TINA’S TOP TEN SIGNS THAT YOUR NUTRITION HABITS ARE WORKING FOR YOU
The first thing I want you to notice is that I didn’t call it Tina’s Top Ten Tips for Losing Weight, or Gaining Muscle, or “Beating Menopause” (BTW you aren’t in a fight with your own body). These kinds of lists are full of generic rules and following food rules is the fastest path to disordered eating that I know. Instead, this Top Ten takes a different approach that asks you to consider whether your nutritional habits are actually working for YOU. That is because nutrition is highly personal: what, when and how much you eat depends on a whole bunch of individual factors including, but not limited to: your current body composition (body fat percentage, muscle mass), your personal goals (eg. fat loss, muscle gain), your current state of health and any chronic health conditions, your age and stage of life (eg. puberty, pregnancy, older age), amount and type of regular physical activity, sociocultural influences, upbringing and attitudes around food and your body (including a history of eating disorders), dietary allergies and intolerances and on and on and on. So to watch the world of health “influencers” try to tell people the “do’s” and “don’ts” of eating for good health is simply absurd. Instead, my top ten is a chance for everyone, regardless of their dietary needs and preferences, to objectively examine their own eating habits by asking themselves key questions about whether or not their past and current dietary habits are really working for them.
In order to approach nutrition this way, women must really be willing to see themselves through an objective lens. This is really tough because it’s often the silent job of our brains to subconsciously convince ourselves that what we feel comfortable with is the truth. And when we are faced with our own behaviours - eating included - it’s usually much easier to find evidence that supports what we are currently doing. This is a big reason why there is so much hot debate, controversy and lack of consensus in this area: you can find evidence of almost anything in nutrition research if you look for it. That is the nature of nutritional studies: they’re generally done on free-living humans and often rely on self-reported data with relatively short follow-up periods. Inherently, this leads to lower quality research than something like a randomized, placebo controlled drug intervention study. So really, between the tremendous individuality of “best practices” in good nutrition along with the inherent ‘messiness’ of nutrition research, capped off with a frustrated, disillusioned and confused population of people trending more and more toward ill-health from overweight and obesity: you have the perfect storm for nutritional dogmatism. But here’s the great news: starting RIGHT NOW, TODAY, you can simplify your life and start eating in a way that supports your personal health if you are ready to really embrace my top ten list of things that will get you there.
So without further ado, here’s the checklist of things to ask yourself in order to consider whether your current nutritional habits are working for you:
You have a healthy body composition. This means that you have sufficient muscle and not too much body fat. Insufficient muscle mass leads to frailty, lack of functional strength, low bone mass and risk of falls and fragility fractures as well as a reduction in your insulin sensitivity (which predisposes to fat gain and metabolic disease). Meanwhile, too much body fat is associated with an elevated risk of many diseases including cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease and multiple cancers. It is important to understand whether your current body composition predisposes you to an increased risk of disease as this necessitates attention to your current eating habits. Eating sufficient protein (along with resistance training) and reducing total energy intake will help improve your body composition for better health.
You have good appetite regulation. A healthy way of eating manages appetite such that you aren’t swinging between extremes. Eating on some semblance of a regular schedule goes a very long way toward naturally regulating appetite and satiety and thus managing intake to match your body’s true energy needs.
You have good energy. This is tricky since energy relates to sleep, stress, exercise patterns etc, and not entirely on food. But assuming you’re reasonably well rested and not in an unusual state of stress, your baseline energy can relate to nutritional habits that keep you hydrated and avoids wide blood sugar swings which can lead to energy “crashes”.
You don’t consider food and alcohol as rewards or coping mechanisms for stress. We likely grew up being told that if we were “good” we’d earn a treat. We are socialized to drink alcohol to deal with stress. The messages surrounding food as coping mechanisms are abundant and we absorb these constantly. (Next time you watch a Netflix show, count the instances in which the protagonists pours herself a stiff drink when times get crazy). The more we shift our lens toward enjoying these indulgences as occasional means of celebration and shroud them in positivity, the healthier our consumption patterns tend to be.
You don’t suffer from persistent food cravings. Food cravings are characterized by a strong desire to have specific (typically less nutritious) foods and are very different from true hunger. If you are unsure of the difference, this can be an area to discuss with a trusted professional. Good nutrition habits help keep cravings at bay.
You aren’t overly dogmatic or ideological about your nutrition. These days, it seems that people assign themselves to a “camp” and eat according to a set of ideological principles that becomes akin to religion. If you are moralizing food (you are a better person, or better than other people, because of how you eat) this applies to you. Good nutrition involves keeping an open mind so that you can benefit from potential ways of changing your nutritional habits for the improvement of your own health.
You aren’t constantly thinking about food. We need to plan well to eat well. But if this planning takes on a degree of obsession, whereby the minute you finish one meal, you are already thinking about the next time you might eat, you are becoming overly focused on food to a degree that reflects food anxiety.
You are focused on your eating habits not food rules. How often have I seen someone refuse cake at a party for the sake of wanting to lose weight? Too many to count! This is usually a reflection of someone deciding that cake is an off-limits food, instead of asking the more relevant question: do I eat cake as a matter of habit? Distinguishing occasions from habits is a critical distinction when it comes to managing your indulgences, whether they be desserts, cocktails or junk food. If the consumption is routine and is associated with regular activities in your life, it’s worth considering how to change that. Your habits are impactful, occasional events are not.
You don’t feel guilty about your eating habits. Food guilt suggests that you need to work on your mindset and the psychology of healthy eating. It isn’t “normal” to routinely feel guilty about eating, even if social messaging suggests that it is. This usually stems from longstanding beliefs about good and bad food and relates to #6 - having strongly held food ideologies.
You look forward to, and enjoy, your meals. Meals are a celebration of health. A chance to nourish your body but also to share in the enjoyment of eating with loved ones. When viewed this way, as in many European cultures, meals tend to be eaten more slowly and savoured - as they should be. As opposed to the North American fast paced, guilt and shame-ridden eating that happens when no one is looking. This isn’t good nutrition.
If you can tick off each of these, congratulations, you are truly ahead of the game with eating for good physical and mental health. If, on the other hand, you see areas requiring work then consult a trusted professional whose approaches align with the principles above.