3 Ways To Embrace Your Individuality When It Comes To Nutrition
One of the questions that comes up most often when I'm working with a new client is, "well, how do I know how much I need to eat? If you don't give me a meal plan, how do I know what my portion size should be so that I don't over/under eat?"
The truth is, there’s no such as one size fits all and you already have the answer to that question.
In fact, a 2019 study showed that even identical twins don't react the same way to the same foods and in fact the study concluded that there's no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to diet and nutrition and that it boils down to trial and error.
Here are 3 ways to tune into your body's innate wisdom so you can embrace your individualtiy when it comes to what, when and how much you eat and stop following trends, fads and rules:
Assess your eating habits and practices
The first step to making a chage is awareness. By bringing attention to your eating habits and practices, you can better explore and reflect on the reasons behind them.
Once you know what drives a behaviour, it’s easier to put strategies in place to change it. If you’ve been wanting to cultivate healthier eating habits for a long time and can’t seem to make it stick, here are some things you can ask yourself to assess your eating habits and practices:
Do you take an all or nothing approach that causes you to bounce back and forth between being all in and being all out with healthy eating habits?
Are you relying on one size fits all diet plans that don’t work for your body, taste preferences or lifestyle because they’re too rigid, hard to stick to, or just don’t feel right?
Are you worried that eating healthy is too hard? too boring? too bland? too restrictive?
Are you overwhelmed by all the conflicting information out there?
Have you lost touch with your hunger and satiety cues and lost trust in your ability to eat the right things in the right amounts at the right times?
Choose minimally processed whole foods over highly refined hyperpalatable foods
Some foods were engineered to be addictive and “moreish”, meaning they were designed deliberately to override your hunger and satiety cues. Think of a bag of chips or a sugar laden sweet treat. They were made with the “perfect” combination of salt and/or sugar and fat so that you would fall in love at first bite, eat the entire amount in one sitting, neglecting your hunger and fullness and crave more later. They’re also void of nutrients and displace nutrient dense foods in your diet.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying it’s not ok to eat chips or cookies or cake. or any other hyperpalatable food out there, but it’s important to make an informed decision.
When you choose minimally processed whole foods and learn to prepare them with a flavour profile you enjoy, limiting the ultra processed and refined hyperpalatable foods in the process, you’re essentially resetting your palate and getting reacquainted with your body’s signals.
Without the noise that is created by highly addictive foods, you’ll be able to hear what your body is telling you, what it really needs and what it craves on a deeper level, for nourishment and sustenance as well as enjoyment.
I’ve never eaten more intuitively and mindfully than I did during my 9 months of pregnancy. I listened to my body, ate what I wanted, and made a conscious effort to also meet my nutritional needs. In my third trimester, all I craved were green smoothies, which I would usually make with a good helping of greens like spinach or kale and some fruit like pear, apple or banana with oat milk, nuts and seeds. My body was clearly sending me a signal for nutrient density to grow the human inside and leave me with enough reserves to carry me through lactation.
The point is, if you give your body the chance, it will know what it needs, which brings us to tip number 3.
Bring mindful attention to meal times
How we eat is just as important as what we eat. When we bring mindful attention to meal times, we are working on the how.
Avoid Distractions & Be Present - Digestion relies on our parasympathetic nervous system, the rest & digest response produced by our body when we are calm and relaxed. Eating in a dedicated space away from electronic devices and distractions is a great way to bring a sense of calm and awareness to meal times. Walk away from your desk or work space and avoid using your mobile phone or watching television while you eat.
Connect to your food & Engage your senses - Be grateful for the food that you are about to eat and engage all your senses. Mindful eating is a sensorial experience. Salivary enzymes, which are important for digestion, are activated by the sight, smell, taste and texture of food.
Slow donw & chew your food - Put the fork down between bites and chew your food. Chewing breaks down the food physically and chemically by releasing salivary enzymes to help you break down carbohydrates and other nutrients, but some of those enzymes only get activated when you start chewing. Chewing also activates the taste buds and sends signals to the brain, allowing us to fully experience the five basic tastes; sweet, sour, salty, savoury and bitter. When you don't chew your food properly it takes food longer to break down, which slows down digestion, causes fermentation and putrefaction and leads to more digestive troubles.
Respect your hunger & satiety cues - Acknowledge your body’s signals and allow yourself to eat when you feel hungry, but recognize the signs of satiation and stop when you're comfortably full. Look for physical signs of hunger, such as a feeling of emptiness or growling in the stomach and pay attention to your satiation cues when you're eating.
Following the four steps above will help you tap into your body's innate wisdom to understand when you've reached the point of satiation. Being present, engaging your senses and connecting to your food and slowing down to enjoy, savour and chew your meal will give your body enough time to digest the food and send the message to your brain, telling you when it's time to stop eating. Rushing through your meal on the other hand is an easy route to eating more than your body needs and wants.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that nutrition isn’t one size fits all and it’s important to embrace and respect your individuality when it comes to what, how and when you eat.
The general nutrition guidelines are a great starting point:
eat all the food groups;
get plenty of varietywithin each food group (aka don't always eat the same things);
focus on plant diversity for gut health (eat the rainbow);
Beyond that, you are your best nutritionist.
The correct portion size, the amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates, whether you should eat animal protein or not, what vegetables you should eat, how much fruit you should eat in a day, etc...are all best determined by you, tuning into your body's unique needs and embracing your individuality (taste preferences, lifestyle, family habits and practices, culture, etc...).
There's no magic number or formula that works for everyone and if you come across a recommendation that tells you otherwise, you can rest assured that it's a "one size fits all dietary approach or plan".
