Enhance Your Nutrition

Food can be intimidating. And it can be intense to get into when you’re trying to change habits. But the smallest changes can make the biggest difference!

In case you didn’t know, I recently started nerding out on some nutrition material. In my mission to serve you a little better, I wanted to make sure I’m doing my part in helping you develop your nutrition habits to be consistent with your goals. And what better way to share it with you than one of my ridiculous essays?

For each of the following five components, I could dive deeper but that’s not the point. If you are one of those who struggles with nutrition, here are some questions to ask yourself on how to create some long term change!

• Is the amount of food you are eating consistent with your specific goals?
• This one is the most important from the get go. If you eat more energy (food) than you are using, you will gain weight. And if your goal is to gain weight, the opposite applies.
• Eating food until you are about 80% full is a great strategy to employ. Don’t overdo it while making sure you eat enough to not be hungry all the time.
• Severely undereating can also do a number on your metabolism, energy levels and you’ll be hangry all the time. Who wants to be around that?

• Are you eating slowly and enjoying your food?
• I’d love to see each and every meal eaten at a table with the family around, taking your time and enjoying your food. BUT in real life, things don’t always happen like that! Your body will take time to receive the signals from your stomach that tell you that you are satisfied.

• Are you eating when you’re actually hungry or are you just bored?
• Is it an emotional response to something that is happening?
• Eat around your workouts, eat when you need food, eat to enjoy and savor your food.

• Is your food primarily consisting of whole food sources that are minimally processed?
• Is your protein intake adequate? Minimum recommendation is .8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight but long term goals should be somewhere between 1.2-2.0 grams per kilogram of bodyweight (for a 150 pound female that is 82-136 grams per day, for a 200 pound male, that’s about 110-180 grams per day)

• What are the smallest changes you can make to help you stay on track? Can you add in a protein smoothie once a day to increase protein intake as well as fight hunger and feel more satisfied? Can you dedicate to having one meal at home, at the table, prepared by you every day?
• What little things can you do to keep yourself asking the above questions when you eat?

If you find that you are getting better and more confident with the first question, move onto the next. And once you have the next figured out, move on, keeping the first question around. The whole idea behind improvement is constantly asking yourself your overaching question – is what you are eating consistent with the goal you are looking to achieve? Is it sustainable?

Thanks for tuning in!