When I say "food," what comes to mind? Do you think of your favorite food? Do you think of the food you are currently hungry for? Do you think fear and have no idea what food is?
Do you think of food in numbers- as in how many calories, how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates are you consuming? Or how long until you need to eat again?
Or do you think energy and nutrients?
Well, there is no one right answer, because food is all of those things. It is our favorite meals, it's what you're craving right now to satisfy a desire, and it's comprised of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Food is also comprised of vitamins and it's important to think of food as energy and nutrients because that's what it comes down to: food provides you energy. I hope food doesn't cause you to panic, but I know for many people, it does. It's overwhelming. It's confusing. It's too stressful. Well, it doesn't have to be as long as you're willing to take a deep breath and have an open mind to learning.
We hear it over and over again that food is only calories- "you must count all your calories!" You must pay attention to every calorie, log everything, if you have any hope at having your ideal body image [we hear that message all the time]. If that's all you think when you think of "food," then your stress levels are probably always going to remain high. That's an exhausting task to count all calories, all the time; your life should not be about following only those numbers. Yes, it definitely helps to count them and keep track of them. And it's true, we need to balance calories against our energy demands of the day. Calories are literally just energy. 1 calorie = 1,000 joules of energy. Don't worry, not going into science here, just know that food is energy.
For now, I want you to just understand that food is so much more than number crunching. It's not just about calorie counting, we need to shift our mindset to "nutrient consuming"- how many nutrients did you consume today? Think of food as a positive, think of food as healthy. We start by accepting that mental truth and it will open up new pathways to learning and not being so stressed over "food" all the time.
Do you think of food in numbers- as in how many calories, how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates are you consuming? Or how long until you need to eat again?
Or do you think energy and nutrients?
Well, there is no one right answer, because food is all of those things. It is our favorite meals, it's what you're craving right now to satisfy a desire, and it's comprised of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Food is also comprised of vitamins and it's important to think of food as energy and nutrients because that's what it comes down to: food provides you energy. I hope food doesn't cause you to panic, but I know for many people, it does. It's overwhelming. It's confusing. It's too stressful. Well, it doesn't have to be as long as you're willing to take a deep breath and have an open mind to learning.
We hear it over and over again that food is only calories- "you must count all your calories!" You must pay attention to every calorie, log everything, if you have any hope at having your ideal body image [we hear that message all the time]. If that's all you think when you think of "food," then your stress levels are probably always going to remain high. That's an exhausting task to count all calories, all the time; your life should not be about following only those numbers. Yes, it definitely helps to count them and keep track of them. And it's true, we need to balance calories against our energy demands of the day. Calories are literally just energy. 1 calorie = 1,000 joules of energy. Don't worry, not going into science here, just know that food is energy.
For now, I want you to just understand that food is so much more than number crunching. It's not just about calorie counting, we need to shift our mindset to "nutrient consuming"- how many nutrients did you consume today? Think of food as a positive, think of food as healthy. We start by accepting that mental truth and it will open up new pathways to learning and not being so stressed over "food" all the time.
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