You Can’t Out-Train a Bad Diet

Do you like to go all-in on a workout and then reward yourself with junk food that completely negates all of the time, sweat and effort you just put in? Well, when put that way, it sounds pretty silly. Unfortunately, people do it all the time. A common scenario goes like this: you start working out to lose some weight and get in shape, but lose interest in the exercise because you fail to see the results. How does this happen? Why is it so hard to shed pounds and get shredded? Most likely, there is something going on with your diet that is slowing down your progress. According to our guest, “nutrition is 85% of the battle.” When you combine exercise with the proper diet, then you start see the desired results.

Healthy Gourmet had the pleasure of speaking with Keith Scruggs, owner of BONA Fitness in Katy, TX. Keith is a former champion weightlifter that has lone stressed the importance of healthy eating in addition to hitting the gym.

https://youtu.be/8wsyaEayPzc

Kieth Scruggs
Owner of BONA Fitness

Healthy Chat with Kieth Scruggs, owner of BONA Fitness

Kieth Scruggs: BONA Fitness stands for Building On Natural Ability and we’ve been around since 2000. We actually started on Westheimer and we’ve been in Katy [TX] since 2012. So we kind of got our start out of a supplement store and we were just crazy about, you know, the quality of supplementations on the market. We wanted to do something different and it’s spun off into a personal training gym which started off as a small, ’bout 5,000 square-foot, gym and now here we are in Katy, whatever 15 years later and 11 thousand sq. feet.

HG: What is your favorite meal?

Kieth Scruggs: You know, I’m actually a breakfast guy so my favorite meals usually stem somewhere around omelets. I just really like what you can do with an omelet. You know, you’re egg is always a really quality source of protein, it’s always easy to make. And, you know, whether I put chicken in, or shrimp in it, so somewhere around breakfast is gonna be my favorite healthy meal.

HG: Do you have a diet philosophy?

Kieth Scruggs: You know, here we always preach that nutrition is 85 percent of the battle, you know, even though we’re in the gym business, the reality of it is that most Americans lose weight from proper nutrition. Now, is the physique gonna look different? Of course, you know your muscle density is gonna be different, lean muscle mass is going to be different, your stability and ability to function is gonna be different. But you can’t out-train a bad diet. If you don’t figure out a way to get consistent about the quality of food and supplements you put in your body, there’s there’s no way that you’re gonna have the physique you want in the long run.

HG: What are the most common obstacles to leading a healthy lifestyle?

Kieth Scruggs: You know we’re all a reflection of our habits. Period. That if your weight goals are a 20 pound differential of who you are now, who you want to be… really, the problem is your habits at the moment when it comes to nutrition. It’s a grind because we eat for emotional reasons. That if you look up in any time of day, if you’re stressed, out you come up with a thousand reasons to eat bad, and if you don’t have  some kind of form of quality food that you like the way it tastes, that you leave the house every day with a plan of how many required calories you need for the day that you can meet, you going to end up unhappy with your physique.

How to Eat to Avoid Negating My Workout?

As Keith explains, his gym provides you with a positive and unique experience you won’t find anywhere else. As a champion weightlifter himself, you can believe him when he says “you can’t out-train a bad diet.” Eating processed foods, junk food, meals pumped with artificial preservatives will negate the effort you put in.

So, what foods do we, and the majority of the weightlifting community, recommend for someone who is highly active in the gym?

• Vegetables full of nutrients like broccoli, kale, cauliflower, bell peppers, sweet potatoes
• Healthy fats such as:
  Avocados
  Fatty fish like salmon, trout, canned sardines
  Nuts like almonds, pistachios, walnuts
• Lean meat like chicken or lean beef
• Whole grains and seeds like chia seeds, oats, sesame (no the ones on a fast-food hamburger bun are not substantial enough to justify the entire meal), if you are expending calories daily, you really can’t go wrong with such great sources of healthy fats and protein.

Avoid these to make the most of your workout:

• Processed sugars like sodas. Energy drinks are notoriously tempting, but this is not the healthy “energy” you are looking for before or after a workout. Causes bloating, crashes, and dehydration. Most chocolates are included here… it’s not a proper reward if it hurts your gains.
• Foods with lots of oils like fried food.
• High-fat dairy products
• Alcohol because its high in sugars, slows down bodily functions, and all of those calories are basically useless.

If you are going to the gym frequently and expending tons of calories, naturally, you will need to replenish those calories with food that nourishes your body with the least resistance. For example, your body accepts processed sugars because it cannot tell the difference between those and natural sugars. Unfortunately, the body does not use processed sugars in the same way, storing it in fat cells, or short-term boosts of energy that are threatening to healthy blood-sugar levels.

Healthy Gourmet prepares meals that provide your body with the nutrients it needs, with no artificial preservatives or processed sugars. Cooking meals with natural ingredients means your body gets the most out of what you eat.