“𝐈 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲.”
This is something that I hear all the time…
Eating healthy doesn’t mean you’re eating enough. Or in the proportion your body needs. Typically when someone comes to me saying that they eat healthy it almost always means they are restricting themselves, in one way or another. Either calorically or nutritionally.
They may be eliminating “bad” foods like cheese or bread or eliminating entire food groups like dairy, meat or all the carbs.
Trust me I get it! In this day and age it’s so confusing. Eat this, don’t eat that, coffee’s bad, no wait, it’s good again. Don’t eat fats, wait, eat all the fats. Our perception of what is healthy and what isn’t is skewed. There’s no such thing as bad foods and good foods. Sure, some foods are better than others nutritionally speaking, but the purpose of food is to give you energy. Whether it’s from kettle corn or an apple, each one still provides energy. When you eliminate certain foods or food groups, you’re also eliminating the possibility of nutrients. Let’s take carbs for example. This one seems to be pretty common to cut out. By eliminating carbs you start with the obvious like candy and bread, but then people will eliminate fruit like bananas or raspberries, because it has carbs. Each food has it’s own nutritional makeup. Bananas are high in potassium, raspberries are high in antioxidants and fiber. Try eating as wide of a variety of foods as possible, not restricting anything. By focusing on whole foods 80% of the time, you’ll be getting in the nutrients you need to be healthy, and there’s no reason that you can’t have that kettle corn or a piece of chocolate.
You might be surprised what it actually looks like to eat all the food your body needs.
Typically, when a client comes to me that says they eat healthy, their day might look something like this: not eating breakfast, just having a cup of coffee, and then having a salad at lunch, maybe a little afternoon snack like some nuts for a pick me up and then for dinner it’s vegetables and a piece of chicken or salmon.
That’s not a whole lot of food there, or nutrients. Sure, these are healthy choices but is it enough?
To make this day better nutritionally you could start with coffee, a couple of eggs, toast and then some yogurt with fruit. A salad for lunch is great, to make it better add some protein like chicken and some healthy fats like avocado. For dinner, round out your vegetables and protein with some rice or sweet potatoes. By incorporating a wide variety of food you’re also getting a wide variety of nutrients.