What the Heck do I Eat? Simple Nutrition Tips for the Overwhelmed

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February 2, 2021 - Episode #54 - What the Heck do I Eat? Simple Nutrition Tips for the Overwhelmed
Eat this, Don’t Eat that! Maybe I should try this great selection of diet foods,  Is it time to try a new diet??  No wait, 95% of all diets fail.   When it comes to food and nutrition, what are you supposed to believe?  You are confused and overwhelming and thinking... "What the heck do I eat??" And not only that…"What do I feed my family?" This tough topic we are hitting head on today on Healthy Harmony.  

A few weeks ago, I exposed the diet industry and today I'm exposing the food industry.  After listening to this podcast, you will learn two of the most simple and realistic strategies.  In addition to some eye-opening truths about the world of processed foods. If you are ready to feel empowered when it comes to food and nutrition, this is for you!

I want to set you up for a lifetime of success.  Not a quick fix.  Mamas, I want to teach you how to eat so you can teach your kids how to eat! I want you to feel empowered when it comes to nutrition and feeding your family. This is what we are talking about today.  For many of you, after today’s episode you are going to be... "Yes, this is exactly the little reminder that I needed! I feel inspired.  I’m ready!" 

 But for some of you, you need more.  You know you have some specific nutritional needs, maybe a disease state that you are dealing with and you need a friend to help you connect the dots and develop a strategy based on your needs, your body and your life.  Hey, I’m that friend.  I’ve got you.  I have one-hour virtual sessions available, and you can use the promo code MYFRIEND10 to get 10% off your session. 

Go to https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/coaching.html#/

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February 2, 2021 - Episode #54 - What the Heck do I Eat? Simple Nutrition Tips for the Overwhelmed
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Eat this. Don't eat that. Ooh, look what a great selection of diet foods. Maybe those tastes good. Oh, here's a new diet. No, wait 95% of diets fail. When it comes to food and nutrition, what are you supposed to believe? You're confused and you're overwhelmed and you're thinking, what the heck do I eat? And not only that, what do I feed my family? Because these people keep following me around and asking what's for dinner! This tough topic we're hitting head on today on Healthy Harmony.

Hey there. Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you're in the right place. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health… body, mind, and soul.

I want to set you up for a lifetime of success. No, not a quick fix. Mamas, I want to teach you how to eat so you can teach your kids how to eat, how to eat, what to eat. I want you to feel empowered when it comes to nutrition and feeding your family. This is what we're talking about today. For many of you after today's episode, you're going to be like, yes, this is exactly the little reminder that had needed. I feel inspired. I'm ready, but for some of you, you need more, you know, you have specific nutritional needs, maybe a disease state or a disease state that you think you could be dealing with. And you need a friend to help you connect the dots and develop a strategy based on your needs, your body and your life. Hey, I'm that friend. I've got you.

I have one hour sessions available and you can use the promo code, myfriend10 to get 10% off your session. So go to inspirehealthyharmony.com and click on the coaching tab. I'll look forward to being your coach. You know, it's funny. I spend all day talking about food in some way, shape or form. And honestly, I get a little bit hungry talking about this subject. I mean, I'm brainstorming meal ideas with clients and I'm sending meal plans and recipes, and we discuss how to help our husbands and our kids get on board. And I always love to hear stories of progress with kitchen experiments and food being tried for the first time and kids getting involved in the cooking and the prepping process. It brings a smile to my face because it is such a powerful reminder that food is part of our life and it should be enjoyable. It's such an important part of our life. Yet, It's become a very confusing part of our life. And if we're ditching the diet mentality with that start and stop date, and this whole notion of I can't have that, the question remains, what the heck should we be eating? So that is the topic we're really diving into today.

So as we get started, we have to look first at the purpose of food. What is food? And you've heard this from me before, but here's a little reminder. So obviously we've heard this for years and years, food is fuel. Just like you put gas in the car. Food is fuel. You need the fuel, yada yada yada, right? Like we get it. Okay. Here's what we also know. Food is information. It gives instructions to your body. It regulates hormones. It impacts your immune system. It regulates inflammation in the body.

It even affects the gut microbiome. So I want you to think of your body as this beautifully complex operating system. And food is the instruction manual. We know food is also medicine. That's right. Food is medicine. It's not like medicine. It is medicine and it's easy and it's convenient. And it has the ability to heal your body. No matter what you're dealing with. It's a very powerful medicine. And finally food is connection. It is that which bonds us together. We connect over food. So as we look at, what the heck do I eat? We have to consider all of those things. Food is fuel. Food is information. Food is medicine and food is also connection.

