* This is the last part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.  

​It's been a great year on nutrition and I hope you've enjoyed it!

The Final Word: Everything Else on Eating Better Than Ever
 
No Food, One Problem.  
Too Much Food, Many Problems.  
 
- Chinese Proverb 

Innumerable large volumes have been written on nutrition.  The most important factor to consider is conveyed in the preceding proverb. So many of our health problems- obesity, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, heart disease, and others- are not caused by lack but rather from excess.  When we don’t have food to eat, the problem we have is serious, but simple. We need to eat and nourish ourselves in some way.  On the other hand, having too much food creates many other challenges, both with food and in other ways.  We live in the land of plenty, and in a time of plenty, so our problems revolve around managing excess not lack.   
 
“Science” often contradicts itself.  One year coffee is bad for you, the next it’s good.  One week eggs will give you a heart attack, the next day you should eat them every day.  This series of essays has avoided dogmatic extremes and extraordinary claims and instead has focused on simple habits you can develop to eat healthier over your lifetime.  There are of course other habits which could have been added.  You may even have some things you could teach me and others about eating healthy.  But overall, if you internalize these habits and skills, you will have come a long way towards a reasonable lifestyle of healthy eating patterns.  To wrap up,  lets’ cover a few more things.  
 
Athletics vs.  Normal Life
 
Eating for athletics and for athletic performance is a different goal than eating for health. It is good for athletes to eat healthy foods, but athletes need more energy, and require more nutrients for recovery, so they need to eat more than the general population.  Keep this in mind when you are training.  If you decide to compete in a sport, or sign up for a race or physically challenging event, you’ll need to focus a bit more on the timing and quantity of food, increasing your caloric intake to meet performance demands.  How much depends on what type of  activity.
 
Pre- & Post-Workout Nutrition
 
It is somewhat of an easy out to say “it depends” to the question of what to eat before and after workouts, but it does depend on many factors.  Pre and Post workout nutrition all comes back to your goals.  If your goal is to build muscle, a small snack of simple carbs and protein before a workout is a good idea, particularly if it’s a weight training workout.  Afterwards, after a weight training session you want to start refueling immediately to recover, and get a full meal in within 2 hours.  Failing to do this could cause muscle protein to be broken down as a fuel source.  To keep things easily manageable, here are a two very simple guidelines:
 

• To burn some fat, you can fast an hour or two before and after a cardiovascular or interval workout, but don’t fast too long or you may burn through valuable muscle to replenish your energy.

 

• When you lift weights, eat a snack before and a meal after, but avoid heavy fiber before. 

 

• Don’t eat a high fat or high protein snack before any workout because it could cause GI distress. 

 

• Workouts or competitions over an hour justify a small snack during the session if needed. 

 
Track What You Eat
 
I wrote about this this several times before, but if you are getting frustrated that you aren’t losing fat, it’s probably because you aren’t tracking your intake.  
 
Get Close to the Ground and Stay There
 
Our overall philosophy of eating is a grounded one.  We want to obsess less on fads, bodyfat, and diets and more on our overall style of eating. We want to eat close to the ground, which means a focus on less processed food and more fresh vegetables and fruit, whole grains and plant foods, healthy meats, fish and legumes. If it’s highly processed it’s probably not that good for you.  
 
Eating Equals Joy
 
One of the most pleasurable things in life is eating.  Breaking bread with friends and family, or even strangers ,in a communal setting is the epitome of the good life.  Opt out of the drudgery, the guilt and the yo-yo lifestyle of fad dieting.  Return to joyful eating by taking periods of rest, and by focusing on eating well.  Stay close to the ground, build community around food, and for heaven’s sake, slow down a little and savor the flavor and the moment.  There’s intense happiness and joy to be found in food when we do it right, so do it light and right!

Scott

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​Read Next: 52 Weeks to Eating Better Than Ever

* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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As we wind down this series, let’s cover some shopping habits you should try to install.  Read this list a few times and internalize these things so they become second nature to you.  They may not seem like a big deal, but taken together they make a huge impact.
 
1) The outside aisles are the best.
Most of the high calorie, processed, and unnecessary junk food is on the inside aisles of a grocery store.  If you prioritize and stay focused on the outside of a store, you will make better purchase decisions, eating better and saving money.
 
