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B Chase Curtis /Argument Paper

Professor Lisa Packer
English 1010
3 April 2014
Nutrition Is the Key
Without maintaining a proper nutrition while working out I believe our bodies will hit a
plateau and can no longer allow us to reach those tough fitness goals, like building additional
muscle mass or losing that stubborn excuses fat. More often than not people assume that by
working out hard and or taking supplements that this will allow them to hit those hard to reach
goals without having a proper nutrition and eat whatever they want. By having a proper nutrition
our bodies can better support and recover itself by getting its essential nurturance.
Without proper nutrition we are starving our body of essential vitamins and minerals it
needs to give us energy, repairing and replenishing our muscles as well as burning stored fat.
From personal experience and talking with people at the gym, I have realized more often than
not, we only seem to look at what we can do physically to hit our goals. Thinking Im going to
do lots of cardio to burn that extra fat or Im going to push myself to lift really heavy to build
up my muscle mass. What we tend to look past is how our body is going to actually do this. We
really dont stop to think about what is giving us the energy to work out or how and what our
bodies are doing behind the scenes to support and recover itself, making it possible for our
desired growth and progression.
What is a proper nutrition? Our body needs some key components to help us hit those
goals.
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In an article published by Palo Alto Medical Foundation they say A balanced intake of
carbohydrates, proteins, and fats can provide proper proportions of nutrients to your body and
give an edge during a physical activity. These three simple parts are key to proper nutrition first
being Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy for endurance and
power (Nancy Brown, Ph.D.).
Our body converts our consumed carbs and turns them into a fuel source the body uses for
energy. Without proper carb intake our bodies pull energy from places we dont want, such as
our muscles. When our bodies use our muscles as a fuel source we start to work against what we
are trying to accomplish, slowly eating away at our muscle instead of fat storage and removing
the possibility of building muscle. By consuming the right kinds of carbs we help our bodies get
the proper energy it needs to help promote a powerful work out and help to burn excess fat.
Next is Proteins Proteins help build new body tissues (Nancy Brown, Ph.D.), in other
words muscle. Without sufficient protein our muscles cant and wont increase in size. When we
consume protein our muscles absorb its nutrients helping to maintain the wear and tear we put on
them.
Last out of the three is Fats. Fats provide energy when you are exercising at lower
intensity (Nancy Brown, Ph.D.). This would include just about everything we do in the day.
Like walking, moving boxes, playing video games and so on. Our body is never fully shut
down. Even in sleep our body is using fat we have consumed to provide it with fuel. By watching
these three items in what we eat we are able to have a balanced nutrition.
Another aspect we need to look at is how much are we eating? And is it the right type of
food? I hear people all the time say All I eat is healthy food, but I still cant seem to lose
weight. There are a couple things we can look at. One- How much are you eating? And two- Is
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the food youre eating really healthy. By over eating our body has to shift most of its energy
into digesting and storing the additional nutrients. So whats happening is our bodies are working
extremely hard like we want-- but focusing on the wrong areas. By working out we are helping
to maintain and make up for the over eating. But in the long run this wont allow us to see results
in burning excess fat.
This also happens when we eat unhealthy foods. These foods contain a lot of extras that
the body does not need an excess amount of. For example Junk food, most of these foods and
snacks contain a lot of sugars, preservatives and different fats. When we take these kinds of
foods in we might be getting some good nutritional benefits, but at the same time we are
providing the body with unneeded nutrients that the body doesnt use and ends up using its
energy to digest and process excess nutrients.
I have heard many people say I can eat whatever I want. All I need is my supplements
and a hard work out and Ill get the results I want. Yes, there are a handful of people out there
that have a great metabolism and dont have to work super hard to look and or become
physically fit. What they dont realize is that there body is still not getting everything that it
needs from eating poorly and by supplements. Supplements dont provide all the nurturance our
body needs; they only provide a focused component to give us a desired result.
When I first started to work out I placed a goal to drop my body fat percentage from
twenty two percent to around six to eight percent. For me this was a very extreme goal. The
average percentage for males my age is eighteen to twenty-four percent and I wanted to be in the
lower athletic section which ranges from six to eight percent. As I started towards my goal I only
focused on how hard I could push myself and what supplements I could take to get me to my
goal faster. While on the side eating whatever I wanted. About two months in I started to see
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results giving me more motivation to work harder at my goal. As I reached the fourth month, I
seemed to be stuck not making any progress in building muscle or losing excess fat. So I dished
out more money left and right to try different supplements to help keep up the progression and
keep losing body fat. As the month went on nothing seemed to be working. In my frustration I
went to my personal trainer and asked, Whats wrong with me? Why am I stuck, making no
progress? The first thing he said was, What are you eating? So I told him my eating habits,
what I generally ate and how much and when. As soon as I finished telling him he said Thats
your problem right there. He went on to tell me to do some research and to try and change what
I eat and when and that should fix my problem. From that day on I have been extremely
interested in nutrition and the different benefits of eating certain ways. Ive learned that
Maintaining a strong and healthy athletic performance is more than just a matter of training,
practice, and "keeping in shape." Your body needs support in the form of proper nutrition,
hydration, and rest in order to keep performing and responding at peak levels (Nancy Brown,
Ph.D.).
While many people argue they dont need good nutrition to stay fit and or hit a hard to
reach goal. I beg to differ. I firmly believe that the body needs proper nutrition to help produce
the change we are after. As mentioned before when we eat proper foods in healthy proportions,
we are providing our bodies with sufficient amount of carbohydrate, proteins and fats that are
giving the body what it requires to maintain and progress. Without these key components we are
lost and become stuck. By combining proper nutrition with working out we are able to open the
door to a whole new level allowing us to reach these amazing goals!


