Does exercise require you to have a healthy diet? A study suggests yes

Many people wish to have a healthier lifestyle, but the prospect of working in this direction may seem daunting, as there are many habits to face at the same time, namely diet and exercise. However, new research suggests that regular exercise may be enough to put you on the right track.

A new study published in the Diary of obesity asked 2,680 students aged 18 to 35, who did not have the habit of exercising, to train for 30 minutes three times a week for 15 weeks. Each training session consisted of an aerobic exercise performed at 65-85% of the maximum heart rate depending on age and gender, as well as a warm-up and 5-minute recovery. The researchers told participants not to change their diet significantly, but asked them to keep track of what they ate for each meal.

Surprisingly, participants changed their diet, eating less food overall while focusing on fruits, vegetables and low-fat foods, and choosing fewer fried foods and non-alcoholic beverages. The reason is that this is unclear, although previous studies have suggested that exercise may stimulate the production of appetite regulating hormones.

Of course, people who choose to exercise may not want unhealthy foods to interfere with their ability to exercise or possibly avoid unhealthy foods because this would give them the impression of being a mess. There is also a phenomenon called transfer effect, which describes how new skills or attitudes acquired in one behavior can affect a second behavior. Whatever the cause, the connection between exercise routine and diet seems obvious.

"The process of physical activity can affect eating behavior," said Molly Bray, Corresponding Author of the Journal and Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at UT Austin and a member of the Faculty of Pediatrics from the Dell Medical School. UT News. "One of the reasons we need to promote exercise is for healthy habits that it can create in other areas.This combination is very powerful."

The participants in the study were students, some of whom may never have thought of adopting an exercise program or voluntary dieting.

"Many people in the study did not know that they had this active and healthy person in them," Bray said. "Some thought their size was inevitable, and for many of these kids they choose what to eat and when to exercise for the first time in their lives."

Different workouts, different eating habits

Overall, exercise was followed by healthier eating habits among most participants. But it is interesting to note that the study found trends between the duration and intensity of workouts and what participants chose to eat.

First, the researchers described several dietary habits, summarized as follows:

• Western: corn, soft drinks, cheeseburgers, steak, bacon, butter, hot dogs, pizza.
• Cautious: tuna, non-fried fish, fruits, coffee, peanut butter, eggs, tomatoes, green vegetables.
• Ethnic: Sautéed beans, Pinto beans, tortillas, tacos, salsa.
• Snacks: biscuits, salty snacks, ice cream, sake, 100% juice, donuts.
• Milk and cereals: 2% or whole milk.

The study found that longer workouts were badociated with "restrictive food preferences in nibbling and western eating patterns, while a higher intensity of activity induced an increased preference for the cautious diet". In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, the results showed that participants who did not scrupulously follow the prescribed exercise routine were also less likely to change their diet in a healthier way over the course of 15 weeks.

Nevertheless, the researchers warned against drawing too much conclusions from their results, notably for the following reasons: the data provided by the participants; participants were self-selected, which means that they might have already been more interested in improving their health behaviors; and the study did not follow after the intervention of the study to see if any dietary changes had persisted.

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