Nutrients & You

I am going to go into more depth on the subject of individual nutrient needs and how to experiment with different diet styles and their resulting effects on the Stories page. Because I am not a nutritionist, I essentially only have my experiences and personal research to provide you with some guidance. I will outline my varying experimentation with the nutrient balance that my specific body type requires. But I cannot stress enough that everyone is completely different. My needs will not be the same as yours. Although if you hear some similarities in my description about how certain foods make me feel/react than perhaps some of my methods might work for you. 

Overall all the recipes I create are based off of what has proven to be healthy for me, as well as some more indulgent ones because life is still fun. I have never had success with completely cutting out a certain food group or food type because I love trying new things too much, and when my ingredients are limited, my creativity is limited.

I have spent a lot of my life finding healthier alternatives for a lot of items that don’t work well for me, and a lot of those substitutes would likely be better for the majority of people who are looking to increase their vegetable and protein intake and reduce their carbohydrate and sugar intake.

My Diet Breakdown

I don’t require a high carbohydrate diet, and when I do have a lot of complex carbs like bread, pasta, and rice, I tend to gain weight quite easily no matter how much I work out. I have also learned that I require substantial protein to fuel all of the activities I do in a day (a LOT).

My days are broken down by the minute and I am very efficient with my time, including my cooking and eating time, so I am always looking to pack a punch with my food to ensure that I don’t go hungry before my next meal. Incorporating healthy fats into my meals also helps to stave off hunger and keep me fuller a lot longer than I would be without them - which is why you see a lot of avocado, olive oil, and cheese in my recipes. 

On top of those key insights, I’ve learned the importance of vegetables. I like my plate to be very colourful, ensuring that I get the varied nutrients and vitamins that vegetables provide.

When I eat a variety of vegetables in my daily diet, I’ve noticed that I feel happier, more energized, more focused, and overall better about myself (also COLOURS ARE FUN).

I also grew up being served a lot of vegetables  as my Mom also incorporated a lot of produce in her cooking, so I was also armed with the knowledge of how to shop for different produce items properly.

I have a sweet tooth and fruit has also been one of my favourite things (also always on-hand constantly during my childhood). I like snacking on fruit to give me a little sugar boost in the afternoon at work or right before a workout. 

Those few key insights I’ve learned over time have enhanced my understanding of my own body and how it operates most effectively. So when it comes to my meal planning and recipes, they are all about ensuring I get the nutrients that make me feel like my best self.

What works for you might be completely different. Don’t be afraid to experiment and take an honest look at your eating habits and how consuming certain foods make your body and mind feel.

I notice that if I overindulge in high sugar foods, I feel very agitated and instantly bad about myself. This result is likely due to the insulin spike and then subsequent crash that occurs when we eat too much sugar; I have also spent a lot of years building up a guilt complex surrounding sugar when I have been on restrictive diets in the past. I trained myself to feel so guilt-ridden about amount consuming large quantities of sugar that it’s usually not even worth it for me to do so. I don’t recommend the “guilting yourself” strategy - as you want to feel ok about indulging sometimes. Instead, have “honest conversations” with yourself, and practice self control.

Make the mental association when foods don’t make you feel good, so that next time you’re tempted to over do it, you can remind yourself about the post-binge fallout that comes later.ultimately you should still feel ok about treating yourself, sometimes the mental berating and constant debate we have with ourselves about whether or not we should indulge can wreak more havoc on us by creating undue stress.

Meal Planning for your Lifestyle

As I mentioned above, I tend to create very “powerful” meals which are high in protein and healthy fats so that I can be fuelled and satisfied amidst the chaos of my daily life (ie. running from yoga, to work, to the gym, to make supper, to do laundry, to edit video content, to create a website…and that’s just a regular Tuesday).

So another important area to consider with your meal planning and preparation is how active you are and how long you generally have to stay satisfied between meals. These factors will determine: how many calories you should be consuming, and what kind of nutrient break down your meals should include. If you are a pretty chill person who might go for a light walk each day, but nothing too strenuous, you might require less calories than someone hitting up the gym for an hour and going for a run every day. It’s all about balance and figuring out how your food can best serve you.

If you operate better having five tiny meals a day - great- but it will require you to pack more for your day and have more small snack like items on hand. If you wake up early to work out, you might want yogurt cups or a pre-made smoothie ready in your fridge so it’s easy to grab at 6 am (and you wont forgo fuelling up). If you know you won’t be home to make supper at your regular time, be sure to have something you can grab in between like an apple or power ball (see my Instagram highlights for many power ball recipes). All of the nuances of your day to day routine will impact your grocery list, so start making a mental catalogue of what your week will look like as you do your meal prep and recipe planning before buying groceries.

Because I’ve stressed multiple times the importance of understanding your specific nutrient requirements, a little self-reflection is a great place to start when deciding different recipes you want to try. Take note of times during the day when you feel hungry, and if it’s three hours before supper, your lunch probably wasn’t satisfying enough. If you always have a sugar craving at 2 pm (speaking from experience), maybe schedule in a tea (or coffee if you’re addicted) so that you still have something you occupy your hands instead of roaming the office looking for a morsel of chocolate like a ravenous wolf (I also like to keep dark chocolate on hand, so that I can break off a little piece if I can’t shake the craving). If you notice you’re sluggish and sad after gorging on salty snacks after supper, then re-think your nightly routine. Either make a meal that’s more satisfying and filling, or eat less supper and plan to have a healthy snack later, like air popped popcorn (if you love to snack). The answers and options are as endless and diverse as each one of you, so start paying attention to how you feel mentally, physically, and emotionally when eating different foods at different times of the day.

The most obvious indicator of change for many people is if they start to gain/lose weight, which can be good if done in a sustainable way, however weight is not always indicative of how “healthy” you are. I’ve weighed less and felt like trash, I’ve weighed more and felt like trash, and what do you know I feel best right in the middle - my body now is the result of a balanced, healthy, and sustainable lifestyle.

diet and exercise are two huge contributors to our health. be diligent about what you put in your body so that it can perform at its best. B

Brain Foods 

After reading Genius Foods by Max Lugavere, my focus on healthy fats was reinvigorated by learning the positive impact they have on brain health and development. Some key take aways were the list of power foods that should be regularly incorporated into your diet which help our bodies and minds to function at their best and actually help to stave off depression, anxiety, and inflammatory issues. Many of the food items suggested were already a big part of my diet:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Avocados

• Blueberries/Blackberries

• Dark Leafy Greens - Kale, Spinach, Arugula

• Wild Salmon (Omega Rich Fish)

• Dark Chocolate (above 75% cocoa)

• Grass Fed Beef

• Eggs

• Broccoli

• Almonds

Furthermore, limiting processed grains and pre-packaged foods with stabilizers, added sugar, and other fun chemicals are a big “nah” for brain health. I recommend reading or listening to this book on Audible to fully understand the key roles each of these foods plays in your brain’s health. The author started his research upon receiving his mother’s diagnosis for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease at a relatively early age; fuelling his desire to understand the link between the foods we consume and how the affect our brain’s growth, development, and ability to combat these diseases.