Unpacking the EAT Factor for Lasting Health and Happiness
We wanted to start a series of blog posts to help support our members in the development of their 5 most impactful factors to health and happiness. This month we have a guest post written by our resident “EAT” expert - Coach and Dietitian Darian Kotchorek.
Often when we make the decision to make a change in our life (in any way, shape, or form), it comes with a feeling of excitement and momentum - you are ready to go “all in”.
This can apply to nutrition as well, or, the EAT factor of CFCL’s 5 factors of health and happiness. You find yourself in a mindset of “starting from scratch”, completely reinventing your current diet, or starting a challenge that might require you to eat foods you have never eaten before in your life...only to find you are overwhelmed or identifying the lack of sustainability in the new habits. Trying to change too many things at once will most likely lead to giving up and drifting back to whatever it was you were doing before.
Every change we make needs to be sustainable long term. Especially when it comes to how we fuel our bodies. Playing the slow game might not be “fun” or “attractive”, but it pays off over time and becomes more and more noticeable in so many areas - sleep, performance and recovery, mood, energy levels, how we connect with others, and more.
Nutrition can be overwhelming, and the individual nuances can make it challenging. BUT, breaking it down into small stepping stones allows you to build on habits one at a time until it becomes second nature - like brushing your teeth!
Here are 4 places to start when it comes to optimizing nutrition.
1. Adding Vs. Subtracting and Food Quality
Before diving into calories, what time of day to eat, how much carbohydrate you need to eat, etc. paying attention to what kind of foods you are eating, how they make you feel, and focusing on what you can add can make a large impact.
Instead of thinking about what you need to cut out or get rid of, what small changes can you make that don’t require you to throw everything out of your fridge? This might look different for everyone, but here are a few ideas:
→ Go from eating no vegetables to adding ONE vegetable into ONE of your meals everyday
→ Adding a couple of hard boiled eggs, or a protein shake to your usual piece of toast, bagel, or fruit as you head out the door. Try a serving of Greek yogurt with nuts and seeds alongside your normal bowl of cereal.
→ Add a glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink
→ Add in a mid afternoon snack if you find yourself scouring the kitchen cupboard while making supper after you get home from work
→ Swap your nightly bowl of chips for higher fibre popcorn and add in a protein source like turkey bites or jerky
Committing to increasing the quality of ONE of your meals or snacks until it becomes a habit vs trying to change all of them at once seems less overwhelming and is more likely to lead to success.
Focusing on building a list of quality foods that you enjoy eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, instead of everything you need to stop doing, is a great first step into building up a nutrition foundation that will be sustainable for you long term.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we can’t expect new nutrition habits to be either. Remember the overall process will take time and your small changes will eventually turn into big changes.
2. Blood Sugar Balancing Plate
After starting to work on addressing quality and what small nutrition habits can be added to your day, we can start to get a bit deeper into the actual makeup of your plate. The goal is to consume a combination of the three macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) at each meal to support stabilizing our blood sugars for longer lasting energy in our day.
Each of the food groups provides unique nutrients and plays a purposeful role in the body. Aiming to include one from each group at most meals is a strategic way to ensure you have the energy and nutrients your body needs to thrive.
Aside from providing essential nutrients, protein, carbs and fats keep blood sugars balanced throughout the day. Blood sugars that are too high, or too low can lead to food cravings, energy crashes, fatigue, inflammation, delayed muscle recovery from workouts, and more. More simply, keeping blood sugars stable is a foundation to health and an imbalance of these components, or eating sporadically throughout the day can lead to peaks and drops in our energy levels that ultimately make sticking to our goals harder.
Individual differences make sharing specific amounts tricky for the purpose of this post, but as a general guide, aiming to have a “choice” of each macronutrients supports a balanced plate (more on this later). Aim for a source of protein, carbohydrates (bonus if it has fibre), healthy fats and some “colour” at each meal.
