chunk of your total energy intake. Think spirit + diet mixer like vodka & soda with lime, gin & slimline tonic, whiskey & diet coke.
10) Be realistic with your goals to finish out the year Lets face it, December is not the easiest time to make a lot of progress towards your health and fitness goals, it can certainly be done but you need to be aware that it will probably require more restraint than usual. So decide how you want to finish the year, do you want to let your foot off the pedal a bit, use this time as well earned break of sorts, cruise and maintain what you’ve worked for and then come into January feeling refreshed and ready to tackle it again? Or if you have good momentum going at the moment then by all means keep the foot down, just be conscious of what it might entail.
11) Be mindful & aware Like most of these tips this doesn’t only apply to this time of year, cultivating a sense of awareness and mindfulness is very important in general. In this context though I’m mostly referring to mindless eating, you know, when you’re parked on the couch with a tin of Roses on your lap, watching a Christmas movie. It’s very easy to consume a lot of excess calories in this way because you’re not thinking about the eating, you’re just doing it, before you know it you’re covered in sweet wrappers and all that’s left in the tin is the Brazilian Darkness. The point here is not to avoid the sweets altogether but to be aware that you’re actually eating them. Don’t leave the tin out, it’s too easy to just keep dipping back in for ‘just one more..’, instead choose some, a reasonable amount, put them in a bowl and decide that these are the one’s you’re going to have and that’s it. And when you’re eating them, actually taste and saviour and enjoy them, don’t be mindless.
12) Keep moving Stay as active as possible this Christmas time and try to stay in a somewhat regular exercise routine. Get in a few workouts a week like you usually do so that you don’t fall out of the habit, this will usually promote better food choices as well because again, you’ll still be in the habit and mindset to do so. It’s easy to miss days and especially when your exercise venue might be closed or have reduced opening hours this time of year but you don’t have to resign yourself to going to the gym either, get out there for a crisp Winter’s walk (doing farmers carries with bundles of Christmas shopping bags all around town counts too).
Get as creative as you like, just be doing something.
How to plan and execute your perfect marathon day…
You’ve spent months training for the big day. Here’s how to get everything right – from getting to the start to crossing the finish line in style.
There is nothing quite like marathon day. The electric atmosphere, the nervous walk to the start and the smell of Deep Heat and nervousness in the air. All of the miles you’ve clocked in training, the conditioning, the battling through wind and rain, and weekends spent on the road – they have all led to this moment. You’ve done all you can to get your body ready – now it’s about your heart and mind, and executing your plan.
What to do before the marathon
• Take your time
Race day generally starts earlier than you might like, and usually after a less-than-ideal night’s sleep. Don’t panic – world records have been broken after a poor night’s sleep. (In fact, Eliud Kipchoge only got about five hours’ kip the night before he ran a sub-two-hour marathon.) Race morning is about staying calm and going through the routines that have served you well in training.
When we’re nervous, it’s all too easy to rush or cut short our meals. Breakfast provides a key part of the energy you’ll need in the race, so it’s worth getting it right. Build enough time into your morning schedule to graze on your practised race-day breakfast for 20-30 minutes, at least a couple of hours before the start of the race. You’ll digest your food better and probably find you can eat a little more, which may be useful later.
• Stick to your routine
Treat today as if it’s the best long run of training and repeat things you have done before successful runs or races. Try to keep to a familiar routine that has worked for you before other races that went well. The foods you eat, the kit you wear and the music you listen to are all part of your mental warm-up.
Get your logistics sorted well in advance. Know which train/bus you’ll catch and where you’ll head when you get off. Find out where the toilets will be. Leaving this until race day could affect your performance because any last-minute uncertainty can make you nervous.
• Focus
You have a choice as you head to the start. You can choose to let the occasion get the better of you, have your head down and reflect on the training you missed and all the reasons why today won’t be your day, or you can use the last couple of hours before the race to your advantage. Mental fatigue has been shown to negatively affect performance, so the hours before the start should be an opportunity to calm yourself and to focus on the race ahead.
• Create a bubble
It’s very easy to be caught up in the chatter of others before a big marathon. Put yourself in a protective bubble. Consider turning your phone off, perhaps listen to some music and run through a mental list of five reasons why today will go well for you. Whether it’s the training sessions you nailed, or the cause you are running for, find your positive bubble.
• Save your legs
You’ve got plenty of miles to warm up so don’t worry too much about an extended warm-up before the race. A couple of minutes of gentle jogging to check your lacing comfort and mentally prepare is enough. Staying cool during the race can aid your performance, so don’t overdress. Hats, gloves and arm warmers can easily be removed in the first few miles; long sleeves and tights cannot.
