High-Quality Nutrition – Best diet for physical and mental health

WHEN IT When it comes to food and eating, it’s easy to get distracted by what our diet can do for us physically.

We are so used to focusing on macros, calories, grams and pounds that we forget about the emotional side of food. We have been trained to view “emotional eating” as negative, when it is not necessarily so.

Food is fuel, but it is so much more. And even though you may have physical goals, it’s always a good idea to balance them with eating habits that take your mental health into account.

Especially now.

Therefore, in my book Good food, bad diet, Let me introduce readers to the concept of “High Value Eating”.

This is what the concept does (and doesn’t).

Quality food is a way of eating that physically nourishes your body, while recognizing and normalizing that emotional nutrition is also a healthy part of eating.

High Value Eating shows us how food can contribute to our lives and our health without limitation – something that food culture has become a regular occurrence for many of us.

High Value Eating does not divide food into numbers or tolerate guilt and shame. It never assigns moral labels such as ‘good’ or ‘clean’ to what we eat. None of these things are necessary for health and overall well-being.

High Value Eating recognizes that while some foods are not the most nutritious physically, these foods bring us joy and should not be excluded from our diet. I’m not talking about ‘cheat days’ here; it is more of a daily assessment of the balance you need. That means you base most of your meals on an abundance of plants, fiber and protein, but it also means feeding yourself sometimes means eating pizza or burgers, if that’s what you’re craving at the time.

This content was imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in a different format, or you can find more information on their website.

So, how do you implement High Value Eating in your life – and for your physical and mental benefits? Here’s how.

Be a pencil, not an eraser.

We are so used to ‘obliterating’ – unnecessarily removing food from our diet.

This limits our nutrient absorption and the variety of foods we eat, but it also makes no sense.

All it takes is a diet guru to tell us that gluten is ‘toxic’ and that it will disappear from our diets! But unless we have a legitimate medical condition, most of us don’t have to stop eating gluten, dairy, wheat, sugar, or any of the other usual suspects. Be a pencil and add those foods back to your diet.

Eat whole or minimally processed foods if possible.

Here’s a given: buy the best quality food you can afford, and make most of it whole or minimally processed. There is a place in everyone’s diet for ultra-processed foods, but they shouldn’t be the mainstay of what you eat.

Understand your lifestyle.

Many of us try to adapt our lifestyle to diet, but that is frustrating and doesn’t take long. Instead, choose a diet that suits how you live.

Be intentional.

If you want a brownie, don’t torture yourself back and forth about whether or not to eat it.

Eat it – then move on. Consider the overall quality of your diet, what you crave, and how what you eat makes you feel.

Understand that there are no “bad” foods and that nothing terrible will happen to you if you occasionally throw out the salad and eat foods that are physically less nutritious.

Eat for you, not for everyone else.

Everyone you know may have some sort of eating plan that sounds great, but if it doesn’t suit your lifestyle, preferences, or goals, then it’s not worth doing. Don’t jump on the fad cart: do what works for you.

This content is created and maintained by a third party and imported on this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io