2) Fewer choices equals better results.  
The more choices you have, the more complicated and stressful things become.  Simplify in every way possible.  Go to smaller stores, buy fewer things.  Cut out certain foods.  
 
3) Throw out the sodas, fried food, sweets, and high-glycemic processed carbs.
This one is similar to number 2, food that is out of sight will be out of mind, and easier to avoid.  Get rid of it. 
 
4) Pick one day per week, like Sunday afternoon, or Monday evening, to prepare the food for the week.
If you can get ahead of the curve, and have healthy food on hand, you will a) eat less b) eat out less and save money and, c) consume more high nutrient foods (versus empty calories).
 
5) Buy in bulk. 
If you buy in bulk, and prepare foods ahead of time, you will have healthy snacks on hand and be able to spend less time going back and forth to the grocery store. And you will also save money.  
 
6) Use the freezer.Frozen food has been found to be almost as nutritious as fresh food.  By having frozen foods on hand, you can prepare healthy meals in very little time.  
 
7) Buy off brand foods.
By using off brands, you’ll get in the habit of becoming more aware of food choices.  Most of the major grocery store brands have their own off label, even in the organic section.  Same as buying in bulk, you likely will eat healthier and save money.  
 
8) Don’t go the grocery store hungry.  At least have a glass of water and some nuts beforehand. 
Out of sight, out of mind.  We have to learn to keep the junk food out of the house and we do this by not buying it in the first place.  If you go to the store hungry, you’ll make poor choices and buy way too much.  
 
9) Use meal planning software or programs if need be, or create your own meal plans.
There are many excellent programs (Myfitnesspal, Weight Watchers, Cooking Light, Real Simple) out there you can use for meal planning.   They will give you a detailed list of calories and nutrients for certain meals, as well as what to buy at the store.  

10) Keep a grocery list and stick with it.  
Keep a list going all the time of what you need.  Don’t go to the store without a list.  If you do, you’ll forget things and end up making poor choices, or not be able to cook healthy meals in a tasty way.  

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Read next: Contemplation & Action Over Feelings

* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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“Honey tastes better to a sick person.” – Seneca
 
We don’t fast enough and if we did, we would be better off in many ways.  Fasting is a positive practice and even has benefits beyond the physical.  The hardest thing about learning to eat better is learning to be a little bit hungry. Fasting on a regular basis can train us to do this.  Fasting of course goes way back in many traditional religious cultures as ways to draw closer to God or the gods and to purify the soul of idols.  Some of the age-old religious truth carries over into our approach to food and it definitely helps us to appreciate food more if we learn to limit it. 
 
Economics and Fasting- Less is More
 
More is not always better.  In economics, marginal utility is a principle that states the benefit we get from one more unit of a given item.  I’ve used the example of a slice of pizza before.  If we get one slice of pizza only, it tastes incredible and we really enjoy it tremendously.  If we get 10 pieces of pizza, this is not 10 times better is it?  No way, and so the marginal utility of a food like pizza decreases as well as eat more of it.  The same goes for pretty much every type of food- 4 cups of coffee versus 1, 3 salads versus 1, and so on.  By limiting things, we appreciate them more.  
 
A Balanced Life
 
Eating less is obviously hard.  We have discussed many tricks of the trade, like food logs, drinking more water, eating more fiber, decreasing portion sizes, and combining nutrient groups like protein and fat with other types of nutrients, in order to feel more full. Fasting can also help us eat less because it can train us to go without.  I normally fast a little on Friday, 16-20 hours starting on Thursday evening. There’s a point on Friday mid-morning where I usually think “I’m not sure if I can do this much longer” but once I get over that hill, the rest of the day is pretty easy.  I do this for health reasons, but also because it has a connection on Friday to traditional Christian practice, and so its meaningful for this reason to me.  I’ve also found that a weekly fast has increased my self-discipline in other areas of life as well, which is a nice side benefit.  
 
