Why you should eat the burger
January is a time of year that has many people talking about healthy eating and healthy living. What annoys me about this is these same people choose an extreme way of living, where they restrict themselves from eating anything nice or enjoyable, which they then can’t maintain. They may succeed for a few weeks, even a month, but then it all comes crashing down with a weekend of binge eating and drinking and the whole lot unravels.
Someone I worked with (in a non PT capacity) recently said to me, ‘can I eat a burger?’. My response was ‘of course you can, why do you think you can’t?’. She responded ‘because it’s bad’.
Because it’s bad??
Burgers are bad if you eat a truck load. Burgers are bad if you eat them everyday for every single meal. Burgers are not bad if you have them once in a while and in moderation. Food really isn’t all that complicated if you eat in moderation and have a balanced diet which includes fruit and veg.
She believed that eating a burger would make her fat. She felt guilty because she was going to eat a burger!! Guilty! I know she goes to the gym three times a week and her job requires her to stand and walk around for hours on end. Admittedly I don’t know what intensity she works out at in the gym but nonetheless she is physically active. She is also still very young, her metabolism is therefore high. So long as she controls her portions and doesn’t over eat, the occasional burger and chips is not going to kill her.
Why restrict yourself?
She is not alone. During my life to date, I have come across so many people, admittedly women, who fret about what they can or can’t eat. In all honesty, it bores the life out of me. What is the point of living a life where you restrict yourself from tasty, scrumptious food and in effect starve yourself? “I’ll have a soup” or “I’ll have a salad”. Seriously, is that really what you want when everyone else is tucking into a roast beef or roast chicken dinner? It’s self inflicted torture. Fair enough, if that’s what you feel like eating that day; fair play to you, but if it’s because you feel guilty, then you have an issue.
No carbs? Oh Please.
When I told my friends I was training to be a personal trainer, the first thing they said when organising a dinner/lunch date was ‘are you in to all that healthy eating now?’. Of course I am not. Not in the sense they perceive it to be anyway — salads, quinoa, no carbs. Geeze no carbs, forget that! I am still who I was before and why should that change? I have always eaten a healthy balanced diet and I have never had a weight problem or any health issues for that matter. I love my food and I am not afraid to eat it and enjoy it. I will be not be that woman who orders a salad whilst everyone else tucks into something wholesome. I’d get a serious case of food envy and the person sitting next to me best have a good grip on their plate.
Food is nourishing
I enjoy what I eat and I believe more people should learn to form a good relationship with the food they eat. If you’re going to eat something you perceive to be bad, learn to at least enjoy it for what it is, rather than feel guilty about it. Eat the burger and enjoy the moment and maybe choose something you perceive to be good for you for your next meal. If you’re with friends, enjoy the time and the experience you are sharing with them. Choosing a salad whilst your friends are tucking into burgers can feel quite anti-social, so make the most of it.
Too many people do not understand food and it’s relationship with your health. There are too many people telling you that you need to eat lettuce, sorry I mean kale, to be healthy. Yes, you do need kale but you also need a whole lot of everything else.
The human body requires a variety of nutrients for it to run effectively and efficiently. In order to get all the nutrients it requires, it needs you to eat a varied diet. Take fat for example. Fat has had bad press for many years but your body actually needs fat in order to absorb vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E and K. I see many young females with cracked and splitting nails, weak hair and poor skin, it’s highly likely these individuals avoid all forms of fat in their diet and they wonder why their hair and nails are suffering. Good fats can be found in avocado, olive oil and nuts just to name a few.
Healthy eating and healthy living is about balance — eat a varied diet that is made up of all the main food groups in the right portion sizes as recommended by Public Health England.
What you eat should be appropriate to your levels of activity. If you are a very active person, you will need to adjust and eat a bit more. If you are wanting to lose weight, you will need to consume less and increase activity. I’ll cover this in more detail in a future post. Alternatively, if you can’t wait, you can download The Weight Loss Secret.
If you understand this simple concept of balance, you no longer have to go without and feel guilty about what you can or can’t eat. If you would like advice on how to improve your relationship with food, I’d be happy to talk with you, feel free to drop me a line.
I am a Sabrina Qua, Personal Trainer and Founder of SQ Active. I support women to be fitter, healthier and stronger.
Originally published at www.sqactive.com.
