Eat Real Food
One of my favorite books on healthy consumption is called In Defense of Food, written by Michael Pollan. The very first line in his book states, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” This thoughtful mantra has stuck with me as a clear yet challenging reminder of how to navigate when making food choices.
We have to ask ourselves, ”What should I eat?” many times throughout the day, and in his book, Pollan smartly comments, ”That anyone should need to write a book advising people to ‘eat food’ could be taken as a measure of our alienation and confusion.” Instead of overcomplicating our diet, we can reclaim our health and sanity by simply sticking to eating real foods as often as we possibly can. What are real foods? Ironically, anything without a nutrition label and free of flashy packaging that advertises lots of health benefits, that's likely a real food! Whole fruits, veggies, healthy nuts, grains, and legumes, are all real foods. On a bottle of orange juice, you’ll find endless attention-grabbing statements like, “a full day’s value of vitamin C!” However, eating an orange is ultimately much healthier than drinking orange juice, because the natural fiber in the fruit slows down the fructose and helps us properly absorb all the available vitamins and minerals. Don’t be fooled by the boastful packaging on processed goods that assure you their product delivers the perfect isolated nutrients, because whole and fresh foods naturally provide balanced, complete nutrition. When something has to tell you why you should be eating it, it’s likely not as healthy as it claims to be.
When we visit a typical grocery store, the real, fresh foods are usually located along the perimeter of the store, while the colorful boxes of processed foods are located in the middle aisles. A good tip is to stay along the outer edges of the store when browsing, and only visit the middle aisles to fetch specific items you know you need (like nut butters, soups, etc). If you pick a food with a crazy-long nutritional label that has ingredients you don’t recognize, put that item back and substitute it with a piece of produce that’s more nourishing and natural. Challenge yourself to reduce your eating down to as close to the earth as possible for the greatest health benefits.
We have to ask ourselves, ”What should I eat?” many times throughout the day, and in his book, Pollan smartly comments, ”That anyone should need to write a book advising people to ‘eat food’ could be taken as a measure of our alienation and confusion.” Instead of overcomplicating our diet, we can reclaim our health and sanity by simply sticking to eating real foods as often as we possibly can. What are real foods? Ironically, anything without a nutrition label and free of flashy packaging that advertises lots of health benefits, that's likely a real food! Whole fruits, veggies, healthy nuts, grains, and legumes, are all real foods. On a bottle of orange juice, you’ll find endless attention-grabbing statements like, “a full day’s value of vitamin C!” However, eating an orange is ultimately much healthier than drinking orange juice, because the natural fiber in the fruit slows down the fructose and helps us properly absorb all the available vitamins and minerals. Don’t be fooled by the boastful packaging on processed goods that assure you their product delivers the perfect isolated nutrients, because whole and fresh foods naturally provide balanced, complete nutrition. When something has to tell you why you should be eating it, it’s likely not as healthy as it claims to be.
When we visit a typical grocery store, the real, fresh foods are usually located along the perimeter of the store, while the colorful boxes of processed foods are located in the middle aisles. A good tip is to stay along the outer edges of the store when browsing, and only visit the middle aisles to fetch specific items you know you need (like nut butters, soups, etc). If you pick a food with a crazy-long nutritional label that has ingredients you don’t recognize, put that item back and substitute it with a piece of produce that’s more nourishing and natural. Challenge yourself to reduce your eating down to as close to the earth as possible for the greatest health benefits.
How many pieces of fresh, whole foods do you eat in a day?
Tip: Breakfast and dessert are great times of day to focus on eating something minimally processed. Eating a big plate of fruit is much more filling, satisfying, and energizing than most people expect. Salads, soups, smoothies, veggie bowls, curries, healthy grains, and bean-based dishes are also awesome ways to make healthy ingredients more hearty and substantial for major meals of the day.
Tip: Breakfast and dessert are great times of day to focus on eating something minimally processed. Eating a big plate of fruit is much more filling, satisfying, and energizing than most people expect. Salads, soups, smoothies, veggie bowls, curries, healthy grains, and bean-based dishes are also awesome ways to make healthy ingredients more hearty and substantial for major meals of the day.
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Extend Your Understanding: Use this printable plant-based healthy grocery list to inspire your next shopping trip. Incorporate a some new healthy items to increase the healthy abundance in your diet! Even if we reduce just a few of our unhealthy consumption habits, it makes a huge difference!
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Balance Your Portions
Another way we can encourage healthy consumption is by being mindful of the portions on our plate. When we’re craving our favorite foods, instead of denying or restricting ourselves, we can simply balance our plate with an abundance of water-dense and healthy ingredients. For example, I love beans, rice, chips, and guacamole. I could eat beans and chips and guacamole endlessly, if I allowed myself to; but this would likely leave me sluggish and guilty about over-consuming. Even though these foods consist of healthy carbs and fats, eating them in excess wouldn’t be a healthy choice. So I balance my plate with cooked veggies or a big side salad (with spicy dressing!) that's refreshing and complimentary to my meal. I end up feeling perfectly satiated from the greens, and I still get to fully enjoy my delicious indulgences. We can do this with any foods we eat, such as eating an apple with a cookie or having seasoned veggies with our pasta. Not only do we get to enjoy a greater array of flavors, we treat our body with more nourishment and nutrients!
Remember that life is meant to be enjoyable! The goal of balancing our plate is not not to keep us measuring constantly— it’s to increase our overall sense of health, improve our energy, and maximize our wellbeing.Fretting over food is the opposite of the goal of mindful eating. In times when we're enjoying a meal with no fruits or vegetables whatsoever, we can still be deeply grateful for all the hard work, energy, and time that went into producing what we're enjoying in this moment. We don't stress-- we can still maintain a balanced approach by choosing a healthier option later.
