How To Choose What You Eat
July 21, 2009
by Carter Schoffer
Deciding what to eat can be a very complex, confusing, onerous task that leaves most people, well, out to lunch. No pun intended — honestly. It often leaves people going out for lunch, breakfast and dinner because they say screw it, this is convenient and I like the taste of it.
Unfortunately, with those words and process of selection comes a bigger waistline and a host of internal issues.
Thankfully, there’s a much simpler way to go about choosing what you put into your mouth: View foods as nutrient sources first, energy (calorie) sources second, and sources of pleasure third.
Applying that 3-step progression, each time mental checklist, asking yourself -
Step 1: Does this food qualify as a healthy source of nutrition?
So one or more of -
- healthy fat
- quality/complete protein source
- quality carbohydrate (nutrient timing, fibre, “pre-biotic”)
- Phytonutrient
- Antioxidant
- PRAL (alkaline to balance acidity)
If so, move on to asking the following question. If not, don’t eat it.
Step 2: How many kcals does this food provide?
When considering the answer and, in turn, your serving sizes, reflect back on the nutrient question and factor in how much you need for nutrients first. This establishes the baseline amount you need. The kcal consideration, as based on your daily energy needs, establishes the upper limit amount.
Once you have your answer, move on and ask yourself
Step 3: Do I enjoy eating this food?
If the answer is yes, and you’ve answered yes to the food providing beneficial nutrience, go ahead and consume it in the amount established via question 2.
If the answer is no, but it’s a source of required nutrience, ask yourself whether there’s a suitable substitute that you do like. If there is, establish the amount required as per question 2. If there isn’t but you require that nutrient, it’s time to dig in and get the job done irrespective of taste. Alternatively, and preferably, search around for ways to improve the taste (there almost always is a way).
The take home message is that viewing and eating foods for nutrition first, calories second (if at all), and taste third, is the most important breakthrough you can make on your journey to establishing your “new normal.” With a little bit of imagination, effort and perseverance, you can almost always find ways to make the foods that pass question 1, fit for 2 and 3.
(There are, of course, exceptions — often called “cheats.” When you consume these, the order is often reversed. So you say to yourself, I love this food, I want to eat this much of it and I read somewhere that it contains this antioxidant. This is fine and I sure as heck do it but it has to be the exception — 10% or less of the time)
Originally posted at precisionnutrition.com. For more information on how to best take each of the above 3 steps, be sure to check out Precision Nutrition V3.0.