And example of what this could look like:
Breakfast: Eggs + back bacon (P), toast (C), peanut butter (F)
Lunch: Greek pita with chicken (P), whole grain pita (C), tzatziki and feta (F), cucumbers and peppers (colour)
Snack: Greek yogurt (P), berries (colour), granola (C)
Supper: Tacos with lean ground beef (P), tortillas (C), cheese and avocado (F), lettuce, tomatoes and salsa (colour)
3. Build a Supportive Nutrition Environment
Rather than trying to stay motivated all the time or feel like you need to change essential parts of how you operate, you might be surprised how much easier aligned choices are to make when small adjustments are made to your environment. Crafting an environment that makes supportive behaviors easier, and unsupportive behaviors harder plays a key role in how successful we are with nutrition habits.
Below are key benefits of creating an environment to support your goals:
→ Acts as a cue to remember your habits. When you intentionally set up your environment you create reminders for your habits you are trying to form. For example, if you cut up vegetables as soon as you get home from the store, when you see the vegetables you remember your goal of adding them to a meal or snack.
→ Reduce the effort required to take action. When you take time to prepare your environment you reduce the effort required to take action. For example, if you pick up a rotisserie chicken to have in the fridge it will be easier to add protein to meals. Or if you keep one meal or snack the same throughout the week (ie. breakfast), it reduces decision making fatigue in your day!
→ Reduces the reliance on motivation. Motivation might not always be high when starting a new habit or goal. However, when your environment is set up to support your habits you are more likely to be consistent regardless of motivation levels. For example, if you have ingredients prepared in the fridge, or staples for an easy meal or snack, you reduce the motivation required to put together a nutritious meal!
Our brains are more likely to notice cues that stand out in our surroundings. In comparison, when our home and work environment lacks specific cues for desired habits or behaviors, it can be more challenging to take a positive action (either consciously or subconsciously). For example, when trying to make nutrition changes;
→ It's more challenging to remember to drink water when you don't have a water bottle at your access
→ It's more challenging to eat a protein-rich breakfast when there aren't any accessible sources of protein in your fridge.
→ It's more challenging to remember taking your vitamins when they are out of sight in the pantry.
This is where we can start to build cues into our environment that spark the desired habit or outcome we are trying to achieve. Following the wise advice of James Clear in Atomic Habits, if you want to make a habit a big part of your life, it helps to make the cue a big part of your environment.
→ If you want to drink more water, leave a water bottle on your desk at work, by your bedside, or on the counter in the kitchen.
→ If you want to eat protein at breakfast, do some prep ahead of time by making protein-packed overnight oats, hard-boiling eggs to grab and go, or starting even easier with protein powder for a shake.
→ If you want to remember to take your vitamins, leave them in a place where you'll see them each morning such as by your toothbrush, your bedside, or your coffee maker.
4. How Much?
After taking a look at food quality, becoming consistent with adding to and balancing your meals, you might be wondering how much? Quantity is the more nuanced aspect of nutrition since we live in different bodies, have different energy requirements, activity levels, genetics, and more.
While there are multiple ways to quantify your food and determine your specific needs, I have found that the palm method is a very effective way to estimate your food without needing a scale or measuring cups and still offering flexibility with your intake.
Here are some simple and effective ways to measure your food by utilizing your palm:
→ Your palm determines your protein portion
→ Your fist determines your veggies portion
→ Your cupped hand determines your carb/starch portion
→ Your thumb determines your fat portion
While this is just an estimate, having at least ONE of each at a meal creates a balanced plate. This then allows us to lean into individual needs. For example, since carbs provide energy, we might find we need more than one fistful before, or after a hard workout. Protein needs can differ based on body size and activity level so a more active individual might need two palmfuls to support their goals vs. one. Etc.
All of the above tips are a starting point when it comes to diving into your nutrition and might look different, or take longer for everyone. Be patient, set small goals and give yourself time. I recommend reaching out to a health care professional for more individualized support and guidance!
I would be happy to help you further. Feel free to reach out to me at darian@vitalitynutrition.ca or 306-480-6771!