How to run the first quarter
• Start steady
The first two to five miles of a 26.2-mile race tend to feel pretty easy. For this reason, the biggest mistake made by runners – from beginners to veterans – is going off too hard. It’s true that data suggests most PBs are run with a slight ‘positive’ (running the first half faster than the second) split by one or two minutes or so, but if you get greedy and try to ‘bank’ more time than that, the last six miles are going to hurt – a lot.
• Be realistic
We all set ourselves targets and often those are best-case scenarios. But if the wind is strong or the temperature is high, try to adapt and manage your expectations. On average, runners will slow by around four seconds per mile for every degree of temperature over 15C.
• Fuel early
Many runners under-estimate their marathon fuelling or leave it too late in the race. Spread your gels, energy drink or other nutrition products evenly through the race. Ideally, runners should be taking on 60-80g of carbs per hour – it’s wise to practise this in training. This intake will probably mean you are taking on a couple of gels per hour, supported by some energy drink.
Running the second quarter
• Stick to your plan
The second quarter of your marathon is a time to enjoy the race-day atmosphere, but don’t neglect your plan. Your legs should be feeling good now that you have warmed up, the adrenaline is still pumping and you may find that your pace starts to drift up. Use a pace band (a list of all the mile splits you are aiming for at your goal pace) and check your mile splits against the markers on course – that’s a more accurate metric than relying solely on your GPS’s pace reading. Stick to your pacing plan – the hard miles are yet to come.
• Use your mantra
This is the section of the race when it is easy to get caught up in what other people are doing. Just because the runner next to you is taking on a gel every couple of miles or beginning to push the pace doesn’t mean you have to. A visible mantra or cue word can help bring you back into your zone – write it on the back of your hand. ‘Focus’, ‘relax’ and ‘rhythm’ are all words I have used in the past.
• Details matter
At the risk of stating the obvious, a marathon is a long way, and the small details can add up to create success – or to undermine it. Stick to the shortest route, which is often marked with a line on the road. Running wide at corners, hopping kerbs and weaving around other runners can add metres and seconds on to an already long race.
After halfway
• Find a pack
The halfway distance point has ticked by, but you’re not halfway through your marathon effort just yet. The next part of the race is about reaching the 20-mile mark safely and getting ready to chuck everything you’ve got at the final six miles or so. These miles can be challenging. You have lots of work already behind you, but you still have a way to go. Try to focus on the process of running, not the finish line just yet. Many runners find these miles tick off easier if they can settle into a group that is running a similar pace. That unspoken connection and shared effort with strangers is what makes the marathon special for so many of us.
• Expect a rise in effort
You need to become comfortable with the fact that the marathon will start to feel uncomfortable. That’s normal, but it’s easy to start to talk yourself out of the race at this point. Turn your watch around and work to perceived effort in the second half of the race. You’ve got a rhythm now; centre in on what your body is doing, not what your watch is saying.
• Check yourself
I like to use this section of the race to run through routines to prepare for the final six miles. Go through a mental checklist as you gather yourself for the final big effort. Resetting yourself physically can be a great way to get ‘centred’. Cues such as ‘face and shoulders relaxed’, ‘high hips’, ‘crisp cadence’ and ‘light footstrike’ were on my list – decide on yours and use them to steady yourself.
The final stages
• Embrace the task
‘The race begins at 20 miles, everything else is just transport’ is one of the maxims that sum up the toughest section of the marathon. And it’s true that the final six or so miles of the marathon do require a disproportionate amount of your mental and physical effort. The final quarter of the race is what makes you a marathoner. Don’t fear the struggle, embrace it – it’s why you lined up in the first place.
• Dedicate the miles
Research has shown that having a self-transcending motivation can help improve sports performance. Use that now. Dedicate each of the final few miles to someone important in your life. This will help you tap into that broader motivation but also break the final bit of the race into manageable chunks.
• Fuel creatively
Right up until the last couple of miles, taking on fuel can still help you, but you might feel you’ve had enough. Studies have shown there are benefits to just rinsing your mouth with carbohydrate drink before spitting it out. So if you feel you can’t take on any more, give that a try.
• Race it home
Even at the end, it’s still a race; remembering that helps you push through the final mile or two to the finish. Pick a vest 20-30m ahead and see if you can reel the runner in, then pick another. See if you can pull others along with you, too. Good luck!
