How To Eat Based on What’s Best For You
How it influences the community around you as well
Relationship with Food is Uniquely Personal
Each person’s relationship with food is uniquely personal. The idea that there may be a one size fits all eating style is a myth. There are various constructed nutrition guidelines that are made general to point out umbrella concepts, these can bring value and insight; however, the individual relationship to food, metabolism, allergens, intolerances, weight, cultural influence, etc. is very unique.
Diet culture has taught us as humans many unwanted ideals and habits. The media market is flooded with information that can be confusing, untrustworthy, and hard to apply. The biggest question seems to be ‘how can I just eat in a way that is best for me and/or help me reach my goals?’.
Deciphering and deciding what to do or how to adjust and create habits can be frustrating and disheartening. On top of all of this is that even with drastic changes, restrictions, and limitations a person may not find what they are looking for.
Ongoing research on this topic has shown that “deliberate food restriction (or dieting) has limited long-term success for weight management (Barte et al., 2010) and can contribute to increased food preoccupation, binge eating (Field et al., 2004; Polivy and Herman, 1985; Ward and Mann, 2000) and weight cycling (Field et al., 2004). Dieting has been shown to predict 5-year weight gain (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2006) and increased activation of brain regions responsible for attention and reward in response to food (Stice et al., 2013)” (Barraclough et al., 2019).
Dieting and calorie counting can seem like a nice, neat, prescriptive plan for weight gain/lose/management but recent findings have also shown that the ‘calories in/calories out’ equation are not all that matters for health or when thinking about weight changes. Debunking this myth comes with knowing more about yourself as an individual, what types of food react with your metabolism and lifestyle, what is happening subconsciously or in mental health, and what components of food or nourishment are actually present in what/how a person eats. By starting to uncover the whole picture a person can find more clarity in what will be the most beneficial path for them to take, this path may also morph and change throughout their life.
“Healthy diets, arising either by tradition or design, share many common features and generally align with the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases” (Cena & Calder, 2020). When thinking about what constitutes as a healthy diet, the World Health Organization defines a healthy diet as “one in which macronutrients are consumed in appropriate proportions to support energetic and physiologic needs without excess intake, while also providing sufficient micronutrients and hydration to meet the physiologic needs of the body” (Cena & Calder, 2020).
Each individual culture and dietary structure involves these components, many various forms of foods will also contain a variety of these. Figuring out what exactly you like or what your body responds to, is in essence finding ways to combine different types of these nutrients that suit you best. The broad definition of what these different nutrients provide to the body is; “macronutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) provide the energy necessary for the cellular processes required for daily functioning. Micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) are required in comparatively small amounts for normal growth, development, metabolism, and physiologic functioning” (Cena & Calder, 2020).
Different dietary choices can help to support overall health and wellbeing, including mental health and cognitive functioning. Consistent less than optimal dietary choices can lead to an increased risk for “developing hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight/obesity, and inflammation, which in turn increase the risk for diseases that are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer” (Cena & Calder, 2020). These less than optimal choices are usually highly processed and eaten in vast amounts, however, on occasion, these are totally acceptable and can be an enjoyable treat. Each person responds differently to food and can notice and then decide what suits them best.
When considering components of food: consider what the type of food is, where does it come from, who made it, how does your physical body react when it’s eaten, what emotions come up when choosing to eat this, and how are you feeling after eating?
Everyone is Curious as to What’s Best for Themselves
If a person has a goal of eating more nutritiously balanced they may seek to know more information about micro and macro nutrients. They may be interested in learning about how antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals are found in certain items or how those interact when paired with other items.
Another person may be interested in finding out the reason they have digestive discomfort or feel bloating consistently, they may start to become more in-tune to the meals that give them the negative effects and adjust from there.
Some people may be interested in breaking the diet cycle, they may notice weight fluctuation and wonder why this is happening.
The answers to most of these questions can be solved by individual awareness, this may take some trial and error but becoming more aware of the body, mind, and habits can uncover information that may direct them on to the path that suits their lifestyle best.
That’s what makes a health journey interesting of how different it is for everyone yet it brings people together when they share a similar interest. When others around you see that you’re listening to your body, and understand yourself better, they’ll be intrigued and will want to get to know themselves better too.
Becoming curious about the self is a great start to cultivating more awareness and intuitive feelings about the best ways to uniquely eat.
A challenge for some may be granting themselves permission to eat anything they desire, this can be a scary thought and go against much of what has been taught. The psychology behind taking foods out of categories of bad and good is to allow for the emotional ties and restraints to be loosened. “Findings highlight the particular challenge in embracing the ‘unconditional permission to eat’ aspect and shifting focus away from body weight” (Barraclough et al., 2019).
Many people enjoy having structure and being given a plan, it feels more in control. When the concept of these negative and positive restraints or boundaries are loosened it can feel like new and skeptical territory. When people are given the autonomy to self-create their own boundaries with food they must learn to trust themselves and that they are in control and fully capable. Becoming active in personal choice comes with the responsibility of attention, lending attention to notice and decide rather than impulsively act. This concept is in alignment with mindful eating philosophies, bringing unbiased attention to habits and releasing personally engrained judgments.
Tips for finding out what’s best for you:
- Take a mindful approach to food and meal time
- Try not to multitask, and bring some awareness to eating times
- Notice how certain foods make you feel both physically and emotionally
- Ask yourself questions or check in with yourself about foods
- Explore different habits around food to see what feels the best, try to give yourself enough time to notice any changes, and only focus on small adjustments, one at a time
- Journal and reflect on meals, using custom questions to meal track with the Ate app can help guide you towards discovering patterns
- Ditch the diet culture mindset and focus on forging your own path towards what feels the best for your body
- If others question your approach or want to follow along, share that each relationship to food is unique and recommend how they can work on their relationship with food as well. No two eating habits will be the same.
Finding what works best for your own eating habits is extremely beneficial for peace of mind, physical functioning, and mental health. Diet culture can be frustrating and detrimental to motivation and self-esteem. Remembering that each person is unique and as humans, we do not follow a prescriptive one size fits all when it comes to food habits. Finding confidence within personal choices can help to shape positive food habits and self-awareness.
When others around you see this, they are more inclined to take a similar approach to how they build habits around food as well. Emotions, stress, the pace of life, intolerances, etc. can all play a role in how a person interacts with food and how food interacts with digestion and metabolism. The way you work on your own relationship trickles down to your community and how they work on it as well. First and foremost, make sure that you are working on finding what’s best for you as others will notice it as well.
For more on overall sustainable healthy habits, check out the Ate app.
References
Barraclough, E. L., Hay-Smith, E., Boucher, S. E., Tylka, T. L., & Horwath, C. C. (2019). Learning to eat intuitively: A qualitative exploration of the experience of mid-age women. Health psychology open, 6(1), 2055102918824064. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102918824064
Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020). Defining a Healthy Diet: Evidence for The Role of Contemporary Dietary Patterns in Health and Disease. Nutrients, 12(2), 334. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12020334
