Exercise and diet play a big role in how our bodies create energy and keep our cells healthy. Here’s how they work together:
1. Effects of Exercise:
- Doing aerobic exercise regularly can make more tiny power plants, called mitochondria, in our muscles. These can increase by 50% to 100%, helping our bodies make more energy (ATP).
- High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, can boost how well our bodies use insulin, improving it by up to 25% in just two weeks.
- Exercising can also raise the number of special helpers in our muscles called glucose transporters (GLUT4). This can lead to a 30% to 50% increase in how much sugar our muscles take in after we work out.
2. Impact of Diet:
- Eating foods with complex carbs, like whole grains, can help store more energy (glycogen) in our muscles. This can go up by about 20%, making it easier to power through longer activities.
- Consuming enough protein (1.2 to 2.0 grams for every kilogram of body weight) helps repair muscles and boosts our metabolism. This means our bodies can burn about 15% more energy while digesting food, which is called the thermic effect of food.
- Eating omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, can improve the function of our mitochondria and has been linked to a 30% drop in fat buildup in the liver.
In summary, regular exercise and a healthy diet are really important for keeping our cells energized and working well.