It is tempting to believe that a rigorous workout routine can compensate for poor dietary choices. Many hope that intense cardio sessions will erase the impact of fast food, sugary drinks, and late-night snacks. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that fitness cannot fully outwork poor nutrition, no matter how disciplined you are with your workouts. While exercise offers numerous health benefits, it cannot entirely negate the detrimental effects of a consistently unbalanced diet.
The Interplay of Stress, Diet, and Exercise
Both acute and chronic stress can negatively impact health and wellbeing, directly increasing the risk of several chronic diseases and related health problems. Stress may also contribute to ill-health indirectly by influencing health-related behavior, such as promoting the intake of unhealthy, palatable foods high in fat and sugar content.
Regular physical exercise is an often-used stress management technique that plays an important role in supporting a number of health and wellbeing outcomes. Exercise undertaken prior to exposure to an acute stressful episode can down-regulate an individual’s acute stress response. Exercise may also help alleviate unhealthy eating following exposure to stressors.
Understanding Stress Models
Hans Selye, often referred to as the “father of stress”, defined stress as a nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it. The stimulus that causes a stress response is termed a “stressor,” which may be classified as external or internal. External stressors include major life changes, unpredictable events, or social demands. Internal stressors, on the other hand, refer to personal fears, uncertainty, or unrealistic perfectionistic expectations.
Acute stress is experienced when demands and pressures of the recent past and/or anticipated demands and pressures of the near future are present, whereas chronic stress is associated with extended periods of unrelenting demands and pressures. Individuals may respond to stressors differently depending on the type, nature, and subjective interpretation of the stimuli.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
In the GAS model, Selye proposed that different types of stressors result in a similar physiological response. The GAS theory consists of three phases: the alarm stage, resistance stage, and exhaustion stage. In the alarm stage, the body responds with a burst of energy to deal with the presence of a stressor, also known as the “fight or flight” response. After this initial response to the stressor, the resistance stage involves the body remaining on guard and the adrenal cortex continuing to release glucocorticoids (cortisol) to help the body react to the stressor until the stress is resolved, or the body can no longer resist and reserves are depleted. Lastly, the exhaustion stage occurs when the stressor continues without resolution for a sufficient time period or at a sufficient intensity, such that energy reserves are depleted.
Lazarus and Folkman claim stress does not directly result from stressors but rather emerges because of an individual’s inability to satisfy the demands that accompany a stressor. Within their Transactional Model, these scholars emphasize that “stress” occurs as a result of an imbalance between what a situation demands and the resources an individual possesses in relation to those demands.
The Complex Relationship Between Stress and Food Intake
Exposure to stressors and acute stress is inevitable, and it is common to experience stress as we strive to best use our resources to meet the requirements of our ever-demanding environment. "Eustress" represents a positive stress response when a stressor is perceived as a challenge. There is empirical support for this notion where some level of stress can drive perseverance in situations such as meeting work deadlines or striving to perform at one’s best in sport.
In situations where exposure to stressors stimulates a negative stress response, “distress” reflects a negative stress response, where the stressor is appraised as a threat or a harm-loss. Poorly managed, overwhelming stress can result in exhaustion, psychological breakdown, and other detrimental health consequences.
Stress can directly increase the risk of chronic diseases and health problems but can also indirectly influence these outcomes via its effects on health-related behavior. Sleep habits, substance use (including alcohol and smoking), and food choices are behaviors often negatively affected by stress.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
There appears to be individual variation in terms of the exact nature of the relationship between stress and food intake. Some investigators have reported that individuals report or display higher caloric intake during stressful periods, others have failed to find any overall difference in energy intake between stressful and non-stressful situations, and some have reported decreases in appetite and food intake when exposed to an acute stressor.
Despite the discrepancies reported in previous studies regarding the overall amount of energy intake in response to stress, researchers typically report a shift in food choices-in both humans and animals-toward foods high in fat and sugar content under stressful conditions. Indeed, when provided with choice, foods consumed during times of both chronic and acute stress typically favor those that are energy-dense, with increased fat and/or sugar content. This shift in food choice, toward the consumption of more pleasurable or palatable foods in stressful situations, appears to occur regardless of alterations in the total caloric intake. This phenomenon is also observed under controlled laboratory circumstances, with an increase in the intake of “comfort” foods when both humans and animals are placed under acute physical or emotional stressors, even when individuals have high satiety and have no homeostatic need for calories.
The precise mechanisms through which stress influences food intake are likely multi-faceted and may be both physiological and psychological in nature.
