Hello there guys. My name is Mauro and I'm a professional nutritionist. I'm used to writing posts on Instagram about nutrition but they are all in Spanish language. One of my goals is to expand my audience so writing in English is a must. Thinking about what topics to first post here on this page got me thinking that this time of the year is filled (believe me when I say, FILLED) with negative thoughts regarding people's nutrition. It is mostly due to the missed conception of what eating healthy really means.
What is eating healthy?
Well, in this topic I constantly find opposite opinions. For some people, being cautious with food means completely avoiding "tasty" meals such as burgers, pizzas, ice-cream and so forth. While it's true that this kind of food is dense in calories, high in sugar, fats, sodium and stuff, they aren't inherently "bad". What could be bad is not knowing one's own requirements and how to match them with the food choices we make.
Why I believe you can't ruin it
Major negative health outcomes related to food choices don't suddenly appear during a night-time. Diseases take time to develop. What we constantly do matters. If our lifestyle consists on non-daily activity, only choosing foods and meals that are "tasty" and over-eating them, well yes... In that case you could say that you're sickening yourself on a daily basis. But, on the other hand, if eating "bad meals" is less frequent than including lots of fruits and veggies, lean protein sources, drinking enough water, doing strength training, sleeping at prudential times... then you can be sufficiently confident that you won't ruin your progress nor be harmful to your health.
Holidays are the perfect example of why lifestyle matters
Where I'm from, Christmas and new year celebrations means lots of food (of course, dense in calories and "bad stuff") and thus people are always kind of afraid of ruining their progresses and in some cases forget what holidays are really about (exactly, presents... Just kidding. They are meant to be a time of joy and celebration with the ones we love).
My advise is always the same. It is far more important what you do between New Year's celebration and Christmas than what you do between Christmas and New Year. Read it again if you didn't quite get it.
What I mean is that you ALWAYS have time to do things right, and even if you happen to overeat during a certain period of time, if the volume of "goods" is greater than the "bads" then you're on your way to achieving successful results!!
So... we are here for the long run. It helps to think nutrition as an endurance race. You don't win it by going fast, you need to be consistent. Find your pace and keep up to it. It will take you places where sprinting and fainting won't. Patience is key and remember, there is ALWAYS time to improve. Don't let single meals fog your analysis, which should be, technically, a balance of EVERYTHING you eat. Try thinking of ALL the meals you do on a period of time (say a month). If 80-90% of those meals go along your requirements, then the 10-20% of "bads" just isn't enough to "ruin" your progress.
That's it for today. If you enjoy this kind of content please let me know and also if there are any specific topics you would like me to talk about.
Have a great day!
Yes! Really liked your article!
Can you talk about why some people have a hard time gaining weight? :)