Healthy Eating 101 (holistic edition)
4 practices to embark on your healthy eating journey, from the perspective of a dietitian
My family has always been health conscious. Growing up, my mom always touted the importance of healthy eating, making sure my brother and I were consuming balanced and filling meals. Also encouraged us to limit the amount of processed foods that we consumed. Because of this, eating healthfully has always come more naturally to my brother and I.
Of course, over the years, my approach to food and healthy eating has changed, as I have gone through phases of obsession, followed by phases of carelessness.
I always describe my journey with food as a pendulum — one end was significant restriction and otherworldly adherence to “clean eating”, and the other was not honoring my body or mind when it came to my food choices. Even though it took time, the pendulum finally settled down in the middle. Happy balance between eating healthfully and enjoying my life.
My happy medium is, eating when hungry, and stopping when full. Cooking balanced meals for myself to eat throughout the week. Eating the food that I crave when eating out. Enjoying social gatherings without worrying about restricting my intake / whether there will be healthy foods to eat. Eating and enjoying sweets when I am offered them, that is, if I want them.
Of course, everyone’s happy medium is going to look different. It is up to each of us to reflect on what we want this balance to look like.
Now working as a dietitian, I have seen many clients who need assistance in the process of finding a happy medium. And I will be outlining the practices to focus on to make this journey easier.
But first, all this talk about making healthy changes, but what does it mean to live a healthful life?
Everyone has a different definition of what being healthy looks like. Some may picture a person who gets up at 5 AM every morning to go on an 8-mile run, only eats whole foods, and never allows anything with any ingredient they can’t pronounce ever cross their lips, as the epitome of healthy.
However, when it comes to health, there are other things to consider rather than having a perfect diet and exercise regime. Some of the aspects of health to consider when it comes to caring for our bodies and minds are…
- Our physical health. This would include sleep; a balance between physical activity and rest. Giving our bodies adequate nutrition to function properly, and thrive.
- Our relationships. It has been found that loneliness and social isolation have been linked to various diseases and death. We all desire to feel connected to and authentic with others. At times, our idea of pursuing “health” can lead to isolation.
- Our mental and emotional health. At times, having too much focus on the “physical health” aspect may affect this area — causing obsessive thoughts and even anxiety surrounding food and exercise, and guilt when walking off the desired path.
Of course, let’s keep in mind that some individuals can follow a “perfect” diet without it affecting any of the areas above, but it should not be the expected norm.
When evaluating our own choices, it’s always important to take it back to reflection — how am I doing in each of these areas? How would I like to be doing? How can I restore balance?
Now honing in on the healthy eating portion — let’s discuss a balanced approach to healthy eating
Below are some principles I like to explore with my clients to provide a foundation for healthy eating and empower them to make choices for themselves.
I usually don’t encourage following meal plans long term, as I prefer playing the long game. Working with them on the practices below and walking with them to build the necessary skills and knowledge needed to sustain changes long term.
Practice 1: Fostering a good relationship with food
Everyone has a relationship with food — regardless of what their background in nutrition is. Some individuals simply see food as nourishment, for others, food is a way to cope with difficult situations.
Food can be many different things — a way to connect with others, a way to both celebrate and grieve. It can be tied to many memories and carry ample cultural significance.
So first, let’s step back and reflect — what does food mean to us?
When we approach different types of foods, what are our feelings and thoughts surrounding them?
Do we ever turn our ears away from signs of hunger and satiety?
Are there any foods we restrict?
Now that we know where we are at, we also want to have an idea of what direction we want to be walking.
What does a healthy relationship with food look like?
- Eating to nourish our bodies while also having unconditional permission to eat any and every food. No foods are off-limits
- Eating mindfully, listening, and respecting our bodies’ natural hunger cues
- Eating and enjoying all foods in moderation
The goal of this practice is to give food the adequate amount of priority and attention in our lives it deserves — preferably only when hungry / at mealtimes / when participating in activities that involve food (cooking, grocery shopping, meal planning).
Whenever I had a subpar relationship with food, I found myself thinking about it all day long — when and what my next meal would be, whether I should have eaten that cookie, etc.
