Tammy’s Tidbits – Topic 1

After a particularly indulgent weekend I felt compelled to do a post on implementing better nutritional choices. My challenges ranged from a lunch meeting at a restaurant to a Girl Scout camping trip with an abundant amount of meals and snacks, topping it all off with a delectable Mother’s Day brunch. While this was concentrated over a weekend for me, I know many people have to deal with these challenges and temptations on a regular basis. When I started writing, I quickly realized I could make a whole website on this topic alone. I’ve decided to break them down into palatable tidbits.

I’m going back to basics with 3 tidbits everyone can incorporate into their daily habits.

1. Balance – Different types of foods provide us with different nutrients our body needs for repair, building, healing and functioning on a daily basis. If your diet is heavily skewed towards one type of food group (let’s say dairy) you are going to be deficient in some nutrients and have excess of others that will result in health issues.

Ideally, you want to ensure that every meal has a balance of foods from all or most of the food groups (proteins, grains, dairy, fats, and fruits and veggies) in each meal.  If you are heavy on carbs at lunch then eat less at dinner and take in more fruits or veggies so at the end of the day, it’s still balanced.

2. Variety – Even if you have a well balanced diet, if you eat the exact same thing day in/day out you’re still doing your body a disservice. We require so many minerals and vitamins along with all the carbs, fats, and proteins and we need to eat a wide variety of each of these in order to get the most out of our meals. Consider eating, a wide variety of colors of fruits and veggies; trying different grains like quinoa and millet; and different meats and fishes.

3. Moderation – When training clients one of the first things we discuss is what is realistic for them. Yes ideally, everyone should cut out sugar, decrease saturated fats, and only eat complex carbs in a limited amount. And – horror of horrors we really have absolutely NO need for any type of alcohol, so we really should not be consuming that either. Now if I said any of this to my clients off the bat, I would be immediately out of a job. Not too many people have the dedication, and frankly the desire to “eat clean”. Realistically, if you can keep everything you eat in moderation, then you could have a glass of wine or eat a rich meal or even dessert and it won’t be detrimental to your diet.

So there is no need to fret. No matter what your M-O is with regards to your eating habits and nutrition, with these 3 tips in hand, you can have your cake and eat it too.