So as we move forward, I want you to ask yourself, what kind of information am I giving my body? How much processed convenience foods have I become dependent on how much am I consuming?

And finally, am I paying attention to how many vegetables and fruits then I'm taking in.

Now, if you missed the episode a couple weeks ago, it's are really exposed the diet industry industry. I'm going to link that here, because that is something you need to hear. And today I'm doing some exposing of the food industry, because I want to remind you these industries, they only care about making money. They do not. I repeat, they do not care about your health. Okay? So if you see some nice little marketing, it is just that it's marketing. It's very clever marketing meant to deceive you. So today we're going to get down to the basics and you're going to walk away from this feeling so empowered. So I like to break things down, super simple. Okay. I have learned after years and years and years of working with others and from my own personal experience with my family, that complicated doesn't work, we lead very busy, stressful lives.

So if I were to lay out some complicated nutrition plan here, the reality is that you could go all in and maybe do that for a short time, or you would get so overwhelmed. You wouldn't implement any changes at all. So I like to keep things real simple, and here's the best advice I can give you eat real foods. And then are you overwhelmed yet? Eat real foods. Like it really can be as simple as that. So let me give you a definition of real foods. Real foods are those real whole foods that are easily recognizable. It is those foods that don't necessarily need a food label. Like you, you look at it, you know exactly what it is. That's an avocado, that's broccoli, that's chicken, that's an apple, right? It is those real whole foods probably grows on a plant. Okay. Probably grows on a plant.

I like the saying Rick Warren said, if it grows on a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, avoid it. So most of these real whole foods that I'm talking about, what we need to be consuming more of is more plants. And so a really good way to look at this is look at that food and ask yourself, did God make this isn't that a good way of doing this? Did God make that? Okay, well that, that, then that's a really good example. That's a, that's a good choice. So real whole foods. Now, most of these real whole foods are on the perimeter of the grocery store. Okay. We need to be spending more time in the produce section with lots of fruits and vegetables. But if we were to look at the typical grocery cart, what does that typical grocery cart look like?
Look for y'all's benefit. I'm using the word cart because that's what most people use. I use the word buggy because I came from Alabama. So if we look at the grocery cart, what, what is, what all is in that? It's mostly processed and convenience foods from the middle of the grocery store. Here's the deal. The middle of the grocery store is where it gets really, really confusing. This is where I'm exposing the food industry. They do not care about your health. I don't care how much money they spend on marketing. They know the trigger words that they can put on a package to get your attention. So we have got to be aware of that. We are eating so many processed, highly refined foods. We could call those Franken foods, their food like substances. It's not really food is based on food. It's made to look like food. It's just food like substances that has very expensive, very clever marketing. Don't you get frustrated? I was doing my shopping in the grocery store just a few days ago and I was with my daughter and we walked out and I said, I'm just stressed. Like this is, this is ridiculous. It's awful. And you know, I tried to share with her like what all goes through my mind in the grocery store. And it's, it's a little bit hard to communicate, but it's crazy. Even with my literally years and years and years of experience in food and nutrition, I'll walk in the middle of the grocery store and I see all the options and I'm like, Oh my God. Like, I just, I don't even, I don't even know where to start. It's meant to be confusing. It is meant so that you will just grab that product without thinking.

So they use key words, whether that's gluten-free or low sugar or organic or natural or healthy like, or diet, like they use powerful words. They use beautiful, bright colors. I use like a lot of green sometimes with healthier options. We see like the color green, because we look at that and we're like, Ooh, it must be healthy. So there's all of these little tricks that they use. And it's just to deceive us. They want us to just grab it and go. Here's what happens if you happened to grab that product and then turn it over and look at the ingredient list. Okay. The ingredient list is typically listed below the food label. If you looked at that ingredient list, you would find a very long list of junk things like trans fats and high fructose corn syrup and MSG or monosodium glutamate. You would see artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, artificial flavors, additives, preservatives, pesticides, antibiotics, chemicals, junk, just junk.

