What is Nutrition? It's the Science of Life!What is nutrition?
So let’s begin – what is nutrition in the first place? Nutrition is actually the basic science of life…it’s how we use the foods and beverages we consume to support our daily activities. In today's society, we’ve evolved into a community specifically interested in eating healthy foods with all the appropriate nutrients (thank goodness! I thought the fast food trend would never go away…). Not getting enough of the essential nutrients can result in a large number of vitamin deficiencies leading to metabolic problems, nervous system dysfunction, regularly occurring infections or even death. I’m not trying to scare you or anything here, this is just what happens if you don’t eat anything! Obviously, if you don’t eat or drink anything, you’ll die pretty quickly. If you don’t feed your goldfish often enough, one day you’ll find it floating at the top of the bowl. You need nutrition just as much as any other organism in existence. Bottom line? The benefits of nutrition (well, good nutrition!) are endless! The science of nutrition revolves around the reasons you eat what you eat. What happens to your body when you eat peanut butter at a certain time? What are the health benefits and drawbacks? Understanding the difference between eating a bag of potato chips in place of a baked potato are sorts of things you should be concerned with (and yes, there is a difference!).
Always remember this for now and in the future: the food (or supplement) that you consume will never build any muscle, burn fat or do any other miraculous feat for you. This will always require a bit of work on your part. This is where strength training comes in (and also where people cringe). Strength training can be an extremely satisfying activity if you do it the smart way. Burning out, “not having enough time”, and just general boredom are the most common reasons that people quit their training programs. The fact is that this happens because they’re not doing their workouts properly! They’re doing nothing to stimulate themselves. It really doesn’t require much effort…sometimes just tracking your progress keeps you sufficiently motivated. The whole fitness goal-setting story is for another page, however. What I’m trying to say is that nutrition is the lifeblood of your training program, whether you like it or not. No, this doesn’t mean you can never have cheesecake or a hotdog again. It just means that you’ll need to be more strategic and smart about what you eat. One example would be to eat lower fat foods than you might normally (as in the fast food diet). Doing this alone will mean that you’re using more of this fat for energy purposes.
So, what have we learned on this page? Here's a quick question... What is nutrition? No cheating! Well, O.K., cheating is allowed, but only this time! Throughout the nutrition guide, I’ve provided everything you need to know to get you on the right track. No need to squint at the nutrition label any longer – all the jargon is explained thoroughly. But beware, there’s no need to memorize any of this stuff! If you need a helping hand, just come on back to look things up!
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In this day and age, becoming healthy and nutritious has become much less of an afterthought, but rather a premier interest. We can attribute much of this to the media, flashing pictures of models with rock solid abs and rippling muscles. They put up things in the media that we all wish we could be. I’m hoping that this sort of revolution is moving more towards the healthy side rather than the unhealthy side. What I mean is, being thin doesn’t necessarily mean fit or healthy! This is where nutrition comes in – we can be healthy and fit!
Proper nutrition is extremely important, especially if you’re in a strength training program. Whether you want to build muscle, lose fat, tone your muscles, or simply feel better about yourself. 
Supplementation with your strength training program means you’ll be burning more calories than you’re taking in. End result? Increased muscle definition (they’re hiding under all the subcutaneous fat!), increased confidence and you’ll feel great about yourself. Feeling great…isn’t that what life is all about? Nutrition is key.