How do you know what diet strategy is right for you?

I am convinced that we learn deeply, through experimentation. I have witnessed this in my children, friends, myself and my clients. Nowhere do I see more evidence of this than in our nutrition, movement and holistic lifestyle adaptations. In order to benefit from our experiments - we need to trial out strategies, followed by a journal of our results. This doesn’t need to be complicated. Essentially you need to keep asking yourself “how do I want to feel and how did this make me feel”?

The exhausting piece of the puzzle is choosing which strategies to onboard and in what order. Despite the seemingly always changing nutrition landscape and U-turns in expert opinions, there is actually a lot of agreement in the nutrition world;

Plants are good - the decision is in which and in what quantity

Heavily reduced or eliminated ingestion of factory farmed animal products

Eat mostly whole or minimally processed foods Drink clean water to hydrate cells

Avoid trans fats

And in the recognition that a “healthy life” doesn’t look the same for everyone.

Nutrition isn’t a perfect science and the triad of health-giving nutrients, movement and environment needs to be contextual to the individual. We have missed the mark if our recommendations fail to include the circumstances, lifestyle choices (or boundaries), and goals of the individual. I would be remiss to suggest a myriad of dietary and lifestyle changes without allowing the body to give feedback on how it is receiving these changes.

There is no one protocol that suits us all and I cringe when I am asked “Should I eat carbohydrates in the morning?” Or “Is a ketogenic diet more beneficial?” Or “Should I be doing intermittent fasting?” All these approaches have their merits, but will your individual body respond favourably to this change? We don’t know until we try. This same rule applies to supplements and exercise choices. And, if you try out too many new changes at once, how will you accurately know which ones are positive and which are neutral or negative?

It was my own curiosity that lead me to formulate a Bio-Feedback check-in sheet. This has been a game-changer in creating positive and lasting change without the fatigue of choice and confusion for my clients. It also fits in with my own curiousness over critical analysis when thing get off track. I ask myself “What stood in the way of things going smoothly?” This is so much more productive than feeling bad for swaying from my intended choices. And it has reimbursed the truth, that certain habits may not be what my body has needed on that given day due to circumstances outside of my control.

I love the mantra “doctrine creates disconnect”. As it reinforces the idea that when you believe in a wellness or eating strategy as the bible, you may miss important feedback from your body. In that, that particular strategy is great in theory but not for you at that time. That’s when you can take a pause and redirect to an alternate strategy.

I’m all about unshackling people from dogma and liberating your inner knowing to allow your to live your amazing life!!

Have you found an eating protocol that works for you? How have you assessed that it is indeed working? Share in the comments below so we can all benefit …