Ask a Trainer: Eating for energy

What foods should I be eating to keep my muscles and bones strong as I age? - Joe B.

Great question, Joe! The best things you can to keep your muscles and bones strong as you age are work out and eat well-balanced meals. Put most of your energy into your nutrition. For instance, by eating lean proteins, such as skinless chicken, nuts, beans, and fish, your body produces collagen fibers, which are important for the development and maintenance of your bones and muscles. While the body naturally produces collagen, it decreases by about 1 percent per year as we age. So, as we get older it’s vitally important to increase our protein intake to keep our collagen production up to maintain muscle and bone mass.

Before you raid the Publix poultry section for protein, let’s talk about another important component of preserving our muscles and bones: Fruits and vegetables. Remember the old adage, “Any apple a day can keep the doctor away?” While you certainly need to eat more fruit that just an apple a day and it probably won’t keep the doctor away for good, higher fruit and vegetable intakes have been shown to help lower risk of bone fracture in the mature population. Several studies show that potassium rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, can help protect your bones from calcium loss and contain high amounts of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that help protect our skeletal systems and maintain our muscles. Mix up the produce, though! Walk through the produce section and choose an array of colors when it comes to your fruits and vegetables.

And don’t forget your exercise! Working out for at least 30 minutes a day, three times a week is very beneficial to building muscle and maintaining bone density. Studies show that Americans that get a regular routine of aerobic exercise experience fewer falls and injuries than those that do not workout. That should give you something to chew on!

What foods can keep me energized, so I can stay active? - Elizabeth V.

Elizabeth, I get this question quite frequently and I get excited to answer it every time! To keep those energy levels up, the best thing you can do — like Joe B. — is eat more fruit and more vegetables! Can you tell that I love fruits and vegetables? Fruits and vegetables are naturally designed to give us energy throughout the day. Produce contains natural fructose. This fructose is what helps our bodies get energized, ready to go and stay energized. Rather than the candy bar crash, you’ll get sustainable energy for a longer period of time. The sugars in our fruits and vegetables are designed by nature to process and digest very quickly in the human body. They're a great snack, a great pick-me-up, and they taste amazing! Play around with your vegetables and fruits to see which ones give you the most energy. And, like I mentioned to Joe, get a variety of colors (all of the colors will make your kitchen counter look pretty, too! That’s just a bonus). Buy some sandwich baggies to take them as snacks on the go. This is as simple as snacking on a few grapes, consuming a cup of greens, peeling back an orange or quenching your thirst with an all-natural, 100-percent-organic fruit and/or vegetable juice. If you’re out for stroll on Park Avenue, Café 118° on Morse Blvd. in Winter Park makes some great healthy drinks!

Michael Garcia, Certified Personal Trainer, employs diverse training styles that reach a wide range of demographics and fitness goals at Anytime Fitness, Winter Park. He can be reached at 321-972-5833 for both personal and group training. For answers to your health and for a free personal training session email [email protected]