My take on Nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is a fraught subject for many people because we live in a
society that promotes fad diets as a way to attain socially acceptable
yet unrealistic—and often unhealthy—bodies. Real, sustainable
nutrition is not about counting calories, measuring macros, and
following fad diets. Just like fitness, real nutrition is sustainable
and individualized and doesn’t have to be extreme.
Nutrition Myths
Myth 1: Since I’m working out, I can eat whatever I want.
Truth: You can’t out-train a poor diet.
Myth 2: I’m doing a new diet that worked for (fill in supermodel or
celebrity name here) and they lost 20 lbs in 30 days, so I will, too.
Truth: We all respond differently to different diets at different
times. What works for you might not work for me. What worked
for me 20 years ago might not work for me today.
Myth 3: I have to lose weight quickly, so I’m doing this extreme
detox/diet to lose weight in a few weeks.
Truth: Nutrition is not easy, it’s not quick, and it’s not effective
unless it’s sustainable. As we age, it’s important to lean on the
basics of nutrition rather than the fad diets and quick fixes.
I’ve seen it a million times…you think you must do something
extreme to get yourself out of the hole and kickstart a new chapter
in your wellness. So you go for the crazy restrictive diet or the
detox that limits calories to the point where you’re miserable, can’t
focus, can’t exercise, and you end up gaining it all back anyway.
Instead, if you follow the basics of nutrition, it simply becomes a
sustainable way of living and eating, with no dieting required. The
basics are simple: Eat minimally processed whole foods and limit
sugar and alcohol intake.
Is it really that simple? Yes, actually it is.
The tricky thing is that many of us think we eat a certain way,
but when we look at our food intake on paper, we realize we’ve
actually moved far from the basics. I suggest keeping a three-day
food journal, recording everything you eat and drink over three
days without making changes in what you typically do. Just like
fitness testing, it’s a great way to see where you are right now. Once
you have that information, you can move forward with a realis-
tic nutrition plan focused on the basics. For some of you it might
work better to look back two or three days and write down what
you ate and drank. We have a tendency to make different deci-
sions around food and alcohol when we know we have to record it
and report it. Which actually makes journaling a great way to hold
yourself accountable.
I have seen many clients begin solving problems by doing just
this. Journaling and recording food and alcohol consumption.
This ties into being present and active as a health consumer. For
many of us, we don’t think about what we eat or how much we
drink, but journaling can help us think about choices. Of course,
I’m old-school, something about putting pen to paper feels good.
It’s slower, and for this reason it also makes me think and reflect.
However, there are tons of apps you can use for food journaling.
I like “myfitnesspal,” which is easy to use and easy to share with a
coach or friend.
See you in the gym,
Aaron Leventhal CSCS, PN1, ACSM Cancer Specialist