I have found that tends to be a telling sign that one’s relationship with food needs some attention. If you do struggle with this, it doesn’t mean that you are broken, these types of intrusive thoughts are completely normal when facing either mental or physical restriction from food.
A lot of times leading to what feels like “out of control eating”. Which is normal as well.
There is a lot of freedom that can be found when embarking on this journey.
Practice 2: Eating mindfully, tuning into hunger and fullness cues
When working with clients, I find that a lot of them don’t quite trust their bodies to tell them how much to eat. They follow outside cues to tell them when and how much to eat (time of day, size of plate/amount of food on the plate, allotted time to eating), and continue to desire these outside cues to make more healthful choices (such as pre-measured portions, meal plans).
Our bodies are very smart and they have various hormonal pathways that regulate how much we need to eat to meet our nutritional needs. However, many individuals have learned to depend on outside factors to tell them when and how much to eat since they were children — some of us are accustomed to finishing our plates since childhood.
A good starting point is to experiment with listening. What do hunger and fullness feel like to us?
- Here is a blog post that delves deeper into hunger and satiety, and also outlines the hunger and satiety scale. This scale rates hunger from 1–10 — 1 being “very hungry, I could eat anything”; and 10 being “stuffed, can’t take another bite”. Decide on what number feels the most comfortable for you, and choose to begin honoring these signals
It is usually not recommended to allow ourselves to get too hungry before meals, as we tend to get uncomfortably full whenever we have access to food (this is completely normal!)
Practice 3: Creating balanced, satisfying/satiating meals
Certain foods don’t provide much nutritional value and leave us feeling hungry soon after (such as chips, or even just cucumbers). When creating meals, I always encourage focusing on creating balanced and satiating meals to best nourish our bodies and provide adequate micro and macronutrients.
We want our meals to include…
- A source of protein
- A source of fiber-rich carbohydrate
- A source of healthy fat
- And finally some fruits or vegetables
The protein, fiber (both in the carbohydrates and vegetables), and fat all slow down digestion and allow us to feel fuller longer.
All of these foods are also rich in micronutrients, antioxidants, etc. to assist in bodily processes.
Here are some examples of easy, balanced meals:
- Burrito bowl: Brown rice (carbohydrate), mixed greens, bell peppers (vegetables), avocado (fat), ground turkey (protein)
- Sandwich with a side of carrots: deli meat (protein), sprouted bread (carbohydrate), cheese (fat), lettuce and side of carrots (vegetables)
- Girl dinner consisting of: bell peppers (vegetable), hummus (fat and protein), hard-boiled egg (fat, protein), crackers (carbohydrate)
Of course, all of our meals are not going to always look like this. Whenever there are not many options available, the encouragement is to at least include a source of protein in both meals and snacks. Even foods that are not necessarily the epitome of health can be made into satiating meals (such as ramen). I like calling this, “jazzing” our meals up.
For example…
- Adding protein powder to cereal, or simply eating eggs as a side
- Eating fruit with some Greek yogurt and/or nut butter
It all goes back to reflection and self-experimentation. Let’s take the ramen example from above. If you typically eat ramen for dinner, try adding 1–2 eggs or some chicken, plus some vegetables of your choice. Did you feel fuller for longer after jazzing your meal up?
Practice 4: Reflecting on my goals when making food choices
I find that many individuals don’t make changes for their health because either, their goals are imposed by someone else (ie. their doctor wanting them to lose weight) or they are based on surface-level values, not on core values (ie. “I want to eat healthy so I can be skinny”).
First off, it is important to find your why — a why that is linked to one of your core values.
What is your goal? Why do you want to achieve it? Continue asking why until you reach an answer that deeply resonates with you.
When making food choices, try reflecting on your goal for this meal.
It is completely okay if the goal for this specific meal is simply to enjoy it!
All in all, the goal is to allow our nutrition to work for us — nourish our bodies to lead more fulfilling lives. Instead of making our nutrition our whole lives.
These practices are a more gentle and balanced approach, that allows our weights to settle into our natural set point weights (post on this coming soon), focus on other aspects of health as well, and enjoy our lives!
This post was originally posted on my blog!
