Do you have a love-hate relationship with food?
Are you curious about creating a nutritious diet for yourself?
Did you know that you can be healthy AND eat great food?
Well, the truth is being healthy and great food can in fact coexist in your everyday diet. Being nutritious does not have to mean giving up the foods you love for months at a time or even at all. It doesn’t mean skipping out on that backyard BBQ or family feast for a small salad. Matter of fact, I believe nutrition is about enjoying what you are eating!
This week’s blog is about The Steel Nutrition Principles. My goal is for you to see the beauty of the connection between your favorite foods and a nutritious diet.
Before we go into these principles, I want to revisit last week’s discussion on Tactics versus Principles. If you read last week’s blog or watched last week’s YouTube video about Steel’s Strength Training Principles, you know what I mean, but if you didn’t see it or you’re new to our page, no worries, let me explain what I mean.
Principles: a fundamental law–the broad rules of how the world works, how your body works, or as I like to think of it the HIGHWAY of life.
These principles are laid out so you can reach your goals in life, at work, at home, in the gym, in the kitchen, anywhere your feet take you. If you violate them, I can ALMOST guarantee you won’t reach the goals you have set for yourself. So they are super important to follow!
Principles are the “how’s” to making results with training or eating.
They are very BROAD because there are tons of Tactics that can be used within the Principles to help you reach those goals.
Tactics: a strategy planned to achieve a specific end–the specific ways in which you utilize the principles to achieve your goals
Examples of tactics in Strength Training would be, “You should do 4 sets instead of 3 sets” or “You should rest 2 minutes instead of 1 minute and 30 seconds.” These statements are not what I am recommending, they are examples of what tactics are.
What you see on the internet about dieting–do KETO, do Carnivore, go Vegan, stay away from this food, go Vegetarian–these are ALL tactics.
I’m not saying these tactics do not work, I am saying they do not all work for everybody.
Principles are the HIGHWAY and Tactics are the LANES. As long as you keep driving on the highway, you will reach your destination–it does not matter which lane you choose to drive in. You can switch lanes, ride the same lane, or go side-to-side–as long as it is working for YOU.
Whatever Tactic (or lane) you choose, it falls under this umbrella of Principles (or highways) I have laid out.
The Steel Nutrition Principles
- Eat Mostly Real Food
- Eat the Right Amount of Food
- Eat the Right Amount of Protein
- Don’t Eat Foods That Make You Feel Bad
- Enjoy How/What You Eat
Eat Mostly Real Food
The concept of Food Engineering blows my mind. These companies use this to design super-processed foods that we eat all the time.
I am not saying you should never eat them again–it would benefit your health greatly–but I will say the majority of your food intake should be REAL food. Single-ingredient food items.
The type of food that God put here for us–animals, trees, plants, berries. You know, the stuff on the perimeter of the grocery store (not the sweets aisle lol!): meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc..
Real food has great nutritional value and tons of vitamins and minerals. The processed stuff has vitamins and minerals in them too, but I don’t think they are as effective as they are in the single-ingredient foods.
To get the great results you are looking for, shoot for 80% or more of your diet being single-ingredient foods.
Eat the Right Amount of Food
Calories In and Calories Out matters!
There are typically two sides in the argument concerning how much food is the right amount. One saying “Calories In, Calories Out, it doesn’t matter about the quality of your food intake” and the other saying, “Just Eat Healthy and Everything Will Fall into Place! Calories Don’t Matter.”
In terms of weight loss there is truth to the first statement. If your calories are where they need to be you can lose weight despite bad quality food intake, but if your calories aren’t where they need to be you can gain weight despite a healthy food intake.
The other side is not telling the full truth either unfortunately.
The truth is you want both! You want to eat mostly REAL food AND you want to eat the right amount of food to reach your fitness health and physique goals.
This is not me saying you should track calories. I think you just need to take in the right number of calories. I like to think of it as a budget. You have 3 choices: you can keep an airtight budget–see where every penny (calorie) is going–you can be loose–watching your bank account every week or so (just keeping loose tabs on what you are eating) –or you can free-for-all it–just do not keep track of anything.
I don’t recommend the last one for your budget or diet–it may not be the best financial or physical move for your life!
Eat the Right Amount of Protein
Again, not saying you should track calories. Tracking calories is actually an example of a Tactic!
Protein is important for our health, building & maintaining muscle mass, and keeping your figure looking just right!
You want to make sure you get the right amount of protein to help you achieve your goals!
Don’t Eat Foods That Make You Feel Bad
The types of foods that make you feel bloated, tired, foggy, anxious, or just overall gross are the types of foods you want to avoid!
If you aren’t super in-tune with your body, try keeping a food journal for a little while to see how you feel after eating different foods. This tactic has helped many of our clients realize which foods affect them negatively and really accelerated them towards their goals.
The foods that make you feel this way are going to be highly processed and have lots of refined sugars.
Even if a food is a “Super-Food”–meats, veggies, anything people say is great for you–but it makes you feel bad, don’t eat it! You know your body best.
There is no “one” food that has to be in everyone’s diet. You are unique, and your body has been crafted individually so some foods that are great for someone else may not be great for you. That is okay! Trust your body and find the right foods that leave you feeling your best!
Enjoy How/What You Eat
Food = Fuel
Funny story about myself, when I was 16 and just started getting into Strength Training, I told my friend that I would eat dog poop if it meant that I could get super strong. He agreed with me, so I didn’t think I was crazy at the time.
Looking back, that is just gross and insane–you know typical 16-year-old boy fashion. I have grown a lot since then, had a few kids, got married, and my thoughts on food as fuel have changed
Food is indeed fuel, but it is also meant to be pleasurable for us. We are supposed to use food as a way to celebrate with others and have a sense of community and belonging.
Food is also for sustenance. There HAS to be a balance. Eating for fuel only can leave you feeling bad just as eating for only pleasure can. That is why there has to be both in your life.
I encourage you, when you are looking at your tactics towards eating and choosing the foods you are eating, find foods that are enjoyable to you.
I think one of the biggest lies people believe is that eating healthy has to be complex and nasty. Eating healthy is actually really easy and fun.
Like anything else in life, if you aren’t enjoying it you won’t stick with it.
If you stick to these principles and stay on that highway, I can almost guarantee that you will find results you LOVE.
Food is sometimes a touchy subject for people because of bad experiences with certain tactics, but at Steel we have nutrition coaching that is tailored to you, your body, and your needs. See a common theme there? YOU!
If you’re ready to get started on your Strength Training journey and put these nutrition principles into practice but you want coaching and accountability to make sure you stay safe and get the best results possible…we’d love to work with you!
Talk to you soon!
-Coach Nate