Health and fitness are topics that many people know about, but don’t always apply to their lives on a daily basis.

“Exercise and nutrition are both important, and they work good separately, but when you put them together it makes it great,” Texas Health Sports Dietitian Brittney Bearden. “Nutrition and how you eat provides the energy, the nutrients, the recovery, the fluids. All that is needed for exercise.”

College athletes train at a high level, and even they must learn how important nutrition is to physical health of their bodies.

“Well, nutrition is priority, none of this stuff that we do in the weight room matters unless you take nutrition as priority number one,” said Logan Uyetake, SMU Women’s Basketball Strength Coach. ”It’s huge, it goes hand and hand.”

Many people think that to have a great body you only must work out, but you also have to have a great nutrition plan to go along with it.

“A common misconception is that you come to the weight room and you get big in the weight room,” said Uyetake. “That’s not true. When you come to the weight room you get broken down.”

People who work out every day don’t realize how much they are taxing their bodies. You have to put back in the right things for the exercises to start working for your body.

“The longer you’re exercising, the more intense you’re exercising, it’s going to wear on your body even more. So that makes your recovery nutrition even more important,” said Bearden.

The biggest part of recovery from working out is eating and drinking enough protein, so that the muscles can build and grow strong.

“Weight room stuff doesn’t matter until you put the nutrients back in your body. You get your protein to help your body recover,” said Uyetake.

Recovery after working out for students in college can be tough, but there are groups and plans in place for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“For college students, even if they aren’t competitive athletes, and they’re just a regular college student. Hopefully they are active and exercising on a regular basis, nutrition is important for them as well. Whether you’re exercising for health or you have a particular goal with your exercise,” said Bearden.

Students like Soloman Mitchell realized how important having a great nutrition and workout routine was, and now he helps other students get their fitness life right.

“Being a student at UNT it was always important for me to train right and make sure I have a well balance diet,” said Mitchell.

Living a healthy life at a young age is important because it will benefit you in the years to come with your overall health.

“Having a healthy diet is important no matter what your age is, whether you’re in kindergarten, a freshman in college, or 40 or 50, those healthy habits and your habits in general stay with you throughout your life,” said Bearden.

College life is a time where it may be hard to at right and workout, but it will pay off in the later years of life.

“They need this right now so they can live a healthy and endurance life,” said Mitchell.