Super-Nourish: (Make It) Your New Favourite Verb

People are often surprised by the amount of ingredients I put in my smoothies. Or how much dressing I pour over my salad (I’m a saucy and dressing-y kinda girl. Can you relate?). And the fact that I put butter in my coffee (it’s a new thing I’m trying, though I’m sure you know that it’s all the rage lately).

Well, when people raise an eyebrow, I tell them that healthy eating is more than avoiding junk. It’s about how you super-nourish your body, y’all!

Too many nutrition plans focus on avoidance; they talk about calorie intake, fat grams and sodium. As long as you eat less than the maximum recommended amount for each day, then you’re good. But that’s just not the case. Calories don’t tell the whole story, fat is essential, and our cells need sodium in order to function properly (it should be from unrefined sea salt vs. table salt, but that’s another story).

The bottom line is, we need to stop focusing on avoiding everything and instead, start to eat more of the good stuff.

Now, of course, it’s true that keeping junk food to a minimum is important and is a big step toward better health. But that’s not the whole story! (In fact, if the movie ended there, I’d get crazy and demand a refund.) Hear me, my friend: In order to be truly healthy, our body needs nutrients. Plain and simple. And if we want our body to function at an optimal level (and who doesn’t?), we need a steady supply of nutrients on the daily.

So when people avoid junk for the most part (yay!), they are doing their body a huge favour. Like really, that is truly awesome and is a huge piece of the health puzzle. However, we can’t just focus on what we’re avoiding. We need to pay more attention to what we actually are feeding our body.

In order for our body to produce proper energy, both mental and physical, and for it to perform its myriad functions every day, it relies on nutrients.

The actual structure of our cells requires them, and for our cells to talk to one another (a very important process), you guessed it, nutrients are vital.

In all seriousness, without ’em, our body wouldn’t function at all (for very long, anyway). Not only does our body burn through them during its regular functions, but there are other factors that actually deplete our nutrient stores. Can I get a sarcastic, great! *eye roll*

Sugar and caffeine can deplete our nutrient status, as can toxins (I know, it’s hard to change the air outside, but you can reduce your personal toxic load by switching to natural skincare and cleaning products, using essential oil diffusers instead of unnaturally scented candles, and throwing those GD air fresheners out the window. Sorry, I get a little passionate about that).

This doesn’t mean we have to live in a bubble and only ever consume the healthiest of healthy foods forever and always, but it does mean we should absolutely aim to do that most of the time. (Except the part about living in a bubble.)

If you’ve watched any of my videos or read my other blog posts, you would know that I recommend an 80/20 lifestyle. This means that 80% of the time, you are killin’ it in the kitchen, consuming foods that super-nourish you and focusing on how to increase your nutrient status with each meal. However, the other 20% “allows” (I use that term loosely — hence the quotation marks — since I don’t believe in food rules, except maybe a few… okay, another tangent for a different day!).

Alright, I’m just gonna start that sentence again because that was confusing.

The other 20% “allows” for those times when you’re just like, Imma eat this cupcake, or “that ice cream looks daaang good”. Yeah, I do believe that a healthy lifestyle should include treats. But only if the majority of your diet is freakishly healthy. Okay maybe not freakishly, but you get the point.

So instead of simply avoiding junk and keeping our processed food intake to a minimum, let’s turn our focus on how to super-nourish our bodies. Super nourishment! How awesome does that sound?! (Or is it just me?) Our goal should be to take in the highest concentration of the best nutrients every single day. This kind of thing honestly makes me excited. (Doesn’t take much.)

And I’m not saying this to stress you out… eating is supposed to be fun and enjoyable, after all. I simply want you to be really intentional about the foods you’re choosing.

How can you make that lunch even healthier? Instead of just opting for a salad over a burger and fries, go one step further by making sure that salad is providing healthy fats and a good amount of protein. Maybe you made your own dressing and you’ve added half a can of salmon. Yippee! Maybe you added protein powder and coconut oil to your smoothie to make it more nourishing and blood sugar balancing. Yeah girl! Perhaps you had that plain full-fat yogurt but you also threw in some hemp hearts, ground flax and berries. Fantastic.

Every time you eat, every food that you’re about to eat, take a pause and ask yourself, am I actually nourishing my body with this food? Or is it just a means of filling my belly?

Girl! Super-nourish your body.

Don’t just graze all day on a few almonds here, a banana there, and a rice cake in between. Sure, you’ll get some nutrients, but not enough! Especially if most of your days look like that.

Aim to eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods and Eat. ‘Em. Up! Often this means eating more, being intentional about eating three solid meals a day, and filling that plate up (without stuffing yourself, obvi… that’s not our goal here).

When you eat in this way, not only do you avoid feeling like crap (since junk food tends to make us feel that way), but you also allow your body to thrive, experience awesome energy, and feel on the ball mentally, too.

Sounds pretty great, right? Super-nourish your body. That’s where it’s at.

Are you on the super-nourish train? What is your fav way to add extra nutrients to your meal? Write it below in the comments.

Looking for more energy, mama? Click here.