Eat: The food beyond food

Monthly Experiment Update:

I’m slowly catching up from the 3 day setback that occurred over the weekend. In yesterday’s post I shared that sticking to anything daily require making that thing a priority, meaning other things become less of a priority so what happened this weekend? The one thing that I would prioritize over most other things is sleep, I’ve learned through years of procrastination and being a night owl that I do not function well when I’m sleep deprived… my diet, exercise, and productivity along with my emotional wellbeing all suffer. So, I opt to get my 8 hours no matter what. With that being said, one late night can throw me off for a couple days… which is what happened this weekend.

Getting back on track with the schedule though.

One of the three pillars of my personal well being is “eat”. The first word that typically comes to mind when I say eat is food, but what does it really mean to eat and what is food?

When I cofounded Nutritionize in 2009 our tagline was “food is a drug, eat responsibly”, a very strong statement to make, but one that my partner and I strongly stood behind. Our company was always focused on making food choices more accessible and creating long term, sustainable, change. Nutritionize, wasn’t a word in 2009, it was something we made it up to have a verb for nutrition. We first described it as Nutrition + Energize = Nutritionize, energize your nutrition.

However, In 2011 when I adopted the company as a whole I brought in the pillars of wellbeing – “eat.move.meditate.” and redefined nutrition to be beyond the food you eat. Of course, what we eat (our diet) is a a strong source of well being but how we eat our food is extremely important as well. Going beyond that, thinking of all things we intake as food, i.e. conversations, entertainment, emotions, as food begins to reshape our relationship and responsibility to personal well being. Simply optimizing the physical food you consume while starving yourself from emotional, spiritual, and mental food is not enough to achieve optimal well being… the reverse is also true.

We often focus so strongly on the physical food and overlook other aspects of nourishment and then wonder why we do not look, feel, and perform optimally. I’m not a recipe maker, nor am I a passionate cook… I may have moments of creativity in the kitchen but its not my forte. But I am a change maker. I can see what’s throwing you off course in your lifestyle and get you back on track with simple tweaks in your life wheel of Nutrition.

Over these next few weeks as I write and share more about food, you’ll see some basic food hacks but also different ways of thinking of food.

I will answer this basic question though: What do I eat?

The answer isn’t as simple as eat ___(insert fad diet of your choice)____ , because every body is different.

This is my general rule of thumb:

Eat as much real food as possible. Real food = food that grows from the ground, swims in the water, or moves around land
Eat when you wake up. most people skip breakfast, don’t do that. Eat within an hour of waking up
Drink water. we are a dehydrated society living with an abundance of clean water. drink it! drink water when you wake up.
Eat every few hours. you’re body is designed to survive, if you stop eating it will slow down performance to preserve energy.
Eat slowly. mindful eating is one of the best ways to nourish your body and mind
Eat seasonally and locally.
Listen to your body. You’re body will tell you what it needs, pay attention to the signs and signals
Have balanced meals. Proteins, fats, and carbs are the building blocks of our body. Eat them.
Indulge your desires. Food is fuel, but it also can nourish the soul. If you truly want something, have it.
Track your lifestyle. You can’t where you want to go, if you don’t know where you’re starting.