I think we all know that exercise is very important for our health and wellbeing. Both mentally and physically, exercise can have hugely positive effects, including on our cardiovascular health.
It can help us think better, improve our mood, and it helps to keep so many of our body systems within a healthy range. If I were to list all of the benefits here then probably I would fill all of this article’s space with them.
But I want instead to draw your attention to one specific benefit which many people may not be aware of — and that is how exercise can help you eat better.
When you exercise you may feel more energy throughout the day, sleep better and have a more positive mood. All of these factors will affect your food choices as well.
So exercise becomes a very powerful medicine, especially with mental-health issues such as anxiety and depression. Exercise also has protective effects on neurodegeneration and can help you to reduce cravings and improve healthy behaviors. Much research has shown that even modest amounts of exercise can make a big difference in helping us increase our healthy behaviors and reduce our unhealthy ones.
When we do any physical activity during the day, most of us will think twice about what we consume after the exercise. You don’t want to burn a couple of hundred calories with a half hour of exercise and then eat a cookie with 300 calories afterwards, and even subconsciously you’ll find that you start reaching for other food sources.
Studies have actually shown that when doing regular exercise without following any type of diet the majority of people will start to eat better, for example, by increasing our intake of fruits and vegetables and eating less fast food and highly processed food.
Of course, this does not mean that you should never follow a diet, but for many people just the process of starting to exercise can be very beneficial as a trigger towards a much healthier lifestyle. One study looked at a score for health motivation and discovered that this was significantly and positively related to both healthy eating and exercise. Participants in the study who were getting regular exercise also showed an increased intake of fruit and vegetables, a higher odds ratio for having a high healthy eating motivation score, and even a decreased time spent watching TV.
It can be hard to start a diet and an exercise plan at the same time, trying to focus on everything and change all at once. So instead maybe you can focus only on getting some regular physical activity first, and then slowly you can start adding some other beneficial lifestyle changes.
For example, if you are leading a sedentary lifestyle then try just adding 10 minutes of walking every day. Or if you’re already exercising, then try adding an additional 10 minutes or increasing the intensity. I am sure that you will see some very positive improvements on your eating behavior.
References:
w Can Exercising and Eating Healthy Be Fun and Indulgent Instead of Boring and Depriving? Targeting Mindsets About the Process of Engaging in Healthy Behaviors; frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745950/full;
w The creation of a healthy eating motivation score and its association with food choice and physical activity in a cross sectional sample of Irish adults; https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-015-0234-0;
wMotivation and perceived competence for healthy eating and exercise among overweight/obese adolescents in comparison to normal weight adolescents; ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5693573/;
w Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognitive Functioning and Wellbeing: Biological and Psychological Benefits; frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00509/full;
w The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise; helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/the-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise.htm;
w The influence of 15-week exercise training on dietary patterns among young adults; nature.com/articles/s41366-018-0299-3.epdf.
