This post was originally published on January 2, 2013. I've made some minor updates but am re-publishing it to bring it to the forefront again. It's important to keep your health in mind, if you want to be a healthy internet marketer.

Near the beginning of a new year is when we all are most receptive to making positive life changes.

Those gym membership and weight loss clinics have conditioned us well. Now – if we could keep this sort of thing going for the other 11 months of the year…

In the interest of starting the new year off on good footing, I thought I'd share some health tips for internet marketers. This will be a two-part series:

1. Nutrition
2. Exercise

This first part is all about nutrition. I know most marketers (hell, anybody who works predominantly at a desk) eat like crap, myself included on occasion. Since I “grew up” in the fitness arena (that's where I got my internet marketing start), I will share what I know works in all walks of life and for all occupations.

[tweetthis url=”http://goo.gl/bVQcYl”]Marketers eat like crap. Change that. Here's how.[/tweetthis]

I won't delve into losing weight or anything where drastic change is necessary or desired. You may find, however, that if you follow these nutrition tips that you will not only feel better, but you will drop some body fat and start looking better as well.

Plus, you'll be more productive. THAT will allow you to work less hours on your internet marketing and spend more time with your family and hit the gym for Part 2!

Nutrition Basics

So, without further adieu, let's begin with nutrition basics. I apologize if you know all of this already (but let's hope you do what you know!).

Note that I call this nutrition and not diet. The word “diet” carries a negative connotation: It implies restricting yourself from food you want. That's no good!

I'm a firm believer in frequent small meals. I shoot for 5-6 small meals per day. Some people may call my program 3 meals and 2-3 snacks. It doesn't matter. The body cannot tell the difference between a meal and a snack, so I don't really distinguish between the two either.

The standard cliche is that breakfast is your most important meal. Nope. They all are. But it is important that you actually eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast is a really bad idea. Think of breakfast as the foundation of your nutritional house: Without it, you may as well skip the rest of your meals and try again tomorrow!

Balance, as in anything in life, is key. The same holds true for your meals. Make sure you get adequate supplies of protein, carbohydrates, and fat (the “macro” nutrients) as well as vitamins and minerals (the “micro” nutrients).

Now, I'm no vegetarian hater, but I think the diet of a strict vegan is pretty difficult to follow and get balanced nutrition. You'd be hard-pressed to get an adequate supply of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. It can be done, but it is more difficult as a vegan or vegetarian than as an “omnivore” like me!

A good breakfast example is 2 eggs, oatmeal, fresh fruit, and water or whole or lowfat milk. Milk is best but some of us cannot tolerate it (we're either allergic to it or intolerant to the lactose). For the latter, you can easily buy lactose-free milk nowadays. This meal gets you a good mix of protein, carbs, and fat.

I like whole milk. I do believe that Mother Nature created the best food for us in the way that she did and we shouldn't mess with it unless we have to (the lactose-free milk being one of them). I feel the same about eggs–don't separate the yolk from the egg whites. That's just silly and you lose a lot of the benefits contained in whole eggs.

Two to three hours after your breakfast comes your second meal of the day. Again, it doesn't have to be a big meal (in fact, it should be smallish, too). It could be a sandwich (PB&J is great as is one made of luncheon meat or tuna), with fresh fruit and water.

Then comes lunch in a couple hours. It could be a typical lunch. Just make sure that if you go out, cut it in half and eat the second half later, at another meal time.

I like to workout in the afternoon. There are less people in the gym (usually–except around the first of the year when everybody is deluding themselves into thinking that they will keep their resolutions this year), and I'm usually at my peak in terms of energy. After all, I've already had three meals!

Often, my fourth meal, especially on gym days, is right before my workout. This is where I don't really practice “balance.” Rather, I make up a protein shake (usually of the MexRx kind—a “meal replacement”) made up of whey protein. That kind of protein gets into the blood supply pretty quickly and is readily available to the muscles for growth and repair just about when my workout is over.

I don't workout much more than 30 minutes in any given weight workout. Every other day, I get on the bike and ride for 30-60 minutes. More on exercise in the next installment.

