How do you know if someone is vegan/GF/paleo?
They’ll tell you.
(Press play on audience laugh track.)
These days, it seems like everyone has a hot take on what to eat.
Whether it’s pushing for a plant-based lifestyle, or taking the now contrarian viewpoint that meat is health food, the conversation around food is hard to ignore.
This Instagram post sums it up nicely (h/t Keegan for sending my way):
Food Matters
Food is a huge deal. It’s woven into our cultures, it’s essential to our social fabrics, it’s a part of our personal identity, it’s influenced by our economic station, and so much more.
But it can feel like a minefield when you wade into the debate and try to understand what you should and should not be eating.
When it comes to Health & Well-Being, the theme of this post, it’s undoubtedly one of the most important pillars, right up there with Sleep and Movement.
Food is your fuel in so many ways.
Not only does it give you physical energy, food also affects the way we think and the way we feel.
Over the last five years, I’ve read, researched, and experimented with so many approaches to “healthy eating.”
I’ve gone full-fledged vegan all the way to a heavy meat-eater.
I’ve cut out sugar for 30 days, lived without coffee for 3 weeks, tracked my macros daily, and completed a 21-day Elimination Diet by abstaining from wheat, dairy, sugar, etc.
Aside for what I’m eating, I’ve also experimented with how I’m eating.
I’ve practiced mindful eating, hopped on the intermittent fasting (time-restricted eating) bandwagon, and completed a few 72-hour fasts as well.
And guess what? I still don’t have any concrete answers as to what food I should be eating.
But I have developed a set of principles and borrowed some from others that I find keep me eating in a healthy, sustainable way.
There are three main principles that I follow for food:
If you can’t pronounce the ingredient, don’t eat it. I think it’s safe to say that eating more real food is good, and eating less highly processed food is smart. I’m not a maniac about this, but currently my diet consists of about 90% whole foods and I try to avoid eating too many things that could sit on a shelf for longer than a couple of weeks and not rot.
Aim for 800 grams of fruit and vegetables per day. I picked this one up from Dr. Kelly Starrett, who I mentioned in the post about Movement. It’s a fun challenge to make sure you’re eating the requisite fruit & veg. You can eat fresh, frozen, raw, canned. The beauty is the simplicity and elegance of this approach.
Protein. I’ve read a lot on protein, changed my mind multiple times, but currently I’m following the advice from Dr. Peter Attia to aim for 1g per lb of bodyweight per day. I train 4-5 days per week, so hitting this is important to build strength and muscle, which are hugely important to lifespan according to Attia.
Sidenote: one thing I personally dislike with food advice is how restrictive most diets and approaches are. The two principles above speak to me personally because they are the opposite of restrictive (counter-restrictive? unrestrictive?). They encourage you to eat more of what is good for you, rather than limit yourself.
In addition to these core principles, I have a few other mantras or guidelines that I aim to adhere to:
Eat slowly. I love food almost to a fault. As soon as I start eating, I hardly take a breath until my plate is done. But lately, I’ve been working on slowing things down. Eating (specifically chewing) slowly can help digestion, and allow you to feel more full. During busy days, I try to take a few slow, deep breaths before eating to signal to my body to switch off the sympathetic system (fight-flight) and turn on the parasympathetic (rest-digest) system.
Fast regularly. Experimenting with fasting has been a game-changer for me. While I would not recommend this to anyone with a history of an eating disorder, to me it’s been a profound spiritual experience as well as a mental reset. It’s helped me understand my hunger and cravings, and the longer fasts have given me a deep sense of appreciation for food in a way I can’t describe in words. I try to complete a 72-hour fast a couple times a year, and to do shorter 16/18 hour fasts more regularly.
Don’t eat before bed. After 12 months wearing an Oura ring, it became evident that eating too late severely impacted my sleep. As such, I try to stop eating at 8pm, which is roughly 2-3 hours before I fall asleep. Not always possible in Portugal but I do my best ;)
Walk to digest. One practice I’ve picked up in the last few years is taking a stroll for dinner. It feels nice and seems to help digestion, particularly after a big dinner. Emerging research points to positive benefits of walking after eating even just for a few minutes to mediate blood sugar spikes.
Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. This is a mantra from the esteemed Michael Pollans that’s stuck with me for ages. Related to the first principle above, this mantra is a reminder to focus on whole foods, lots of plants, and not too much.
Perfectly imperfect
With all that said, I’m nowhere near perfect. It’s pretty damn hard to be when it comes to food.
That’s why I’m more convinced than ever that having a few simple principles to guide how you eat is more helpful than a strict, all-or-nothing approach.
But hey, maybe that’s just what works for me. You do you.
Thanks for reading,
Connor
P.S. the real secret to my healthy eating is my wife Claire, who is a master in the kitchen and brings so many tasty, healthful meals to our lives. Love you <3
Love this Connor, food is so crucial and your plates are so colourful!
I’d love to add that from my perspective and research I’d say that fasting is often impacting women’s hormones negatively and a bedtime snack of healthy protein / fat / carb ratio like yogurt with honey or fruit with piece of cheese can help us sleep deeper depending on how well our bodies cope with fasting (dinner to breakfast can already be too long for some).