Five Minute Read: Six Nutrition Principles To Keep You On Track
One of my favourite quotes is “a healthy outside starts from within.”
It’s a good reminder that fueling your body properly through food and nutrients is beneficial for healing from the inside out.
However, with an abundance of information on diets, nutrition and supplementation at our fingertips, it can become extremely overwhelming to figure out what makes sense for you and your body.
On top of that, when you finally find something that might work, it’s not made specifically for your needs and can potentially turn into something harmful.
I know exactly how you feel.
I used my own frustrating experience filtering through the generic programs and vague nutrition knowledge, as motivation to educate myself, receive my Holistic Nutrition certifications and make it a personal mission to avoid putting any more false or confusing information into the world.
Which is why this blog is focused on simplifying the nutrition pillar from my five Health & Wellness pillars. If you want to learn about the other four pillars, stay tuned for upcoming blogs or head to my Instagram @dallasskopeleanos!
Below are six nutrition principles that, I hope, will help untangle the confusion around nutrition. These principles will teach you to start understanding what your body wants/needs and will allow you to focus on the fundamentals.
Keep it simple - No one’s expecting you to cook up a Michelin star meal three times a day so make it easy for yourself! Eat real food, include ingredients you can pronounce and eat things you enjoy. Our bodies don’t ask us for much - they just need real foods to keep us functioning at our best.
Eat the rainbow - Focus on counting colours versus calories. Having different colours on the plate will offer our bodies a variety of nutrients. Aim for at least two colours and ensure one of them is green.
Variety is key! - Switch it up once in a while. Eating the same thing over and over will have you feeling bored of your meals in no time. It can also cause development of food sensitivities. Experiment with new things and try to make your meals exciting!
Avoid processed - Chemicals and artificial additives are ideal for overall shelf life but not much else. These ingredients give our bodies no nourishment, fuel or building materials and because of that, they implicate serious side effects like inflammation, addiction, hormonal imbalances, digestive issues and more! As I mentioned before, stick to foods with ingredients you can pronounce.
Respect your body - Our bodies communicate with us constantly, we just have to teach ourselves how to listen. Tune into these signals and respect what your body is telling you. If you have a reaction after eating a certain food, it’s likely your body is letting you know that the food or ingredient doesn’t agree with you. Logging these symptoms in a food journal is helpful when talking to your practitioner or health care provider about the root cause.
Eat the cake - I always encourage you to incorporate a sense of balance with your diet. As soon as you start restricting yourself, bad eating habits and a negative mindset around certain foods can show up. Remember, it’s not about being perfect - it’s about enjoying life and if that means having a piece of cake when you want it, then I say, “eat the damn cake...or cookie 😉”
In my Back to Basics Program, I teach you to listen to your body and share valuable resources such as cooking staples, food and brand lists and more to help you build healthy habits around these principles and the nutrition pillar.
There is room for all foods in your diet. Finding a nutrition protocol that works for your body and makes you feel good is all about trial and error.
Need some extra support with your diet and nutrition? My Back To Basics Program will help you create the ideal foundation for your health to thrive. Learn more information and sign up here!