Immediately after my workout, I may down another protein shake. I know, old habits die hard. But they work!

Then, in a few hours, I eat dinner. This is usually a pretty good-sized meal. I'm still replenishing the muscles that I hammered in my workout, plus, I gotta “store up some” nutrition for the fast I'm about to take (from night until breakfast the next morning).

I'm not big on “snacking.” While that may seem contrary to what I just described, what I mean by this is that I don't “graze” all day long. There are no snacks at the desk while I'm working.

I work, or eat, or exercise. There is no multi-tasking. Grazing at the desk while working is the surest way to getting fat and unfit. I'm just telling you straight.

On occasion, I will eat one more time before bed. That meal is really about getting in enough nutrition to carry me over to breakfast so that I don't wake up in the middle of the night hungry. This doesn't happen often. However, if I'm working out especially hard with the weights and trying to build muscle, then I may add a 7th meal.

It sounds like a lot. I know this. But note that I'm not eating 6 or 7 “typical American” meals. They are small. For example, if I get a burger for lunch, I'll cut it in half and eat one half for lunch and the other half later in the day.

Plus, these frequent meals give you the work breaks you need to be more productive.

Now, no nutrition program would be complete without making mention of supplementation. I'm a big believer in food or nutrition supplements, for two reasons.

First of all, our soil has become so depleted that the nutritional value of nearly every plant we grow is significantly less than it used to be. So you need to supplement.

I also think it's good and cheap “food insurance.” What you don't need the body gets rid of. While that may seem wasteful, I'd rather get “too much” than not enough. There is little hazard in taking too much if you follow the doses on reputable food supplement bottles.

The second reason is that I personally have always faced an uphill battle with eating too little. I grew up a skinny kid and getting enough nutrition (especially calories) was very difficult, if not impossible. In fact, I couldn't gain weight when I was younger.

Fortunately, my metabolism has slowed down from gerbil to typical human. I don't have that problem any more.

Interestingly, though, this nutrition program works for under- and overweight folks. I know–I've studied this for many years with my own customers in the fitness arena.

So, I do use supplements. A lot of them. Nothing too esoteric though, and not much “regimen.” Here's what I do.

With every other meal (so, typically, I take these with breakfast, lunch, and dinner), I take the following supplements with the meal. I drink about a gallon of water a day, too. Water is the only thing I drink between meals. I've been using this particular supplement company, Prograde, for about 4 years now. It's top-quality stuff. Those are affiliate links, too, for full disclosure. I use them religiously.

• One Multivitamin/mineral VGF 25+ (for men–they make one for women, too).
• Fish oil – you need your fatty acids.
• Longevity – this has great anti-aging properties. You wouldn't know it, but I'm over 150 years old! Just kidding…
• ProGrade Metabolism – I don't use this for “weight loss” but rather for its natural caffeine and “pick me up” properties. I don't drink coffee and don't need to!
• Pre- and post-workout protein powder.
• Calcium supplement – since most of us don't or can't drink enough milk, I wholeheartedly recommend a good calcium, phosphorous, and Vitamin D supplement.
• Vitamin C – It is my belief that we don't get nearly enough C. Vitamin C wards off a lot of viruses like the common cold and flu.
• “Bone health” – a good condroitin, glucosamin, and MSM supplement.

For the supplements I didn't link to–just hit up your local GNC or drugstore.com for good choices.

By the way, well-known internet marketer Ryan Lee is behind Prograde. I didn't know this back when I started using the Prograde line. I just liked their products (I used them before I recommended them, and still use them to this day), the quality, their wealth of information on their website, the fact that they have a great affiliate program, and their awesome delivery system. You can put your supplement orders on auto-delivery and never run the risk of running out again.

That's pretty cool–plus, if you sign up to this “Smart Shipping' program, they give you free shipping as part of the deal.

Next up: Exercise for the Internet Marketer, followed by Office Yoga for Getting Fit and Maintaining Health for Internet Marketers.