Author: Michael Devon

Dates are a sweet fruit that pack a serious punch of nutrition, carrying numerous health benefits every time you eat them. Considering their small size, 2 dried dates contain roughly 135 calories, so be mindful of your portions because it’s easy to overeat if you are trying to lose weight. Calories aside, they’re loaded with fiber, vitamins, and minerals which make them a powerhouse fruit and give you all the more reason to add them to your diet.

Dates are packed with vitamins the body needs for survival, most importantly they contain a high amount of B vitamins, namely Folic Acid and Niacin, but also contain amounts of Pantothenic Acid, Pyridoxine, Riboflavin, and Thiamin… and you thought meat was the only source of B vitamins. B vitamins are essential for our bodies and help with the metabolism of food, formation of new red blood cells, growth and development, skin health, and improvement in the nervous system. Dates also include vitamin A, which is important for eye health, vitamin K, which helps with normal blood clotting, and Vitamin C, which supports the immune system.

Dates are an excellent source for minerals that your body relies on for optimal function. The mineral potassium can be found in large quantities in dates, which helps regulate fluid balance, heart beat, blood pressure, and nerve impulses. Other minerals in dates include copper, manganese, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc. The combination of magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus make dates an excellent choice for maintaining bone health, and magnesium is also reported to help decrease inflammation of the body, effectively reducing inflammation in the arterial walls which help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

It appears that dates are natures best multivitamin but due to their high fiber content dates also aid in proper digestion, help relieve constipation, and improve other intestinal disorders. In addition to their fiber, dates can serve as a great source of energy before a workout or to help manage low blood sugar because their sugars are rapidly absorbed by the bloodstream. Note, the high carbohydrate content in dates can be harmful to diabetics if your blood sugar is not under control, so consult with you doctor first so you can monitor your blood sugar and determine how dates affect you.

Try dates alone as a snack, blend them into a smoothie, add them to yogurt or oatmeal, include them in a salad, or bake with them for a healthier dessert. Dates are fat free which make them a healthy alternative to most traditional desserts and, as mentioned, they deliver a broad spectrum of health benefits that you miss with most other sweet treats. Adding dates to your diet, in moderation, offers your body the nutrients it needs to maintain a state of health and wellness.

It’s fascinating how the mind and body are connected and the way your body feels on any given day can dictate your state of mind. I believe it’s of the utmost importance to fuel your body with the proper energy, primarily coming from nutrient dense foods. In my experience, this leads to improvement in my mood, my thoughts, and my behavior.

As a personal trainer, I’ll never pretend that I have it all figured out and that my life is perfectly healthy and balanced. I struggle with the same temptations we all do, I get a craving for ice cream and then I want more… and then I want cookies too! However, I see the correlation between what I eat and my energy. When I eat for nutritional purposes I am sustained with energy all day long, I sleep better, I spring out of bed in the morning, and whatever stresses come my way throughout the day I handle them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, when I eat out often or overindulge in sweets, my mood changes and I no longer feel like doing the things I know I should be doing for my health. First, I get down on myself for eating poorly in the first place, then my workouts “somehow” get skipped, I start neglecting routine tasks because I see them as chores, and finally I get lazy because my body isn’t fueled properly and so my mind doesn’t cooperate.

I am aware of the popular slogan “mind over matter” but when my body and brain are both operating in a physiological wasteland from the junk I have been feeding it, I’ll be the first to admit, it’s hard to shift out of neutral into first gear. Once I start noticing that my energy level is declining, I know it’s time to change the way I have been eating and start the journey toward refueling my body with the nutrients it needs to fuel my mind and drive me into sixth gear!

Fortunately I am capable of restoring my health through what I eat which energizes me to workout and hustle daily. In the same breath, I also know how easy it is to fall into the vicious cycle that eating for emotional purposes creates. It’s hard to get the energy you need to make it through your day, let alone make time to workout, when the only things you’re feeding your body is mostly cinnamon rolls and cheese burgers. The first step is recognizing that this isn’t setting you up for a healthy life, the next step is coming up with a plan to change your eating habits. The plan could be as simple as starting to drink a glass of water every morning when you wake up or as detailed as eating a fruit or vegetable with every meal. If you change what you feed your body, this will contribute to a healthier state of mind.