Okay. Outside of all of that, guess what keeps increasing dramatically, how much sugar they're adding to products. Why? Because it tastes good. We are hardwired to like sweet things and they keep adding sugar more and more because it tastes good. And sugar has some very addictive properties. You and I both know this we've experienced it. Did you know that there are over 50 names for hidden sugar? Oh my word. So when I say it's confusing out there in the middle of the grocery store, it's confusing. So you've got these products loaded with sugar. Now used to, we thought, you know, the way I was taught as a dietician, salt was really bad. Salt was so bad. Fat was really, really bad. And salt was really bad. Now we know sugar is the culprit. Sugar is what so bad. And it was doing so much damage in the body. So sugar intake is the biggest driver of obesity, type two diabetes, cancer, heart disease, even dementia. Did you know, they call dementia type three diabetes. Does that get your attention? So as we're consuming all of these processed, franken-foods, we're just adding to the toxicity in our body. So as we consume these things, the body does recognize it as foreign. And it's like, Oh goodness, what do I do? What do I do? So the body has to come up with a way to deal with that. So typically all of these toxic foods drives inflammation in the body. Now you're creating this. I want you to like, imagine this, okay. I want you to get a visual picture in your head. All of this junk, you're creating this toxic sludge. Don't you love that word, toxic sludge. You're creating this toxic sludge. And as you think of it, that way you realize no wonder, I don't feel good. Like, Oh my, I mean, it makes sense. Like, I don't feel good, but after hearing this, everything makes sense.

Here's what breaks my heart is that so many of you you're so used to failing badly that you don't even know the difference anymore. You think that's the norm feeling tired and toxic and sluggish and burdened and overwhelmed. You think that's the norm because that has become your norm. So I'm here to tell you that you can change your quote unquote, norm by changing what you put on the end of your fork. So I've kind of reviewed like what we need to really think and limit all of those things in the middle. Okay? Those ingredient lists that you feel like you need a chemistry degree to even read out loud.

Here's a strategy that I love to use. It is called addition versus subtraction. You know, as we look at that diet mentality, that mentality that says, I can't have that.

And you're subtracting things from your diet and you're looking at what you have to restrict. And we know restriction can cause cravings, right? I mean, you tell yourself I can't have that. And then you crave the very thing you just told yourself you can't have. And then that restriction really causes you to binge down the road. Is that working? And if we look at what we're consuming, would you agree? We are overfed and we're under nourished. And let me tell you, we aren't bingeing on broccoli. Y'all we are not bingeing on broccoli. We're consuming all the junk and none of the good stuff that provides critical information to our body. So when we look at this strategy of addition versus subtraction, addition, what can add, consuming more of what's great for you. So there's not as much room for anything else. It's time for you to level up with some more vegetables.

I know you knew I was going there. Those vegetables and fruits contain powerful phytonutrients. Anti-Oxidants. Ladies, you want to talk Anti-Aging? Focus on antioxidants, right? These disease fighting, vitamins, and minerals. So we have to eat more plants. Does it grow on a plant? Does it grow on a plant? Yes. Okay. Let's go for it. Did God make this? Yes. Okay. That's a good choice that it really can be that easy. So when you're choosing, I want you to remember color is key. Now, keep in mind here. When I say the word color, I'm also including some Brown and so white, because there's some powerful vegetables and fruits that are Brown and white. So color is key. And we want to get a wide variety of color, a diversity of color, because that is giving us a diversity of phytonutrients and antioxidants. So I want you to think, eat the rainbow, no not Skittles.  I've told you all that before, eat the rainbow.

So here's what I want you to do the next time. You're grocery shopping. I want you to just stop and pause in the middle of that produce section. I want you to look around, take in just the wide variety of colors and textures. Can you see it right now? As I'm, as I'm spelling this out, just all of the gorgeous, bright, vivid, bold colors, all of those colors that you see, those are offering disease fighting compounds to equip and empower your body. That is exactly what you need. But for so many of us, we've gotten so trapped in this crazy busy, stressful lifestyle. And we are hooked on those convenience foods. We're not getting hardly any vegetables or fruit in, so pause, look around and I want you to be willing to experiment. What can you try this week?

What's a vegetable that maybe you've enjoyed before, but Hey, things have been busy and stressful and you just haven't tried it in a long time. What's a vegetable that, Hey, you've heard of, you've heard friends talk about it, but you haven't tried it. Why not try it? Be willing to experiment. And Hey has listen, take advantage of those convenience pre-chopped veggies that are in the produce section. I love going to Trader Joe’s, grabbing those bags of brussel sprouts and the bags of the pre chopped butternut squash that I can just put on the pan, pop in the oven and roast those babies. And it is heavenly. Sometimes we need convenience in that form, in the form of that. It's already pre chopped for us, but it is real whole foods in the produce section. And here's the other thing it's got to taste good. If we're, if we want to eat this and we're encouraging our family to eat this, it's got to taste good sister, because otherwise nobody, you're not going to want to eat it again.

So be sure and just be willing to experiment. I love to roast vegetables in the oven because it is absolutely delicious. It caramelizes those natural sugars. Absolutely fantastic. I like to drizzle some avocado oil, by the way, this is a safer oil to use at very high temps. You can also have sauté some veggies in a skillet using some grass fed butter and use seasonings.

Those vegetables, pink Himalayan, sea salt, cracked black pepper. That's that's a great start right there. You can experiment with some other seasonings that sound good to you. It's got to taste good. And here's the reality. Not only is it going to taste good, it is so very, very good for you. Some great ideas here. Hey, start with the salad. Are you eating in that salad? Salad is a great way to sneak in a lot of different vegetables, be sure and use a healthier version of salad dressing.

I have these conversations a lot when I'm working with my clients you can sneak more vegetables and fruit into smoothies. You can eat more vegetables at dinner. Remember the vegetables really need to be the star of the plate, not the meat. The vegetables need to be the star of the plate. And it's always super easy to dump some more veggies in that soup. So I want you thinking this way, this way, this week, how can I add in more vegetables? What vegetables can I try? Which ones have I just we've gotten off track. We're not consuming enough vegetables, enough fruit. What can I do here? So this came up actually today when I was having a discussion with my client Erica, and she told me about her breakfast because she is focused on that healthy eating and getting in more vegetables. So she made like this sweet potato hash for breakfast, and there was sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts and onions and mushrooms.
And then she had an egg on top and she was telling me how good that was. And I was just getting hungry, listening to her, but here's the thing. Erica was willing to experiment and go the extra mile so she could get in some more vegetables and her body is getting those amazing results. Okay. Her body's feeling that added nutrition. Such a great idea for a meal. Again, we keep it simple around here.

Protein, vegetables, and maybe some fruit like seriously. Okay. It does not have to be elaborate. Healthy meals does not have to be complicated if you're someone that could kind of experiment and not necessarily need a recipe, like there are easy ways. And so I want you to think protein, vegetables and some fruit, like it can be as easy as that, you know, I like this Maya Angelo quote, she said, when you know better, you do better. When you know better, you do better. So I'm hoping for all of us that as we learn together, we can do better. We're learning, we're growing. And it's a process. This is a health journey. You don't just arrive all of a sudden and have it all figured out. This is a journey. So what are you willing to do as the next step on your journey? So my best advice start where you are. You can not change everything at one time. I promise you that it doesn't work. So try to change just a couple things at a time. My client, Wendy they're really working on their family's eating habits and they're trying to change one thing at a time. So one of the things that they're working on is not eating fast food as much. So they're going on three weeks with no fast food, none whatsoever. Now at this point, her son is literally crying because he wants Whataburger so bad. And she's not saying we're not ever going to have Whataburger again. She's just saying, Hey, we're trying to change some habits. And we realize we were eating out way too much. We were eating way too much fast food. So it's never easy to try to change those habits. And like I said, you can't change everything at one time.

So what's that one change you can make this week? Can you add in more vegetables? Can you cut down on the amount of fast food you're eating? Can you kind of go on a break from fast food? What does that look like? And mamas, remember we're going to be met with some resistance. It's okay. Can we make it fun? Can we make it interesting? Can we turn this into an experiment?

I want to encourage you don't turn it into good food, bad food. We can't have that again because that doesn't work. But remember this doesn't have to be complicated and you can just make it like an experiment because this is what's good for you. And it's, what's good for your family. This is where it gets kind of tough as moms. We have responsibilities for the care of our family, and we want to teach them how to eat. And often we don't know how to eat because we're just overwhelmed and we are stuck in survival mode.

So if you take nothing else away from this podcast, remember this, eat real food, eat real food. Did God give me that? Did God make that okay, that's real food. I'm going to stick to that. It really can be that simple. As I said at the top of the podcast, if you need help going deeper on your nutrition and your family's nutrition, that's what I'm here for book a one hour virtual health coaching session. And let's give you the personalized help and customer strategy that you've been looking for. And don't forget to use the promo code, Myfriend10 to book, go to inspirehealthyharmony.com and click on the coaching tab. So until next week, add in some veggies, experiment in the kitchen, focus on real foods. You've got this one small change, at a time Bye y'all!