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Works Cited
Larkin, Marilynn. "Feature: Can Nutrition Improve Athletic
Performance." Lancet 366.(2005): S27-S28. Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition. Web. 3
Apr. 2014.
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Initials. N.p.. Web. 3 Apr 2014.
<http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcsd/Patients/Pages/ExerciseAndEating.asp&xgt;.
Nancy Brown, Ph.D., , ed. N.p.. Web. 3 Apr 2014.
<http://www.pamf.org/teen/health/nutrition/sportnutrition.html>.
Perry, M.. N.p.. Web. 3 Apr 2014. <http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-
percentage-chart/>.













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1. Describe your writing process for the argument essay. Look back at the process work
you did and trace your thinking about your topic and about your writing.
Started with my theses and then broke it up in the sections to help me better build my paper.
With each section I wrote down a statement of what I wanted to address. Then the best way for
me to put my thoughts together was to do a brain dump on each section. After that I typed it up
and started to clear my thoughts. After I had that I pulled in my research see where I could add
supporting evidence. After that I read it over and over again trying to smooth it out to make it
flow.
2. Describe the rhetorical situation as you see it for your argument essay. (Rhetorical
Situation = ability to communicate and/or persuade effectively.) How did you utilize the
rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos, kairos) in your writing?
For me this was hard to hit in those areas unless youre at the gym dealing with the same
frustrations. So that made it hard. But I was able to pull in my personal experience to pull some
Pathos talking about my frustration and own experience. Pathos I was able to get some good
sources and info as well as more personal experience. And Logos to me I felt like in away its
common sense but people dont seem to care.
3. Describe the revisions you made in your essay and discuss why you made those
revisions. Discuss your use of the They Say/I Say text. Did the templates help you? Did
the guidelines help you in your essay?
I did a lot a lot a lot of revision. Writing is not my strong suit I have a hard time seeing how
worlds should flow. (Im a little Dyslexic makes thing interesting) So after typing it up I would
print it. Read it out loud. Write down fixes and then re-correct. I had to do that a couple times.
Templates helped a lot to clear my mind and made it easier to write. As well as the guide lines.
4. What did you learn about research and about the writing process in these assignments?
Not a lot I did a lot of that in High school
5. Any other thoughts or comments?
I had a really hard time with the peer reviews. I didnt feel comfortable telling someone what I
think they should to do when Im unsure myself. For fear Im telling them something wrong and
then having them change it in there paper making it my fault for them loosing point and miss
leading. If that makes sense