Knowledge doesn’t always transfer into action. Knowing what to eat doesn't always equal eating a healthy diet
As a nutritionist, I see this often … people can know what to eat and even know their proposed perfect diet through microbiome and genetic analyses, but still choose not to follow it. Many people know what they should be eating, they know that the dietary choices they are currently choosing do not support their health (both physically and mentally). They know what they should be eating. But it is clear that knowing better doesn’t always lead to doing better.
At times, I think that “having more information” is the catalyst to saturation and confusion. It can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. People can get so waterlogged with information on what they should and shouldn’t eat, that they neglect the inclusion of harmony with their other priorities and values.
This negotiable is the role of the nutrition coach. Part of my role for many people is to help them figure out how to bridge the gap between knowing and doing!
I am a huge fan of personalised nutrition. As your genetic profile and microbiome can offer many insights into which approach might be optimal for your biology, however we should not underestimate the importance of symmetry for non-biological factors such as your preferences, lifestyle, and priorities. Let me share an example;
A client of mine, has a strong genetic predisposition towards pre-diabetes and adrenal imbalance. She wanted to shift a little weight and knew that in doing this it would assist with both the conditions above. She really wanted to manage these issues without the intervention of formal medication, and therefore is happy to work with me on diet and lifestyle alterations geared towards managing stress and blood sugar. Interestingly, she has had success with two diametrically opposed approaches. In the past, when her blood sugar levels were starting to cross the line from pre-diabetic to diabetic, she took the low carb route. She eliminated virtually all sugar and most grains, starchy vegetables, and legumes from her diet and replacing with meat, eggs, and non-starchy vegetables. She lost weight and blood sugar dropped impressively!
Here is the kicker though - after six months, both weight and blood sugar readings started to creep back up. Maintaining a strict low-carb lifestyle long term was not sustainable for my client’s preferences, lifestyle or priorities. The stress of trying to fit herself into this dietary paradigm, wasn’t in the long terms allowing her to negate unwarranted and unwanted tension in her world.
This dilemma then led her to contact me, and after much discussion and consideration of her predilection, principals and tastes we tested out a quick redirection towards a largely plant based diet. Still moderating the sugar, but building her meals around vegetables, fermented grains and legumes: foods that were mostly off-limits on a low carb diet. This approach worked beautifully in terms of weight and blood sugar dropping enough to keep her out of the pre-diabetic range. I will add in here that in her previous eating approach, her blood sugar did respond even more advantageously. But we need to appreciate that both approaches allowed her to achieve her goal - to stay of medication and to do this without negative affects on her adrenals.
Both approaches require giving something up. But over the long haul, my client was more willing to cut back on meat and eggs than she was to give up grains and legumes completely. Yes, both approaches worked for her body. But one worked much better for her preferences and lifestyle, making it far more sustainable.
Two years into this regime, still negotiating the changes with ease and seeing the results, she has booked a consultation to discuss a new goal. She is moving forward and not bouncing from success to regression. This is the key to happiness and peace and that enjoyment that we as humans are chasing!!
I’m so excited about future science and technology that will lead us into deeper personalised information around our diets that will continue to evolve and become more accurate. But those advancements won’t change what what I have just pointed out: Knowing what diet is best for us doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to follow it.
Here’s a little cheat sheet for you to consider;
Consider the foods you enjoy eating What sort of foods do you enjoy?
Which are you indifferent to? Are your tastes more adventurous or conventional? All of these can be important clues to your ideal dietary approach. That’s not to say that you confine yourself to these restrictions and fail to ever branch out and try new things, but an approach that is completely outside of your comfort zone is going to be hard to sustain for a short term, let alone in the long term. It may be exciting and novel at first but as soon as life gets busy or throws your some curve balls, you are more likely to revert to your more familiar and comfortable patterns (and the unhappiness cycle continues). This is why I suggest to start by creating the healthiest possible version of that baseline.
Think about how your eating habits make you feel?
It’s can’t just be based on your taste preferences. The equanimity of how eating a certain way makes you feel married with your lifestyle needs to be considered. For example, compare how you feel after eating larger portions of animal foods, which tend to provide more protein and fat, and how plant-based meals, which are usually higher fibre make you feel. Pay attention (keep a diary) to how you feel throughout the day. Do you feel energised or sleepy? How satisfied are you after eating? Does your digestion feel more sluggish or efficient? How soon do you get hungry? Are you cruising through your workouts or feeling underpowered?
Please consider this point deeply - Contemplate what matters to you?
We are restricted by our health and as such “health” is usually a universal given but it’s important to consider what, besides your health, really matters to you? Are you a competitive athlete? An environmental warrior? Is food and cooking an important part of your social and cultural rituals or something to be managed as quickly as possible?
Your diet needs to align with your priorities and values along side the knowledge you glean from your DNA and microbiome, if it is going to sustain you in a healthy way. This also opens the point, that the eating regime you take on today, need not and logically will not be the structure you adhere to forever.
What is the best eating regime for you? It would appear that it is the one you can follow! Our genes and microbiome may hold compelling clues to which dietary approaches will produce the best biological response, but that trend skews to only a few of us, who make dietary decisions based only on our biological needs. A well reasoned, equitable eating pattern that you can happily and comfortably sustain is better than the biologically “perfect” diet that you can’t or won’t follow. This leads me to the further point that specific details don’t matter if the basic foundation is missing. But more on that point in another blog.
Like, comment and share your thoughts on my Blog, Instagram or Facebook so that we can get a conversation going that will help others find their balance and peace.