In the world of diet and nutrition there tends to be a lot of focus on examining and analyzing details of what we put into our mouths. Meals are being broken down into calorie content, carbohydrate and protein portions and percentages of fat.
Personally, I don’t believe it is necessary to count calories, or anything else related to our food intake. This type of food “analysis” often results in an unhealthy obsession with our diet and takes away from our body’s natural ability to let us know what we require in order to feel healthy. In my health coaching practice I prefer to teach clients how to tune in and figure out what is right for them by understanding their unique constitution and by paying attention to the signs and signals that our bodies so efficiently send us.
I have personally tried many different approaches to eating and in the process often ended up ignoring some important signs that indicated an imbalance as a result of a particular “diet”. In hindsight these experiences all added up to helping me understand the importance of listening to my body. To illustrate my point, here is an example of some of the things I got wrong:
When I was diagnosed with intestinal hyper permeability 10 years ago I cut out some major digestive trouble makers such as gluten and dairy (which was good) but at the same time, thinking I needed to detox, I also switched to a raw food diet which consisted of lots of raw, high fiber greens, dehydrated crackers and the likes. I now know what I most needed at that time was a nourishing diet of gut healing, low fiber, cooked foods including things such as bone stock, healthy fats etc.
I moved into a vegetarian phase that included cooked foods, which felt more nourishing but still had me craving red meat and when I finally caved and tucked into a steak dinner one night I felt so enormously satisfied I knew it had to be right.
My Paleo phase in the U.S. was wonderful, generally speaking. It gave my digestive system a chance to heal and made me stronger and healthier then I had ever been. I felt I had found the perfect way to eat. Until I moved to India where sourcing high quality animal protein (more about that in my article on Protein Particulars) was next to impossible and where suddenly the Paleo diet didn’t feel quite right anymore. By then I had developed the insight to tweak my diet depending on my circumstances and moved into the way I eat now: according to what suits my body type, what I feel like and what is locally, seasonally available and appealing to me. Lots of local fruits and vegetables, some carefully prepared whole grains and legumes, nuts and seeds, fermented foods, locally sourced free range eggs (when possible), local fish & seafood, occasionally chicken, mutton, and every now and then some beef. Sometimes meals are vegetarian, sometimes they are not. I try to go with my gut.
No, I don’t always get it right but I am much closer than 10 years ago when I crammed green smoothies and flax crackers into my weakened, Vata body type without any regard for the consequences…
Where are you at right now? Are you struggling to figure out what works for you? Do you honor your unique circumstances and requirements?
Remember, it is all about balance. And knowing who you are. I fell in love with Ayurveda when I realized that this is the foundation of its ancient wisdom. For over 4000 years Ayurveda has taught people how to honor their unique constitution in order to achieve physical, emotional and spiritual balance.
I encourage each of you to explore Ayurveda for this reason and apply some of its principles in your daily lives so that you can naturally reclaim your strength, energy and inner balance. I have started teaching workshops on Ayurveda to share this valuable information and if you are interested to know more, please let me know so I can keep you informed of any future workshops, live or online.
Having said all this, understanding the basic fundamentals of a healthy diet helps, especially in the beginning, to facilitate a transition to a cleaner and more wholesome way of eating. And it is for that reason that I share articles on my website that cover nutrition related topics. Use them as a guideline, to get a better understanding or just for an interesting read. Don’t get too hung up on details but rather build on this knowledge by developing a greater awareness of what is right for you.
Be Well!
Monique