Remember that life is meant to be enjoyable! The goal of balancing our plate is not not to keep us measuring constantly— it’s to increase our overall sense of health, improve our energy, and maximize our wellbeing.Fretting over food is the opposite of the goal of mindful eating. In times when we're enjoying a meal with no fruits or vegetables whatsoever, we can still be deeply grateful for all the hard work, energy, and time that went into producing what we're enjoying in this moment. We don't stress-- we can still maintain a balanced approach by choosing a healthier option later.
Flexibility with Food
Unless we're respecting a medical condition, we should remove "rules" from our diet. We can practice being flexible, understanding, and compassionate during times when we’re not practicing healthy eating habits. Observe your patterns to find insight into why you’re eating less healthy foods. Are you trying to numb or distract from something stressful in your life? Are you seeking comfort? Are you on vacation or with friends where indulging is more meaningful? There are many reasons why we may be off-track with our eating, and instead of criticizing or punishing ourselves, we can practice body-kindness and try to soothe our anxiety by acknowledging our feelings. In an indulgent setting, we can remember that we still love fruits and veggies, even if we aren’t eating them now. As soon as our celebration is over, we can happily return to our healthy focus. If we are stressed, we should really try to eat fresh, water-dense foods to reduce uncomfortable bodily sensations and stay properly nourished to best tackle our tasks. When we stop and use mindfulness to see why we’re eating as we are, we can be actionable to effectively take care of whatever is troubling us, ultimately avoiding adding more body-based negativity to whatever we’re dealing with.
Food and Feelings
Life can be chaotic and emotional. We can get so overwhelmed or disconnected from our feelings that we can avoid food altogether or mindlessly eat anything, especially foods that are emotionally comforting. Not being attentive to what our body needs to run efficiently can result in feelings of guilt, low energy, and poor health over time. If we can remember to slow down, look deeply into what kinds of food we're eating, and observe our feelings about the foods we eat, we'll have a better chance of developing long-lasting habits of choosing healing foods that refresh and nourish us. When we tune into the sensations of eating, we can learn what foods make us feel great, and which ones make us feel unsettled. When we take note of our reactions to different foods, both physical and emotional, we can improve our consumption. Does our food energize us? Do we feel guilty after eating certain things? What combinations of food deplete our energy? What foods are most emotionally comforting? What foods make us feel our best? How do we feel after eating, on all levels? We can be more conscientious of minimizing the wastefulness of emotional eating (being over-indulgent and wasting food itself, or wasting our time by eating the wrong foods that don’t energize us) when we have a mindful understanding of what foods serve us best. When we are mindful to make thoughtful food choices, we’ll naturally feel more healthy, nourished, and peaceful.
Mindful Food Check-In
Write down five foods you eat often, and five foods you want to eat more frequently. Where do these foods come from? What's involved in producing these foods (sunlight, soil, farmers, truck drivers, store clerks, chefs, factories, etc).
Write about how each of these foods makes you feel emotionally (happy, nostalgic, safe, adventurous, guilty, excited, proud, etc).
Now write about how each of these foods makes you feel physically when you eat them (full, dehydrated, anxious, energized, sluggish, bloated, spacey, etc).
It can be helpful to keep a food journal to observe these feelings each time you eat as you learn what foods serve you best.
Write about how each of these foods makes you feel emotionally (happy, nostalgic, safe, adventurous, guilty, excited, proud, etc).
Now write about how each of these foods makes you feel physically when you eat them (full, dehydrated, anxious, energized, sluggish, bloated, spacey, etc).
It can be helpful to keep a food journal to observe these feelings each time you eat as you learn what foods serve you best.
Reflecting on Emotional Eating
Do you eat certain foods when you're feeling positive? Does your consumption change when you feel stressed? Is your diet typically consistent or does it vary? What causes changes in the foods or portions that you eat? What words come to mind when you think of emotional eating?
Explore your patterns around eating nonjudgementally, simply look for new understanding about the connection between your feelings and their influence on the foods you choose.
Explore your patterns around eating nonjudgementally, simply look for new understanding about the connection between your feelings and their influence on the foods you choose.
Make Healthy Eating Easier
When we consume foods that don’t nourish us, sometimes we do so because fast food options are easier and more accessible. Luckily, healthy options can be just as available if we know where to look. We can use the internet to find healthy and plant-based restaurants that serve energizing, clean food. In my local area, there are places that serve balanced veggie bowls, and the chef does all the flavor profiling so no matter what you order, it’s likely to be delicious! Sometimes it can be exhausting and overwhelming when we try to craft a tasty and healthy dish, but picking one off of a menu is always doable. Plus, being out in a public setting or with friends can make eating healthy foods even more fun! Sometimes it takes some time to scout the places that are both affordable and enjoyable, but once we do, we can have a backup plan for facilitating our healthy eating goals. Another way to support our mindful consumption is by meal-prepping! Pre-wash or slice fruits for quick snacking, make a big pot of soup, chop veggies to dip in hummus/nut butters/sauce of choice, or roast extra veggies to heat up later. Even buying clean-ingredient pre-made frozen meals, getting an extra serving of healthy food to go at a restaurant, or making double portions when we prepare something at home can make mindful eating easier and more convenient.
Have you explored your local area for healthy food? Is there a day of the week you could prep some healthy fruits, veggies, and snacks to enjoy later?