The skinny about nutrition
I tend to try ideas on myself if I thought that it might truly work (I Guinea pig myself). I also try to both learn from others, as well as from first hand experience.
I learned some of the hard truths. These are:
You can’t outrun a bad diet with extra exercise
What you eat matters even if calories and macros are very similar
Nutrition has a pretty quick effect on your integumentary system
Fiber matters more than you think
Self care includes taking the time to be thoughtful about your nutrition (as well as skincare)
The idea that if you exercise more so you can eat whatever you want seems so very appealing, Honestly, I tried this thinking first that I’ll lose weight. Maybe at first it did or overall, but the end result was an accumulation of belly fat though I lost weight. Good chances are that most of the weight I lost was a combination of muscles, water and some fat, but for some reason the fat around the belly was very stubborn in wanting to stay. Another reason is from a longevity perspective and diseases. I won’t mention who, but a dear loved one also believed in merely calories in vs calories out as far as weight loss is concerned. This person was very active and exercised most days. However, they also ate ice cream and doughnuts just as much as they exercised. It most likely was a huge contributor to this person’s atherosclerosis (plaque in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks).
So my point is, that what you eat matters; not just the macros (carbohydrates, protein and fats), but the quality of them. Meaning are they coming from whole foods or are they coming from all prepackaged products. Many prepackaged products, besides being refined, also contain additives and preservatives to give a longer shelf life. A lot of these additives and preservatives are unnatural and tend to have negative affects. Of course this isn’t to say that one should never eat restaurant food or prepackaged foods, but think about what you eat most of the time vs only some of the time.
I was once part of this fitness group on line. It was very costly, so I have since stopped. But I did learn from this experience. The main things I learned from them are that nutrition matters, how much you move matters and that self care really matters. The first thing you did was start logging your nutrition and activity. You tended to eat the same things because they worked out the macros for you, but it varied weekly and/or there were choices for switch outs. What I noticed was that I needed to do some simple cooking (I don’t know how to cook). I previously existed on restaurant food and prepackaged foods from not knowing how to cook. The food I noticed was actually pretty simple. They wanted you to buy fruit, vegetables, eggs and raw meat plus staples like rice, pasta and whole grain bread. They did not tell you how to cook it because you could use whatever spices you wanted. I did this for about a good 6 months. After the first 2 months, besides some weight loss, I noticed that I looked younger. My lips were more full. My skin was softer and more firm. My body was taking the nutrients from these whole foods and supporting my integumentary system, including collagen production. I just looked better and it was just from making this change.
When I started my new job, I ate a lot of bread, pasta and soups (because they are free employee meals) and salad (I ate the dressing and the croutons that came with it but would only eat 1/3 of the salad per day). I was bouncing up and down the same pounds. I was feeling a little bloated, but it was also the tail end of winter and most people tend to go for soups when the weather is cooler. After spring weather started, I did pick up the bread and soups here and there, but I limited to maybe once per week (I would limit myself to one piece of restaurant bread per day). Instead, I opted to pick up the salads, but I would not take home the croutons and the dressing. I would eat at least ½ the salad per day, add a mini avocado, about 1/2-1 oz of real cheese, maybe a hard boiled egg or cocktail shrimp and then pour on extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar of Modena on top. I was also mindful to add macadamia nuts, raspberries and chocolate covered nut butter stuffed dates to my daily diet (all these foods added fiber, vitamins and antioxidants). I was eating the same calories as I had before while bouncing up and down the same amount of pounds and my activity level stayed the same (4 studio classes per week and walking 10,000 steps on average daily). But with only making the change to add more fiber, I lost 5 pounds so far in about 3 weeks. Some of it could be water weight because soup after all has lots of salt and fruit and vegetables tend to help you shed water, but also my smart scale claimed that I lost visceral fat-the dangerous kind around your organs and also I lost an inch off my waist measurement. The fiber really matters!
Nutrition is self care as much as figuring out lotions, creams, shower products and any spa treatments or getting your hair done. Nutrition highly affects how we look and feel. It also matters for overall health. As a parent, I feel that showing by example is way better than telling them “this is how I want you to be so do as I say”. Our kids have free will, but they also sometimes follow by example. You always want the best for your kids. So to be the best example, we need the best for ourselves to show them that they need the best for them too.