As a personal trainer, your clients look to you for advice on their overall health. This goes beyond exercise routines and may certainly dive into the realm of nutrition and overall wellness. More than likely, your clients are wondering how a specific diet can help them “get abs fast” or even help them live longer. However, what your clients might not realize is that nutrition can also keep them energized, focused, and even help them stave off age-related degenerative diseases. Here are 6 nutrition tips for boosting the brain and the body to relay to your clients.
1. Eat More Fat
The “right” kind of fats, so to speak. While we should limit saturated fats and avoid trans fats (which are basically man-made chemical fats), unsaturated fats should be inclusive to a balanced diet. Polyunsaturated fats such as Omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids are dietary fats that provide numerous health benefits such as lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, blood triglycerides, and reducing plaque build-up in the blood vessels. Fish are packed with Omega-3 fatty oils, which can boost the brain and the body at the same time. Salmon, tilapia, tuna, sardines — all are fatty fish that can make the mind and body healthier. That’s because most of your brain is made of fat — just another example of how fat isn’t always “bad” for you — and about 50% of that fat are Omega-3s.
2. Be Pro-Antioxidant
You and your clients probably know that antioxidants are good for you but why? They great for healing cell tissues, boosting metabolism, and they also have some amazing brain benefits. Antioxidants reduce inflammation in the brain, which can lead to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s over time. The more immediate benefits worth noting are memory retention, decreased depression, and brain cell growth. Some foods that contain antioxidants include dark chocolate, blueberries, turmeric, and broccoli, but there are dozens more!
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3. Be OK with Vitamin K
Besides Omega-3s, the fat in our brains includes sphingolipids, and Vitamin K helps produce these substances. Because of this process, Vitamin K has been linked with improved memory. In addition to being rich in antioxidants, broccoli also includes more than the recommended daily intake for Vitamin K, but most green veggies have this in abundance.
4. Get Big on Micronutrients
Micronutrients include magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper, and each one plays a big role in brain health for you and your personal training clients. Magnesium helps with memory, which is important for learning. Iron improves brain function. Zinc and copper aid nerve signaling and keep neurodegenerative diseases at bay. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of these micronutrients.
5. Take It Easy with Vitamin E
Vitamin E is not a popular one; your clients aren’t likely to read about it in pop-science articles. However, consumption of this vitamin from the diet is important for brain health, as it improves cognitive skills and delays degenerative diseases by protecting cell membranes from free radical damage. Nuts are a rich source of not only protein, and unsaturated fat, but also Vitamin E.
6. Get Cool with Vitamin C
Like many of the other nutrients in this list, Vitamin C helps prevent cognitive decline that often occurs with age. Your clients can get their full recommended daily intake of Vitamin C just by eating one medium-sized orange a day. However, your clients can also get Vitamin C from strawberries, tomatoes, and bell peppers, and really, you can’t eat too much of this stuff—any excess is readily excreted by the body.
With these nutrition tips for boosting the brain and the body, you can help your clients be the healthiest versions of themselves.
Special Strong provides adapted fitness for special needs children, adolescents, and adults with autism, Down Syndrome, and other disabilities. Through our online training platform, we also provide special needs certification courses for educators, professionals, and parents who want to learn how to adapt fitness to serve the special needs population. Fitness franchise opportunities are available.
Daniel has been involved in the fitness industry for over ten years and has owned his own private training business since 2013. His passion for health and fitness led him to get certified through NASM, NFPT, and ACSM. He also holds a specialty certification as a Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer (CIFT) and as a Certified Autism Trainer, which allows him to train individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. In 2013, Daniel married his beautiful wife, Trinity. A few years later, they prayerfully started Special Strong to pursue their calling of working with the special needs population. They both attend Resonate Life Church in Lucas and serve in ministry together. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, reading, and fishing.
