[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #71CCD5;”] F[/dropcap]or my Health Coaching Certificate there was a huge focus on nutrition.
The last time I had formally studied nutrition was back in the 1990s.
The height of the low fat era.
Ugh.
So I was hoping for a few changes in nutrition thinking since then.
And thankfully there are!
Today we’re going to look at my simple approach to nutrition…
It doesn’t have to be as confusing as you’d think.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- My Simple Approach to Nutrition
- 12 Extra Nutritional Guidelines
My Simple Approach to Nutrition
I love the guidelines I learned at PreKure because they focus more on how to eat rather than specific nutrients and food groups.
Choose nutritious whole, unprocessed foods.
AND
Eat in a way that works best for you.
That’s it.
12 Extra Nutritional Guidelines
1. Minimize food that comes in packages.
2. If you are eating packaged food, choose options that contain 5 ingredients or less (sound familiar?!)
3. Choose vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, seafood, poultry, pork, organ meats, dairy, nuts, seeds, legumes, as tolerated.
4. Where possible opt for ethically produced local ingredients.
5. Avoid or mimimise grains (including ‘healthy’ whole grains).
6. Use traditional fats and oils like butter, lard, olive oil and coconut oil over highly processed, refined oils.
7. Enjoy saturated fat.
8. Minimize total sugar, added and intrinsic.
9. HOW you eat is more important than WHAT you eat.
10. Plan your time to make cooking and eating an important part of your lifestyle.
11. Eat mindfully.
12. Share food with family and friends.
SUMMARY:
Here’s what we’ve covered:
- The simplest approach to nutrition is to seek out nutritious whole, unprocessed foods. And experiment to find out what works best for you.
- 12 extra nutrition guideline ideas.
ACTIVITY
Review this list of guidelines. Are there any you want to adopt as your own? Add any guidelines that resonate with you to your list of Personal Rules from Day 14.
LEARN MORE
Read more about the PreKure dietary guidelines over here.
See you tomorrow!
Have fun in the kitchen,
With love,
Jules x
ps. What do you think?
How do these guidelines sound to you? I’d love to hear in the comments below.
I like your guidelines a lot. They pretty much reflect the way I am currently eating. I am still including some healthy grains, mostly oats, in my diet (but I am limiting them), partly because I like them and partly because I can’t eat a really high fat diet. I recently apparently got too enthusiastic about fats and wasn’t digesting them well in larger quantities. So I’ve been working on getting a balance between things like fruit and nuts for my snacks. Your guidelines mesh perfectly with the rules I set out for myself. There is one guideline that I can’t wrap my brain around: could you please explain what you mean by “HOW you eat is more important than what you eat”? Thank you for helping this poor brain to understand.
Excellent question Susan!
The point about how you eat stresses the importance of your mindset in how you are approaching your meals. For example, if it’s your birthday and you’ve decided to have an beautiful Italian meal of pasta and gelato, if you approach the meal from exctiement and enjoyment it’s going to be a very different experience than if you are feeling anxious and guilty for having so many carbs.
In the first example, you’ll be able to truly enjoy the meal and most probably feel satisfied afterwards.
But if you’re anxious and guilty you might end up using the meal as a ‘reason’ to start bingeing on carbs.
Same goes for a relaxing meal shared with friends vs/ grabbing whatever out of the fridge and shovelling it in while you’re standing in the kitchen.
I know it’s a bit nebulous but I can’t help but think that the how makes a difference.
Does that make sense? Happy to dig deeper if you’d like more clarification 🙂
Yes, it makes sense. My brain never would have gone there. Thank you!