I started a course at the beginning of this year with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. This course is providing me with further skills to guide and support people on their journey to health and fitness. What I love about the study I’m doing is the awareness it has given me about a) the Food Industry, b) the amount of crazy diets out there c) the damage processed foods have done to our bodies and d) how important food is, right down to a cellular level.
What I have found completely overwhelming is the contradictions I have found at every turn. I will read a paper, or listen to a lecture about nutrition that makes sense and is backed up with scientific evidence, and I think phew, finally a dietary theory that has been proven. Then the next paper I read will have a completely opposing viewpoint, but again will be backed up with scientific data. I’m left bewildered, wondering what to believe and I’m sure a lot of you feel the same.
The debate rages on about the value of a low carb, high fat diet vs high carb, low fat diet. Or is high protein no grains better for you? Do we stick to gluten free, or sugar free…or both?? Some scientists blame the high carbohydrte revolution for the obesity problems we have today. However, if you look at Asian countries rice appears in every meal from breakfast to dinner. The populations in China and Japan weren’t suffering from high levels of obesity, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes until our Western style of eating was introduced in the 70’s.
I have had great fun experimenting with different eating styles. Poor David never knows what he is going be served for dinner anymore. One week will be vegetarian, the next vegan, and then I might flirt with some Paleo meals. David’s theory is to make sure he gets a good lunch (meat based) so he can survive on whatever I cook him for dinner. I made a delicious beef meatball meal last week and he didn’t believe me when I told him it really was meat!
So the question is, how do we make sense of the over load of information available about what is good for us and what is harming us.
I think the first thing to understand is that we are all unique. We have different body types, different beliefs, different cultural backgrounds, different lifestyles and different energy requirements. These differences means one style of eating is not going to work for all of us, it just doesn’t make sense. The 5:2 diet might work great for your friend, but for you it’s a disaster. When I tried the low carb, high fat diet I felt awful. My energy levels dropped and an easy 8km run became a chore. I quickly realized that style of eating wasn’t going to work for me so I added carbs back in but focused on natural, unprocessed carbs such as oats, brown rice and Organic spelt bread.
Your own body is the best guide to knowing what is good for you. Take note of what you are eating and how your body reacts to food. The best way to do this is to keep a food diary for a week and note down how you feel after a meal. You will get an idea pretty quickly of how food is affecting you physically and emotionally.
One of the biggest problems we are facing is that food has become fast and easy to cater for our busy lifestyles, convenience foods are called that for a reason! Believe me, as a single working Mum with three young children, I was always looking for the easiest, quickest foods to get on the table. I wish I had the knowledge I have now back when my children were little and fish fingers and noodles was their favourite dinner. The problem with the convenience foods is they often bear little resemblance to the foods they originally started out as, and have limited nutritional value. Fish fingers are a perfect example of this!
You only have to walk into a supermarket to understand how processed our foods have become. The fresh fruit and vegetable section usually makes up about a quarter of the size of the whole store.
It is really important to remember that a calorie is not just a calorie. 100 Calories of Spinach or grapes will have a very different affect on your body than 100 caloires of Oreos! Food affects us at a cellular level. We want our food to be full of nutrients not nutrient deficient which a lot of processed foods are. The better we eat, the better we will feel and our bodies will respond.
So my advice would be to bring it back to basics. Forget about all the fad diets and quick fix weight loss plans. Instead focus on food as fuel for your body, and just like in your car, you want to put the best fuel possible into your system so you can get the best out of it. What we put in our mouth affects our moods, our energy levels and our health. Unhealthy foods can be responsible for anxiety, acne, lethargy, bloating, heart disease, and high cholesterol. And the list goes on.
Fill your trolley with fruits and vegetables from the grocery section. If you buy packaged foods, make sure you can read and understand what all the ingredients listed on the label are. If you don’t know some of them, then avoid it. Foods that have a long shelf life are likely to be full of preservatives.
Take time to cook your meals at home that way you will know exactly what is going into them. Fill your plate with unprocessed, natural foods and you will be surprised at how good you feel.
Let me offer you a challenge for a week:
1. Keep a food diary of what you eat. Note down how you feel after each meal.
2. See if you can avoid processed foods. Try to stay away from cans, packets and boxes as much as possible and see how easy/difficult you find it.
3. Fill your plate with more vegetables than protein. Eat all different colours and varieties. Make the vegetables the focus of your meal instead of the protein.
I would love to hear your feedback on how you feel after a week of clean eating.
If you would like to do some further reading on healthy eating have a look at:
https://foodbabe.com/confirm-your-email/
Karen, loved this post and so true…. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Hi Veronica, im glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for reading it and commenting.