Sometimes, healthy eating seems more complicated than nuclear science. There’s so much misleading and contradicting information out there. Even scientific studies and research can contradict each other.
And wellness trends are beyond mind-boggling.
Today, the wellness community might love apples but tomorrow, they may exclaim how you should be wary of the sugar content and god forbid you should eat more than 2 bananas a day.
But the truth is, there are just a few key elements to follow to improve your mental and physical health. Let’s stop listening to the diet culture’s noise and tune in to the foundational principles of a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle.
The best part: by practicing these foundational habits, you’ll not only feel better physically, but you’ll clear up so much headspace since you don’t have to clutter your life with all those diet culture’s rules. And imagine what you can achieve with that mental headspace and energy?!
Stop labeling foods good or bad
We’ve all been taught, ever since we were little, how some foods are inherently ’good’ and some are ’bad’.
Oh, you can’t have ice cream or pizza, since these are not good for you. You need to eat broccoli.
And then we grow up and lo and behold, we start categorizing all foods into two columns: good vs bad, sometimes even banishing whole food groups!
Sadly, restricting foods and labeling them with moral codes backfires soon – it’s no way to create a sustainable relationship with food.
You can’t be afraid of food.
Life is about balance. Sometimes, you’ll go out for a pizza or enjoy ice cream. Other times, you may crave a seafood salad or fresh fruit. And that’s all part of life! You can’t swing at the two opposite ends of the pendulum: either all „healthy“ or all „unhealthy“. Neither having a salad as your main meal every day nor having an entire pizza every day is balanced. But what about having more veggies today and then enjoying a couple of slices of pizza with your partner tomorrow?
A balanced relationship with food starts with throwing out the window all those labels. No food is good or bad – it’s just food, consisting of different nutrients. These nutrients provide your body with energy and some much-needed molecules that help your body.
Now, some foods may have more of these helpful nutrients, whereas others may have fewer. Veggies are a nutrient powerhouse and we’d call these nutrient-dense foods, whereas an ice cream may provide your body tons of energy (via sugar) and even some calcium (via milk) while lacking in antioxidants.
Simply aim to add more nutrient-dense foods into your daily diet, but never restrict foods. A healthy relationship with food starts with adding foods into your life: foods that nourish your body.
Eat fewer food additives
Now, you may be confused since I just told you to stop restricting foods, yet I’m now telling you to restrict additives. And here’s the thing: I’m not telling you to spend 4 hours in the supermarket trying to read all the food labels and making better choices, and I most certainly don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out on life or experiences because you’re afraid of food additives.
You don’t have to be afraid, but I want you to be informed and understand the backstage of the food industry, so you could make better, informed choices for your well-being.
And sometimes, this choice may be a store-bought piece of cake that may have some food additives, and that’s fine too. But remember balance: balance doesn’t mean shoving down 50 food additives in a sitting.
Many food additives have taken such a central stage in our lives that we hardly even notice them, yet sadly, they may carry some serious health risks – and by that, I mean actual, scientifically proven health risks. Some additives may increase the risk of cancer and the more we consume these additives, the higher the risk.
Again, however, the dose makes the poison and I’m not saying that having a couple of additives in your food every now and then will immediately harm you, but naturally, my go-to recommendation would always be sticking to whole foods as much as possible and whenever feasible for your lifestyle. In the end, you really don’t want to riddle your body with carcinogenic ingredients.
Remember, there are always some wholesome alternatives. Let’s take a cheesecake, as an example. The store-bought version may include tens of additives, some of which may be harmful, but instead, you could buy sour cream, cream cheese, graham crackers, sugar, and everything else required, and make your own cheesecake.
Once again, life is about balance, and as long as you make choices that empower your well-being, you’re on the right track. Just remember that food additives aren’t empowering and whenever possible, aim to have as few additives as possible.
Don’t go crazy with protein
Your body relies on protein for several essential processes, but these days, wellness gurus and influencers have taken protein into such a strong focus you’d think the very human existence depends on all of us gobbling down protein shakes.
You really don’t need as much protein as many influencers claim. And you most certainly do not need protein powders, shakes, bars or any other supplements.
Overconsuming protein can do a lot more harm than good, starting with overworking your kidneys and ending with the fact that excess protein will be stored as fat.
Yes, that’s right. If you consume too much protein (a.k.a more than your body needs), it will get stored as fat. And excess amino acids will get flushed out of your body when you go to the toilet.
A normal, balanced everyday diet will give you plenty of protein for your body’s needs, even if you’re plant-based. Chicken, yogurt, eggs, dairy, nuts and seeds, grains, beans, and legumes – there’s a vast ocean of protein sources out there and you’re most likely already having plenty of protein unless your diet truly consists of only doughnuts and fries.
Eat the rainbow
We all know veggies and fruits are good for us, but you may have wondered which vegetables you should buy or how to balance your meals. After all, optimal health doesn’t come from carrots or cabbages alone.
