What You Eat Matters

Food, nutrition, and eating are complicated.

In my Obesity Medicine work, many of my patients ask “what’s the best eating plan?” They come in ready (from experience) to receive a meal plan, calorie count, and/or a list of good foods/bad foods, ie the vilified macronutrient/fad food/diet that will “fix them.”

I’d love to have a magic answer. But the truth is, we all eat for different reasons, with different preferences, digestive responses and metabolism. AND, many people struggle with “food chatter” or “food noise,” cravings, emotional eating, eating based on timing (including “I’m about to do a 12 hour surgery”) rather than hunger, etc.

This is not a simple issue.

But what is important is that we are finding ways to fuel our bodies thoughtfully, with an aim to have the nutrients and energy that we need to help our bodies work well. If we bounce from starving to stuffed, grabbing only what’s available in the lounge (so many donuts, so much coffee), shoving in food so quickly that we burp and have stomachaches…we aren’t being respectful to our bodies.

You have a human body. 

It needs food as fuel.

It likely enjoys food as pleasure; that’s part of our wiring.

It possibly struggles to get balanced nutrition that is mindful, healthy, or well-timed.

This is not about giving you a specific plan; I don’t know your exact needs, struggles, preferences or life. But I want to encourage you to find a way of eating that is nourishing and feels safe and healthy and sustainable.

Your human body needs and deserves this.

And even if you struggle with disordered eating, an eating disorder, metabolic dysfunction or GI distress/intolerances/allergies, you deserve to find a way of eating that support your health and well-being.

Here’s my top priorities for most human bodies:

- Learn what feels nourishing for your body; timing of food, amount of food, etc. If this feels threatening, challenging or unsafe in some way, you deserve to get professional support.

- Eat more fiber; including fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains

- Eat more plants; Michael Pollan was right; read Dr Michael Greger’s How Not Age if you really want to geek out on the science

- Eat more real food; see above, more plants, more fiber (powders, supplements, gummies don’t count to your gut)

Why should you care about any of this? Let’s put health and longevity aside; if you are eating lounge-donuts and coffee as your primary energy source, how’s it going? Headaches? Hanger? Constipation? Irritable?

It’s not about vilifying foods, black-or-white thinking or labeling ourselves as a “____atarian.” It’s about choosing a way of eating that supports our energy needs, fuels our bodies for the activities we do at work and home and helps our bodies feel good. Period.