Stop Worrying About Restrictive Diets

If you’re reading this, you’ve likely tried time and time again to watch the number of calories you take in. You see some results, but shortly after, you let off the gas and end up back where you start or worse off. True, the number of calories we take in factor into weight gain or loss, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. The number one priority isn’t the quantity, the macros, or the timing of your meals. Those things all play a part, but our focus should be on quality.

You need calories for fuel.

Your body craves food throughout the day to fuel the natural processes of the body such as breathing, processing information, and the many activities you partake in. Work (even sedentary work), daily chores like cleaning, coaching your kid’s basketball practice, walking the aisles of the grocery store, and finally exercise all burn energy.

Choosing nutrient dense calories.

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy. So, we need calories, but we also need a plethora of nutrients. Calories from processed foods are void of most, if not all, nutrients. The key is nutrient dense calories. When you make good choices, by eating whole foods in a wide variety, the number of calories matter far less.

Processed foods leave you wanting more.

Processed foods are stripped of many, or all, of their nutrients. Things that only belong in a chemistry lab are then added to them. These additions are chosen very strategically, by very smart people, to make your taste buds jump for joy but leave you hungry again shortly after. It truly acts like a drug.

Our body does not recognize or respond the same way it does with real, natural ingredients. If your body doesn’t receive the nutrients it needs, your body will react one of two ways. First, it will send you signals to find and consume more food (these signals come in the form of strange noises growling from your insides or mouthwatering feelings every time you see or even think about food). It could also treat it as a foreign substance. When it is treated as a foreign substance, it will become storage until nutrients are processed and excreted or until your body receives the nutrients it needs. Neither scenario is helpful to a healthy body.

What should you eat?

Your diet should consist of meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.

Here are some good questions to ask. If it had eyes and a mother, it’s fair game. If it came from the ground, it’s fair game. If there are ingredients you do not recognize or cannot pronounce, its best to stay away. If it came in a box, also not an optimal choice.

Don’t count calories.

You should eat lean meats, carbs, and fats.

Eliminating any macronutrient or highly restricting them is not your answer. Restricting your calories and counting all day is not your answer. Who wants to live like that anyways? And who is going to stick with that?

Eat a wide variety of real whole foods 80% of the time and you will support your body and activity. This will keep you on track to becoming a healthier and happier you!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *