By Laurie Sweig
This week’s truth is: You are what you eat. That goes along with the statement “garbage in, garbage out.”
I apologize for being harsh but the facts are the facts. Our bodies require fuel to operate. Like any machine, the better the fuel, the better the performance and in some cases, the longer the life of the machine. If you’re like me you have routines around food consumption. We all have our favourite foods, our preferred eating times, and in some cases things we do when we eat (reading/watching TV/scrolling through social media). Busting through the edges of our comfort zone when it comes to nutritional habits can make a huge difference to our health. To do this we’ll define comfort zone as a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.
In order to make changes to our rituals we have to first know what our rituals are. Let’s use the five Ws and one H. Here goes:
Where: Where do you eat? Are you sitting down, driving or walking somewhere. Are you in front of the TV or a screen?
When: Do you have regular meal times or do you fit a meal/snack in when you can?
Why: Are you hungry when you eat or is it a distraction?
Who: Are you alone or do you have company? Is it a regular family dinner situation?
What: This is the big question. It is nutritious?
How: Are you rushing or taking your time?
Answering those questions honestly will provide you with a starting place. Generally speaking my answer to the “what” question is good. By now you should all know that I love to include spinach in my diet. It’s not that I love spinach but I love that I eat it daily. As for the other questions, well all of those areas could use improvement. To push the boundaries of my comfort zone I will focus on: eating only when I am hungry; sitting down quietly without any distraction when I don’t have a dinner companion; and, eating slowly and chewing a lot (chewing is the first and the most important part of the digestive process).
Implementing these practices would definitely lead to improvements to my health. I love to be an efficient machine for the rest of my days. How about you?
Something to think about.
Laurie Sweig is a certified personal fitness trainer and spinning instructor. She owns and operates The Point for Fitness. She can be reached at laurie@thepointforfitness.com.