The Limitations of "Out-Training" a Bad Diet
New research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine indicates that high levels of physical activity do not counteract the detrimental effects of a poor diet on mortality risk. Participants who had both high levels of physical activity and a high-quality diet had the lowest risk of death. Compared to physically inactive participants with poor diets, those who had the highest physical activity and a high-quality diet had a mortality risk that was reduced by 17% from all causes. They also had a 19% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and 27% percent from certain cancers.
This highlights that regular physical activity and good dietary habits go hand in hand when it comes to long-term health and longevity. Food provides the fuel your body needs to produce energy and contains all the building blocks (the nutrients) that are needed to make new cells as old damaged ones are being replaced. Fitness keeps your muscles and bones strong, keeps a healthy heart pumping, and balances your moods and hormones.
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
Physical activity and diet also play a major role in the prevention of many chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and cardiovascular diseases. Excess fat is associated with the onset of many of the aforementioned chronic diseases. Beyond weight control, physical activity and diet can improve other aspects of your health, including the regulation of inflammation, immune function, and muscle mass, which can all extend your lifespan.
Defining a High-Quality Diet
The phrase 'high-quality diet' is open to interpretation. The Mediterranean diet remains the gold standard for lifelong good health and low inflammation. It includes staples such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, nuts, legumes, lots of olive oil, and small amounts of meat, eggs, and dairy. Various studies have confirmed the links between the Mediterranean diet and good health. Adding some fermented foods for optimal gut health and choosing unprocessed (preferably organic) foods as much as possible is also beneficial.
Recommended Exercise Levels
The World Health Organization revised their physical activity guidelines in late 2020. For adults aged 18-64 years, it’s recommended to achieve at least 150-300 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week or 75-150 minutes of more vigorous activity. It’s also recommended to engage in strength or resistance training on 2 or more days a week. Limiting sedentary time as much as possible by replacing it with an activity of any intensity is also important. Incidental exercise counts too, whether it’s climbing the stairs to work, running to catch your bus, or doing household chores.
Building Healthier Habits
To improve the quality of your diet, 'eat the rainbow'. Food that has a vibrant color (think fresh fruits and veggies, kidney beans, matcha, pure cacao, etc.) is full of antioxidants that help fight inflammation and oxidative stress. Ensuring you eat enough high-quality protein and fat is key too. Aim for 15 to 30g at every meal to keep your muscles and bones strong. You’ll find protein in foods like legumes, lentils, and beans, as well as fish, eggs, poultry, and meat. Healthy fats can be found in avocado, olive oil, salmon, nuts, and seeds. Begin adding these foods into your diet to balance your hormones and keep your skin supple.
Where exercise is concerned, find exercise you actually enjoy. If there is a type of exercise you don’t enjoy, then trying to pursue that will only have benefits in the short term as you are unlikely to sustain it. Once you’ve found a type of exercise you enjoy, find ways to build it into your routine. This might include sharing your exercise plan with others. Exercise can be a social outlet, an opportunity to spend time with friends pursuing a common goal, or much-needed family time. Try to break up sitting with short ‘exercise snacks’ for even 2-3 minutes throughout the day.
The "Skinny Fat" Phenomenon
"Skinny fat" is the unofficial term used on social media to describe a person who looks slim but has a high percentage of body fat. A regular gymgoer could have little subcutaneous fat - the fat right under your skin that’s easy to pinch - but lots of visceral fat. Large amounts of visceral fat circulating throughout the body could cause the arteries to harden and become narrower, a disease known as atherosclerosis. There’s also an increased risk for premature death if you exercise but neglect healthy eating.
Caloric Deficit and Nutrient Density
If you’re looking to lose weight, the key is to develop a caloric deficit in which you burn more calories than what you are consuming. But eating high-calorie fatty foods regularly can make this a challenge. Processed foods such as soda and candy have little to no nutrients. With a lack of vitamins, protein, and fiber to fill you up, it’ll be hard to think about working out when you’re constantly feeling hungry. If you do make it to the gym, those empty calories will make it harder to have a productive workout session. Fatty foods might give a temporary boost of energy at first, but they wouldn’t be enough to maintain a long or high-intensity workout, making it easier to feel fatigued sooner.
To build muscle mass, your best bet is to include foods high in protein such as chicken and salmon in your diet. Think of food as more than just calories but as the kind of energy it can provide. “It’s not good or bad food; it’s just fuel.”
The Synergistic Effect of Exercise and Nutrition
Exercise is essential, but it works best as part of a bigger picture. Relying on movement alone leads to frustration, while combining it with smart nutrition leads to transformation. A diet rich in lean protein, colorful vegetables, healthy fats, and whole grains provides the building blocks for recovery and energy. When you fuel well, your workouts feel stronger, you recover faster, and you see measurable changes in strength, endurance, and body composition. Good nutrition also improves hormone balance, which plays a massive role in fat loss and muscle gain.