Fasting and Insulin Sensitivity 
 
I recommend fasting also because it could elevate your insulin sensitivity, which as we have discussed is a major plague in our society.  Insulin sensitivity is crucial for weight control and aging well.  I know clients and friends who swear by fasting and what it did for their metabolism, though I don’t think it would work for everyone.  When you’re in a brief period of fasting, less than 24 hours, your metabolism normally actually increases, with hormones like growth hormone and testosterone increasing short-term.  It is as if the body is stimulated to rev things up to make up for the fact that it isn’t getting any food.  A regular short-term fasted states promote a higher sensitivity to insulin over the rest of the week, which could make a big difference in how your body handles food over time. Be careful though, because over a long term period of fasting, more than a day or two, your metabolism would likely slow down like someone who was starving, because your brain and body would shift into a survival mode.  This would make it difficult to lose weight and be counter-productive, so stick with short term fasting.  Long-term starvation diets always lead to yoyo weight gain and loss so I don’t recommend them.
 
Some of the observed benefits of fasting in some are:

• Improved cholesterol
• Glucose levels lower
• Decreased inflammation
• Decreased addiction in some people
• Correlated with lower blood pressure
• Correlated with higher insulin sensitivity
• Possible boost to the immune system

 
3 Types of Fasting (there are others but I like these the best)

1. 1 Day Per Week, 16-24 Hours without Eating
2. 2 Days Per Week 16-24 Hours without Eating (use for weight loss phase)
3. 3 Days Per Week Eat only during an 8 hour period

 
The KISS Principle 
 
I love the KISS (Keep it Short & Simple Principle) in just about everything, and fasting is no exception.  Another unbeatable thing about fasting is it’s simplicity.  All you have to do is not eat for a period. There are no long and expensive programs, books, or shakes.  There are no “secret methods” and no gurus to learn from.  And you actually save money because you’re eating less right off the bat! 
 
If you decide to fast, keep in mind, when you come off the fast you will be extra hungry and may overeat. I did this when I first started fasting, but now am aware of it more.  Just remember it will be easy when you come off a fast to have something healthy in mind and prepared to eat, so you don’t go for the easiest junk food in sight.  
 
And as always, talk to your doctor first, before you start a new fasting program, particularly if you are diabetic.  

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Have a great week,
Scott

* This is part of a year-long series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
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We live in the age of feelings.  Turn on the TV or the radio, or pull up social media and we hear and see people talk about how they feel.  The music we listen to also focuses on our feelings,  “I've Got a Feeling” comes to mind.  Popular movies pull at our heartstrings of feelings.  If someone “feels” like they are another race, or another sex, apparently that is now on the table as well.  I even saw a case recently in The Netherlands where a man was suing the government to have his birth certificate changed to an age 20 years younger than his birth age, from his 60s to his 40s, because he felt the much younger age!  Amazingly, the court was actually taking the man serious.  In the age of feelings, the way someone feels at any given moment is to be treated seriously.  We all have to play along with the various charades in the age of feelings because in the age of feelings, anything goes, anything is both true and false, and anything can quickly shift back and forth.  Feelings are never permanent.  
 
Some feel hurt by grades, or by perceived insults, or by any variety of other slights or prejudices, and so they act out because, well, they feel like it.  Likewise, we eat what we feel like eating.  We do what we feel like doing.  We ruminate over and obsess about these things, about our feelings. We don’t feel like cooking, so we don’t. We eat junk food instead.  We don’t feel like preparing a healthy meal, so we don’t.  We don’t feel like using a log or journal to track our intake for weight loss, so we never lose weight.  
 
We feel like sitting on our butts and being lazy, so that’s what we do.  The age of feelings would have it no other way.  After all, what we feel is right, at least for now, isn’t it? We should always do “what we feel like doing.”  
 
Focus on contemplation and correct action, over feelings.
 
When it comes to eating better, and doing better in many other areas, we should focus less on feelings, and more on action.  It’s not that we should not feel, but we should take correct action, and then feel good about it.  We should contemplate our actions, to determine if they are correct actions, and then if they are, we should feel good about that. If not, we should correct our actions. 
 
So in the age of feelings:

• Feelings determine actions, whether correct or not.

 
In order to change our habits for the better, we need to shift to:
 

• Contemplation of right and wrong action, recognizing reality and falsehoods, and healthy and unhealthy choices which will then lead to correct action, which then later determines how we feel.   

 
So we need a reversal.
 
In order to eat better, and get some things done we want to do, and to change for the better, contemplating and then acting correctly should be our number one priority.  How we feel about any of this is not that important. Feelings are like the weather, they change.  Feelings are nice, sometimes, but at other times they aren’t.  Feelings are no ultimate guide on how to live life.  

Like the blog? Pass it on!

Scott

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