There’s one simple technique that helps to figure out which veggies to buy and it’s called eating the rainbow.
All fruits and vegetables have some specific health perks due to specific antioxidants in their content. Those antioxidants also happen to give the veggies their color.
For example, purple fruits and vegetables (like purple cabbage or blueberries) get their color from anthocyanins. Orange vegetables like carrots get their bright color from carotenoids, and tomatoes, and red peppers get their color from lycopene.
Each of those antioxidants plays a crucial role in fighting off free radicals and help our health in a myriad of ways, from improving your vision to reducing inflammation to strengthening your heart or helping your cells renew.
Understandably, it’s difficult to keep in mind which veggies have certain antioxidants. So, to make things easier, choose vegetables and fruits according to their color.
Try to add a bit of green, red, orange, yellow, and purple to your daily diet. That’s it – just shop for veggies by their color and arrange the colors on your plate.
Don’t avoid carbs
Carbs are not evil.
Despite the numerous diets, starting from Atkins, claiming the opposite, your body actually needs carbohydrates. Carbs, or more specifically glucose is the primary energy source for your brain. In fact, without sufficient carb intake, your brain’s health may suffer.
The main problem with carbs is that most people put an equals sign between carbs and refined bread or sugar.
But carbs are actually in things like whole grains, vegetables, and fruits – foods that you should consume every day!
Fibers are a subgroup of carbs and the human body needs fiber for a multitude of tasks. Unfortunately, many Americans are lacking in fiber because their diet consists mainly of simple carbs that break down to sugar, without having much fiber in them.
Instead of avoiding carbs, switch out the type of carbs you consume. For example, try to include more wholegrain bread, lentils, beans, fruits, and different vegetables.
And no, you don’t need to avoid toast with jam. Have wholegrain bread with some freshly squeezed berries and peanut butter for a more balanced option, instead.
No restriction and avoidance: instead, add fulfilling foods to your life.
Tune in to your hunger
Your mind can play amazing tricks on you and one of those tricks is appetite.
When you feel the need to eat, it’s important to ask yourself whether you’re dealing with an emotional or physical hunger – are you really hungry or is there just an appetite, a craving for something?
If you’ve been restricting your food intake (a.k.a dieting) for a while, your hunger and fullness cues may be completely out of whack and there’s a good chance you need to practice learning to listen to your body again.
When you feel hunger striking, take a moment to ask yourself whether it’s actual hunger or not. If the hunger came on suddenly and the urge to eat something specific is immensely strong, it’s most likely emotional hunger – you may experience stress, anxiety, you may be tired and fatigued, etc. If your hunger feels more gradual and not so hurried, and there’s no specific strong craving, you’re probably really hungry.
Don’t let your thoughts control the show. If you’re fatigued, anxious, stressed or feeling low, food isn’t the solution (we’re just used to using it as a solution, though it doesn’t actually fix the root cause). Instead, you may need a nap or take some downtime instead.
Take some time to learn the difference between your hunger and appetite cues and tune in to your body by asking some good questions from yourself.
But remember, emotional eating is also completely normal and sometimes, a piece of cake truly is the one thing to cheer you up – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Emotional eating in itself is not the culprit – the culprit is the diet culture that has created a bunch of food rules in your mind.
These food rules and the closed circle of the diet culture are the things making you overeat, not emotional eating. While it’s important to tune in to your hunger, it’s also equally important to sometimes enjoy that moment of emotional eating – and then move on with your day.
Eat regularly throughout the day
Dieters know food restrictions all too well. Almost every dieter has played around with eating windows and these days, many follow intermittent fasting protocols which sound fancy, but in good old plain English, it still means restricting your eating and following a certain time period.
And what’s worse, many dieters try to keep their food intake as small as possible the entire day, until in the evening, they’re baffled when they raid the pantry.
But guess what, that’s completely normal behaviour that stems from restriction.
Forget about fasting protocols, calorie tracking, and following time frames instead, make sure you eat enough and regularly throughout the entire day. This means having a proper full breakfast (no, coffee is not breakfast), a nice lunch, and then a dinner, with perhaps a couple of smaller snacks in between, if you’d like.
Human metabolism isn’t actually meant for huge meals or long fasts.
Our stomach capacity is quite small (though it expands) and our entire digestive system resembles a production line with each part having a certain speed built into it. Our digestion takes about 3-4 hours to empty the stomach contents and process the nutrients, so having a balanced meal every 3-4 hours keeps your body working optimally and you feeling energized.
The best health habits you could possibly adopt are simply all about tuning into your innate signals: opt for nutrient-dense foods whenever you can, but don’t restrict any foods. Listen to your body’s signals, and forget about fasting protocols, diet plans, or calorie tracking.
A healthy life is all about balance, enjoyment, and nourishment – not about punishment and restriction.