What is Good Nutrition?

One of the most common questions I get is “what is good nutrition?” or “what should I eat?”. I wanted to share some of what I learned in my studies with Precision Nutrition, which is who wrote the article I used as my source for this post. I think this message will be very helpful to you when figuring out how to have good nutrition long term.

Good nutrition does these 7 things:

Calories in food are energy. If we eat too many calories we may not only gain weight, but can become resistant to important hormones, increase inflammation, and risk chronic diseases. If we eat too little, our body can shut down processes that we don’t need to survive such as reproductive, metabolism, and certain brain functions (hello brain fog)

Think about potato chips vs broccoli. Chips are high in calories but very low in nutrients. Broccoli is the opposite. Very high in nutrients and low in calories. This is one reason people feel so much better on a new diet. You are getting more quality nutrients that your body needs.

This will look different for different people. It could be supporting sports performance, looking good at the beach, preventing chronic diseases, helping someone stay active, maintaining bone and muscle mass, etc. It should help you balance specific goals with a holistic approach of lifelong health and longevity.

This word is almost cliche now because so many fitness professionals and influencers use this word. But it’s nevertheless important with your health and fitness journey. Sustainable means looking at the long term/big picture aspect of nutrition. Can you keep doing what you are doing now? For how long?

How can we build behaviors that last a lifetime? P.s this is where it comes in handy to have a coach;)

Your actual choices are probably less important than simply paying better attention to what you eat. We often make poor food choices when we are stressed, rushed, and busy. You can make better choices (and manage calorie intake better) when you start caring about food, slowing down, eating mindfully, and paying attention. No calorie counting required for this!

Nutrition and exercise go together like beer and football, white on rice, fall and pumpkin spice….you get it. The more we move, the better our body works, and the better the nutrients that we consume can work for us. Exercise changes the way our body uses nutrients from food. This is the main reason my programs include BOTH exercise and diet. You’ll get better results.

Ooo now we get to become scientists. Choices lead to outcomes. Outcomes can be measured. They tell us about reality and what’s next. These answers can be interesting and not match people’s body composition, health, or performance. Many people think they are eating well but don’t test that theory against reality. This also means it doesn’t matter how much we know, only what we can do consistently well.

I help clients bridge the gap between think, feel, assume, and measurable reality. I know all of this is a lot. If you want to be knowing exactly what you should be doing right now and not have to worry about all of the other stuff that goes along with fitness and nutrition, send me a message and I’ll give you next steps to my program! Thank you for reading! -Coach Duncan McNair Health and Fitness

Source: Precision Nutrition, The Essentials of Nutrition and Coaching. Unit 1.