What to Eat..?

Something funny I’ve found when it comes to the cycles we go through in life is that they are largely tied to our eating habits. Just think about it for a second - what types of foods were you eating the last time you felt super charged up? What types of foods help you relax and chill out? Do you have a clear idea of what types of foods you like to cycle through to get through your different life phases?

I ask these questions because these are the very same questions I continued to ask myself time and time again to find the perfect formula, although that has its own downsides in of itself. Nutrition is a pure science, but science doesn’t always equally treat one system like it does for the other. Our bodies require different inputs given our circumstances in order to feel good and perform well.

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve found most beneficial when it comes to approaching eating:

1. Structure out your food choices

   Simply devise out some sort of routine or structure that works best for you. Personally, I meal prep for the work week and Sundays and will eat out on Saturdays. It’s the ideal structure for me given my understanding of my food preferences and working style. That may not work for you, and that is totally fine. Experiment with different food choice structures to see what fits in accordance with your own work schedule, health and dietary preferences/restrictions, and health/fitness goals. It’s all a unique puzzle for each individual that takes time to figure out.

2. Cycle your food choices

   Now I know what you’re thinking… he just said to carve out a structure and now is asking to change it up. Hear me out on this - there are a variety of reasons that can speak to this suggestion, so I’ll keep it brief. Your parameters (e.g. schedule, dietary needs, fitness goals) will change from season to season, so your choices need to adapt along with them. Additionally, the mind and gut both will silently tap you on the shoulder to switch things up every once in a while. Listen to those signals and allow yourself some nutritional liberties or changes to balance things out when you get into a sort of rut.

3. Challenge yourself

   In order to grow in any aspect, you need to challenge yourself. Depending on who you ask, food and eating are often seen as an experience to relish. In times like these when we are all quarantined when we would rather be travelling, travel experiences can still be somewhat obtained through experimenting with different foods and cuisines as mentioned in my list of 10 fun things to do during the quarantine. The challenge can come in the cooking and preparation of such dishes or the actual eating of the dishes depending upon your taste bud preferences. At the end of the day, you’ll either become a more experienced, albeit not always necessarily better (looking at myself mainly), cook and/or a more globally aware individual at least when it comes to food concoctions. Pro-tip: a lot of intriguing food choices incorporate varying spice levels, so if you can build up a tolerance for spice and your health won’t be compromised by it, you’ll open the door to a wide array of new cuisines.

4. Pair your plate with your next movement

   Once you’ve had some time with trial and error when it comes to pairing food and body movement, you will have a better sense of what foods work better for when you will soon thereafter be vigorously moving versus what foods work for more casual bodily movements. We’ve all had that one time where we regretted eating a boatload of pasta or something and then immediately went running right after. Fine tune the balance between your food choices and ensuing activities to find what suits your body best.

5. Listen to your body

   The most important tip, above all, is to listen to your body’s response to your food choices. Everything mentioned above will be dictated by your body. We often neglect little annoyances from our body here and there, especially when we are younger, because we can escape the true consequences for the time being. It will all catch up with you at one point or another if neglected for too long. Take the time to truly listen to your body from moment to moment, and I assure you that you will feel like a completely changed person.

I could go on more about the scientific formula in diets and the math behind nutrition, but I think that would be framing the entire approach in a negative way for most people. The true constant among everyone is wanting to achieve a good level of health so that we can continue to enjoy the different unique experiences we crave. It should go without saying that you shouldn’t be getting the idea that you have to buy into the stereotypical image of healthy eating.

Finding balance in your food choices is the best way to look at the bigger puzzle. It all boils down to… you guessed it, one of the three pillars that I believe make for a great life: human psychology. The internal desire, your Big Why, will be the driving force behind your choosing to maybe find a new and somewhat better way of eating but more importantly stick to it when the going gets rough. Challenge yourself to explore your mind and your body’s relationship with food to make it fun and interesting. And when s**t hits the fan, don’t beat down on yourself because everyone goes through it - even those glamorized people who make it look like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Seasons change and so will your food choices to cope with the experience that is life. We can only cope with everything if we devise a system to get after it instead of purely look at things from a goal-completion and move onto the next goal-completion frame of reference. So get out there and give these tips a try to see if you can find deciding on what to eat next just a tad bit easier.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” - Francois de la Rochefoucauld