Excess calories mean more fat. What is excess? It is when your energy expenditure is less than the fuel you’ve take in in one day and while fat is an important component of our physiological process, too much and even too little can have ill effects on how our bodies function. Balancing our energy is best, take in as much as you need so that your body can operate at its optimal level and when you eat more than you need, engage in exercise to use the excess. When physical health is achieved mental health follows, cardiovascular exercise combined with good nutrition and stress management leads to vitality and elation, who doesn’t want to experience that every day?
FOOD IS ENERGY. Consuming more calories than then you’ve burned in one day is how fat gets stored and unless you’re getting ready for a prolonged famine you just don’t need all that excess energy lying around, weighing you down. Think about what amount of energy you actually need to eat throughout the day. Of course you also want to make sure the calories you choose to ingest are high quality, easy to process and not increasing your blood glucose to unhealthy levels which can lead to chronic disease.
The key is to change the way we consider food. Thinking of calories as units of energy gives us the incentive for moving our bodies through the day and throughout our lives. Food is representative of lifestyle and physical health.
Basic concepts on nutrition and exercise can easily be found in the media; however, moderation is always a good motto. High fat foods, sugar, and other refined carbohydrates should only be consumed on days of high activity ensuring a metabolic increase to utilize fuel. Opt for high fiber, low carbohydrate foods if you’re more sedentary, eat animal protein and fat in moderation and as much fresh vegetables and fruit as you like.
Exercise is a must for every body. Building muscle and bones while increasing the heart rate keeps bodies strong and healthy. Through yoga and cardiovascular exercises like jogging , lifting weight and resistance work we can increase immune function and reduce many chronic diseases.
I would be remiss not to mention the importance of drinking plenty of water throughout the day. We are made up of mostly water and our multitude of physiological processes require it to run properly.
Some resources to find out more about nutrition and health
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/nutrition-and-weight-status
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26181573/
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60892-8/fulltext?_eventId=login