Written By: Coach Mairead
Depending where you look for your nutrition information, you might get information that makes it look like nutrition is very black-and-white. There are a handful of things that are almost universally true: vegetables and fruit are good, water is the best thing to drink, eating enough and eating balanced meals will make you feel great. But beyond that, there can be a ton of grey area.
When I was an intern on my way to becoming a dietitian, I gave a presentation to a cooking group on why eating a variety of fruits and vegetables was a great way to make sure we get a balance of nutrients. Someone in the group had a family member who had a medical condition where they needed to limit potassium, and thought everyone needed to limit potassium. The whole group then was all worried about eating too much potassium. (FYI, most normal healthy people have no reason to worry about their potassium intake one way or another).
The point of this story: often one piece of information that applies to a specific group of people often gets taken out of context or applied generally to all people.
Nutrition is highly specific. In nutrition consultations, I ask about your medical history because there are specific things that might make a difference in what you should be eating. Your energy and macronutrient (carbs, protein, fat) needs are totally different depending on your size, activity level, age, how much muscle you have, and your metabolism. And obviously there’s different factors that influence all of those! The types of foods you actually eat probably depend on the foods you like to eat, what your workday looks like, who else you eat with, and how comfortable you are with your cooking skills. How often you eat in the day (3 square meals, or many small snacks and meals) will depend on your schedule and your appetite! All this to say, every single person is going to be totally different. Some pieces of nutrition information out there may apply to you and some might not.
What makes you feel your best might not work for your friends or partner, and that’s ok!
Is this good for me? Should I eat this food? Should I worry about eating too much or too little of a certain nutrient? All these questions are probably going to be answered with the answer “maybe”, and a bunch of follow up questions to find out what the answer is for YOU.
If you’re ready to get some answers about nutrition that actually apply to you, let’s chat! Whether you’re looking for a ton of support and accountability to make some changes, or you just want a check-in to go over your questions, we have options for you.
