3 Massive Nutrition Mistakes That You Won’t Have Heard Before

It’s more about philosophy than food itself.

Photo by Susan G. Komen 3-Day on Unsplash

I help people stop yo-yo dieting. It’s kind of like putting out fires. Diet-fires. I could make a movie about it. Mrs Diet-fire. Has a ring to it, don’t you think?

If I could sell the following philosophy, I’d be a multi-billionaire — your diet is part knowledge and mostly perspective. There’s no wagon to fall off. Stop thinking there is.

But I’m not a multi-billionaire. The diet industry is, however. It relies on you staying inconsistent, unhappy, and uncertain.

When you associate nutrition with rigidity and suffering, that’s what you look for.

Chaos → Restriction → Chaos → Restriction.

Thus, a cycle is born, whereby a new diet is not the remedy. A good diet pattern is unspectacular and mundane — and that’s when you do it right.

Don’t be someone who sees only two levels of effort — 0 and 100.

I don’t believe people are lazy. Most people work hard. I don’t believe people are unmotivated. They have a lot going on.

What they think healthy dietary patterns are become the source of lack of motivation — like if the only lens through which they saw the working day was 20 hours, not 8.

I’ve worked with enough clients to see parallels between successful and unsuccessful alike. And I’d like to share those with you because I like you and I hope we can be friends.

1. The Stop-Start Effect

Dear friend, no matter how hard you go when you are “on plan”, it won’t compensate for frequent bouts of being “off plan.”

That’s now how it works. Optimize for consistency, not perfection.

You wouldn’t look at your savings and think “Screw it. I’m off budget” and start wasting cash. But this is how people approach nutrition all the time.

Mindfulness is your experience of a situation. Some people are so obsessed with being perfect that one slip leads to its abandonment.

How present are you during meals? Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Start with your next meal. Be introspective. What thoughts and sensations arise?

You will always struggle until you find a balanced approach to nutrition. And because calorie balance is the driver of weight management, how much you torture yourself is not an indicator of success.

If you eat 1000 calories most days, but 10,000 on the weekends, you’re tormenting yourself with two extremes. This is surprisingly common but can be rectified.

Your approach should allow you to make mistakes, over or underestimate your needs, make a calm adjustment, and continue regardless.

But if you’re only on or only off the diet, you will get further from the desired result.

2. The Fresh Start Illusion

We’ve all done it. The weekend arrives and we eat for comfort. This is normal. Then we press the F — it button and decide we’ll start again Monday. What’s the point now?

The Fresh-Start illusion is the belief that it will be easier on an arbitrary date or landmark, just not here or now. If anything, it will be harder. Food will always be there. It won’t stop being delicious.

Realign your expectations. Learn to indulge mindfully, and understand that not every craving needs to be satisfied. They pass, just like any other thought or desire — for example, punching the person who was rude to the barista in the face. Or is that just me?

Don’t fool yourself into thinking it gets easier in the future. It’s a comforting lie. Where are you lying to yourself currently?

We all overeat from time to time. This is no biggie. It’s the response we choose that matters more.

3. Half-baked knowledge

Do you know what is worse than no knowledge? A little knowledge. You can’t be half-pregnant. You either are or you aren’t.

Social media is incredible, but if it’s your sole source of information, there will be bigger holes in your knowledge than the Titanic. When there is a broken link in the chain of logic, the whole system falls apart. Be mindful of the premises on which you draw conclusions.

Premise 1: Dogs are mortal.

Premise 2: I am mortal.

Conclusion: I am a dog.

You can see how two valid premises leads to a faulty conclusion. Faulty logic is how people conclude they must avoid carbohydrates.

But since carbohydrates are the same calories per gram as protein, why do so many people demonize them to such an extent?

What they believe to be carbs is the delicious mix of carbs + fats + saltiness + low nutrients (meaning less satiety)= A recipe for overconsumption.

When people tell me carbs are responsible for weight gain, they are never referring to fruit, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, yoghurt or vegetables.

If you only knew what 1000 calories of carbohydrate could look like in your typical nutrition, you’d never fear a carbohydrate again.

Because so many people try to eat far less than necessary, they inevitably overeat. The cycle is driven by faulty beliefs.

And because I shook my Personal Training crystal ball and it showed me the future, I know you won’t listen to me, because you need to see for yourself. So, I urge you to reevaluate your relationship with carbs. Hell, with food in general.

You require “essential” proteins and fats from your diet. “Essential” means the body cannot make them itself. There are no “essential” carbohydrates. Many use this to vilify carbs.

Interestingly, there are no essential dating sites, sex toys and photo apps either, but don’t let me step in the way of some good old cognitive dissonance.

Conclusion

The diet industry can be exploitative. An empowered customer is no longer an open wallet.

It is also a breeding ground for those with well-dressed disordered eating patterns to project food fear onto you.

Like everyone, I too must check my biases. I don’t want you to be a mini-me. I want you to find joy in food. Joy and fear don’t co-exist.

Recap for memory