The Art of Nutrition

After traveling around the nutrition world and back, I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful things. I’ve traveled to the land of keto where fat is god. I’ve spent time in a vegetarian camp where animal meat is seen as health catastrophes. In Columbus fashion, I’ve even stumbled into remote areas among tribes that eats based upon their unique blood type. 

The first truth

There is a common theme among food intake. 

• Those who eat too much end up overweight
• Those who eat too little end up underweight
• Those who eat the right amount end up at the correct weight

However, this isn’t always the case. Outliers within these communities could eat too much and end up underweight. Or, they could eat too little yet be overweight. These outliers become the focal point where nutritional nations try to gain power over the others. They leverage the people who did not see results with a past program by broadcasting how by changing to a different nutrition camp, victory was theirs!

The second truth

Micronutrients matter

Determining the quality of our food choices is a whole separate conversation and one for another article. But I believe we can all agree on this one thing. Comparing a 500 calorie salad filled with freshly grown food differs greatly from a 500 calorie burger. While we must eat the appropriate amount of calories for the energy we expend, we must also eat foods that offer substantial and diverse micronutrients. 

Following a flexible diet is great but following it to the point of creating deficiencies is unacceptable. If your body requires 3000 calories per day and you give 1500 of them to a piece of cheesecake (my guilty pleasure), it becomes harder to hit your micronutrient goals. Sure you can supplement but even the supplement salesman recognizes there is no replacement for fresh food. 

The third truth

We all have individual differences 

Knowledge is power. Understanding your genetic makeup as it pertains to fitness provides some pieces to the puzzle.

Determining your current micro nutrient levels through blood testing can help us find our starting point.

Talking to a therapist helps us recognize find the root causes for our behaviors.

Ultimately, each of these will show us how uniquely different we all are. While there are some fantastic nutrition frameworks we use, all of them will require some modification to meet our individual needs.

Unfortunately, many people use these individual differences as an excuse. In fact, many assume an individual difference without knowing if what they believe is true. They quit or change course based off a “feeling” rather than a fact. Individual differences make us all awesome, not scapegoats. Rather than assume, learn about your true differences and embrace them.

Three Steps to Nutritional Change

In following the three steps of eating approximately the right amount of calories, ensuring we get enough of each micronutrient, as well as discovering and embracing our differences, we can create a nutritional strategy that works. 

This does not mean you need to count calories for the rest of your life.

It sure doesn’t mean that you need to dissect each food for the perfect micro nutrient ratios.

It absolutely does not mean that you need to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on testing.

What it does mean is that we can continually learn about the process until like the caterpillar and butterfly, nutritional instruction transforms into the art of nutrition. 

The art of nutrition

I am currently reading the book “Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain” in order to teach my kids art. The book is tough and I don’t understand most of the terms. But I do understand more of them today than I did last week. And I will understand more of them next week than I do today. 

All of the beautiful works of art created by these outstanding artists are built upon a framework of information, education, implementation, and finally by creative expression. The general public does not see sees all of these steps, only seeing the end result, a magnificent work of art. What those who know better see, is years of research, practice, and a persistence to succeed. 

Nutrition in our lives is no different. You have not studied nutrition yet you want to be full of energy and built like you were chiseled out of stone. This is like trying to draw the Sistine chapel without having first learned how to draw a stick figure.  

The point is, you do not need to count calories to pursue perfection, you do it to practice and learn. Eventually, after enough time, you pick up a food, think about and consider how it applies to your nutritional masterpiece. This is when it becomes an art. This is when you start to create flow, where the rigid learning curve fades and a masterpiece begins.

Formula “You”

No two artists paint the same and no two nutrition plans are built the same. Take the frameworks provided in understanding your macronutrients, micronutrients, and individual differences. Then you can start working your canvas until eventually food (along with exercise) creates the body of work you always wanted. 

Just a heads up, it won’t look like mine and it won’t look like your friends. The beauty is that it will be yours and yours alone.