Tips to develop and maintain an effective, healthy diet.
Practicing a martial art is an excellent way to keep healthy, get into shape (or stay that way), and build muscle. However, any exercise is going to have limited impact if one's diet is not healthy. Further, without proper nutrition, one may end up exhausted and aching, not just after a workout, but all the time.
If you do a search for "diet" and "martial arts," you'll end up with a huge list of sites that give you information that ranges from "eat only green vegetables" to "eat only raw, red meat" and figures everything in between. While there is some leeway in determining a healthy diet, it should be obvious that there is no way for both extremes to be correct.
The first thing to realize that extremes are not healthy. While it is possible to have a healthy vegetarian (or even vegan) diet, it is not possible to healthily subsist on only one type of vegetable, nor is it possible to healthily subsist on only meat (or even mostly meat).
The second thing to realize is that anybody who pushes an extreme diet is likely one of two things. The first possibility is that the person is trying justify his or her own bad eating habits. The second possibility is that the person is trying to make money. People want to believe that eating horribly is good for them, and will pay other people to tell them it's okay. This is how we ended up with the Atkins diet.
All in all, the most important thing you can do to improve your diet is to learn to listen to your body. Your body will let you know when it needs certain things. The problem is that most people have inundated their bodies with fast food, fatty and sugary snacks, and excessive calories, and have forgotten how to interpret the body's signals.
As an example to this, many Americans, when they are thirsty, immediately think of soda. The problem is that, with all of the sugar, carbonation, and caffeine, soda does far less to quench thirst than water. Even worse are energy drinks, which have even more sugar and caffeine, as well as other stimulants. These leave the body in a slump a very short time after ingestion. This is, obviously, undesirable for a martial artist.
Another example would be a person who is craving a double cheeseburger. Likely, what this person's body wants is protein (maybe the need is even so specific as "red meat"), and possibly sodium. A far better choice would be a small, lean steak seasoned with a small amount of sea salt.
It takes some work to learn how to interpret these signals again. This is much the same as learning a new technique or kata in martial arts. To begin with, you make your decisions very conscientiously. When you eat, you must think carefully about the foods you are going to eat. Choose meals with a small portion of low-fat protein, lots of fruits and vegetables, and a moderate amount of grain. Try to choose foods that are closer to their natural form (whole apples over applesauce, sliced ham over Spam, whole grain, or better, sprouted, bread over white bread). It is also important to vary the types of food in your diet. If you only eat one kind of food, even if it is a raw vegetable, you will become ill. One way to think of this is to think of color. Try to learn to enjoy as many different colors of fruits and vegetables as possible. This will help vary your diet and balance the amount of vitamins and minerals you ingest.
Over time, these choices will become ingrained. You will no longer need to contemplate whether to have the whole grain or Italian bread at the sub shop. Foods high in fat or simple carbohydrates may become treats, to be had periodically, in small amounts.
The difference between the feeling of a good, healthy, meal and the feeling of a fatty, sugary, fast food meal can be likened to the difference between spending an hour playing video games and spending an hour practicing a martial art. The video games and the fast food are more immediately satisfying, bombarding the senses. The martial art and the healthy meal, on the other hand, leave a deeper feeling of satisfaction that stays long after the meal and the practice session are over. There is nothing wrong with indulging in the video game or fast food craving, but to do so too much will leave you sick in mind, body, and spirit.
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