Food Matters | Why Quality Counts Part 2

If you haven’t already checked out my introduction to Food Matters – Why Quality Counts then go read Part 1 first.

…I had a pretty captive audience owning three CrossFit affiliates so more and more people started asking for my guidance with their nutrition. As I started helping more clients and friends, it became apparent to me, that people’s nutrition was more about fixing relationships with food than simply losing weight. Fixing that relationship & rectifying common misconceptions was actually the key to their success with weight loss.

I found myself using my Master’s Degree in Psychology more than I was using my CrossFit qualifications or any other knowledge I had about nutrition. I was beginning to think that science really didn’t matter at all!

But then one day it happened…you see I’m pretty regular and I think you know what I mean by that, but in case you don’t, I poop daily.  To be more specific, my alarm goes off and I walk over to the toilet and immediately poop. And that’s just the first of many installments for the day! Whether I’m traveling around the world or up at 3am, when I say I’m regular, I’m regular.

So, when I woke up on this Thursday and didn’t have to poop I knew something was up. When it happened again the next day and then the next, I realized my body was trying to tell me something.

What could it be? What had changed in my life? Nothin major had changed except my diet. I was puzzled at first because flexible eating was having such a positive effect in all other aspects of my life that I thought mattered most. I started to look back through my diary on MyFitnessPal and within about 5 minutes it hit me… “Hey dummy, you are so caught up in eating foods you love, foods you have been missing, foods you have been depriving yourself of that you haven’t eaten fruits or vegetables in the last 3 months!” I’d like to qualify this admission by pointing out  that I was a bachelor at this time as well. I’m not sure if that redeems me in any way though!

Yes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Oreos, Raviolis and Twizzlers are delicious but there wasn’t a whole lot of fiber or vitamin C in them…was I giving myself scurvy? Science was giving me a helpful wake-up call and reminding me that if I wanted to live long and prosper with my washboard abs then quality really did matter.

That’s when I went out and bought myself some spinach and bananas. It was a small step in the right direction. From then on I made sure that every day featured some fruits and vegetables and other foods I considered better quality, whole foods…no, not the store, but foods that would rot, foods that are found on the perimeter of the grocery store (excluding the bakery), foods that my great-great-great-great grandparents would recognize.

Within 24 hours I started pooping again.

So how do we find the right balance between the foods we love and the foods we need? I figured out a balance that works well for me and that has proven to work well for clients too. Stick with me and all will be revealed!

To be continued…