Toronto Sun Article

Lauren8239

This was in the Toronto Sun today regarding a study about exercise and eating healthy:

It's common knowledge that exercising and eating healthy food are the keys to getting fit, but new research shows the former actually helps the latter.

A total lifestyle change can be hard to implement all at once, so researchers suggest people start by adding a little more activity to their routines. Getting some gym time, research suggests, will make it easier to cut out the burgers and cheesecake.

"Understanding the interaction between exercise and a healthy diet could improve preventative and therapeutic measures against obesity by strengthening current approaches and treatments," said Miguel Alonso Alonso, the researcher at Harvard University who led the study.

"Physical exercise seems to encourage a healthy diet. In fact, when exercise is added to a weight-loss diet, treatment of obesity is more successful and the diet is adhered to in the long run."

That's because exercising literally changes the makeup of the brain, increasing grey matter and prefrontal connections, which in turn brings on what's called "inhibitory control," or more simply put, will power, the opposite of impulsiveness.

What's more, exercise makes people more aware about their own bodies, meaning active people are able to realize they're full sooner than inactive people, so they stop eating sooner.

torontosun.com