Are You Making These 5 Common Nutrition Mistakes?

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Transcript

You’re listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast, episode number 2. Today we’re diving into five common nutrition mistakes that I see people making or believing so often. I’m going to give you a little background on each one, and also give you recommendations of what to do instead. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.

Hey, this is Laura Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New Mama Nation, and host of The Love & Lettuce Podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic, so they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only, and does not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your health care provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show. 

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When I talk to a new client or poll my students during a class, without fail, I hear many of these beliefs that we’re going to talk about today. Even though we seem to be updating certain nutrition information as a society, so many people still have these long-held beliefs. And while nutrition isn’t one size fits all, there are most definitely things we can do, that we can all do that benefit us, give us energy and improve our health.

And honestly, if you try any one of the suggestions I’m giving today, you might be totally shocked at how good you can feel. Many people, they don’t realize how much better they have the potential to feel. We’ve been simply accepting our symptoms as “normal”, something that we just have to live with, right? And while every situation and every body is unique, what if I told you that generally speaking, many of those symptoms aren’t actually necessary? They aren’t “normal”, as in, you shouldn’t have to live with them forever. They aren’t meant to be there; you might not be destined to experience them for the rest of your life. Like what if I told you that?

Well, that’s true. So many of our so-called normal and inevitable and can’t-do-anything-about symptoms, we actually do have the power to control, we do have the choice and the power to reduce them, or even get rid of them altogether. Pretty profound, right? We have the power to control our health, to decide what symptoms, if any, we want to live with. If you don’t want to have headaches or feel achy and stiff in the mornings, or have crazy mood swings throughout the day that feel uncontrollable… most of the time, you have the power to change those things.

You have a say in your health.

In fact, you have all the say. And it all comes down to how we treat our bodies. What foods are you giving to your body? What nutrients are you providing to your cells to carry out their functions, and to your tissues to be able to build a strong foundation? The foods we eat literally become what we are. If you want to feel amazing, full of energy and vitality, free of annoying and painful symptoms, then really focus in on what foods you’re eating, and specifically, eat a super-nourishing diet. This means choosing foods that provide the highest amount of nutrients possible.

Now, great health also includes movement, proper sleep and rest, nourishing our bodies and our brains in other ways besides our food intake, yes, but for the purposes of this podcast episode, we’re zoning in on the nutrition side of things, because it is such an important piece of the puzzle.

So let’s dive in. I’m going to give you five common nutrition mistakes, and what I’m going to do is tell you the mistake, and then before I get into the reasons why, I’ll give you the correct, or better, thing to do instead.

Here’s the first of our five common nutrition mistakes: Eating a low-fat diet.

And here’s a better thing to do instead: Eat plenty of nourishing fats. I mentioned this in episode 1, but it’s absolutely worth multiple mentions because it is one of the foundations of great health. Our bodies need fat to function. We have trillions of cells in our body trillions and every single cell is surrounded by a membrane. And that membrane is made up of mostly fat. So that right there tells you why we need it. And we need both unsaturated and saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats, the ones that are liquid at room temperature (so for example, olive oil, flax oil, avocado oil)… these provide fluidity and flexibility to our cell membranes. On the other hand, saturated fats, the ones that are solid at room temperature (for example, butter and coconut oil)… these provide structure and stability to our cell membranes. Both extremely important. So not only do we need to eat fat, but we need to eat a mix of unsaturated and saturated fats.

That’s actually another mistake, or misstep, that I see people making… keeping their intake of saturated fats too low.

Our cells need that structure and stability they provide. And they need the protection from free radical damage that they also provide, not to mention the benefits that individuals saturated fats and oils give to our bodies. Huge. Fat also feeds our brain and nervous system, our heart, joints, skin, hormones, even our mood. It helps to stabilize our blood sugar level and lessen cravings.

With all of that in mind, eating a low-fat diet, it just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t promote a truly healthy body, it doesn’t fuel our cells the way they need to be fuelled in order to experience great health. So if you think your diet could use some upgrading, have a look at your fat intake. Are you, first of all, eating the right kinds that will fuel your body well, and are you eating enough? If not, I encourage you to increase them a little. Start slow, work your way up, and see how you feel.

Let’s move on to the second of our five common nutrition mistakes: Eating too many refined carbs.

As far as what to do instead, my suggestion is to ditch them where you can and opt instead for the more whole food, less refined version. It doesn’t have to be a direct replacement; sometimes you can just ditch the refined carb snack that you were about to have and carry on with your day. Sometimes you remove the toast for breakfast and just have the eggs. Now you can choose the better bread, if you will, and have that directly in place of the more refined one. But I’m mainly talking here about doing your best to ditch the refined ones as much as you can, and make that the focus.

What exactly is a refined carb, you ask? Think white pasta, most bread, bagels, wraps, pizza dough, chips, candy, chocolate, cookies, most crackers, ice cream… you get the point. So you see from this list that it’s no wonder why I’m suggesting that you reduce the amount of refined carbs that you consume. They are everywhere! And for so many of us, our diet is filled with them. So again, it’s no wonder that we have the potential to feel so much better if we start to recognize just how many we’re having, and actively work to reduce them.

The thing is, when we eat a refined carb, our blood sugar levels skyrockets.

And when that happens, our pancreas releases insulin in response. Insulin’s job is to move the glucose (AKA sugar) from the bloodstream into our cells, where it can be burned as energy. Now, insulin is a super important hormone that we require literally in order to live. But too much of it can be detrimental. When we eat so many refined carbs, our blood sugar level is constantly high. And that requires insulin to be working all the time. The more of an exposure our cells have to insulin, the less sensitive they become to it; they become resistant. And if you’ve ever heard of insulin resistance, this is what it is.

So insulin works to get the glucose from the bloodstream into the cell. And once that’s full, once the cell is full, and/or if the cell is not responding, insulin says, well, we have to put this glucose somewhere. So let’s store some in the liver for later use. And then let’s turn the rest into fat. So the glucose, instead of being burned as fuel, which would give us energy, is being stored as fat. And this fat storage usually happens around our abdomen. So this is actually a good indicator of how well our insulin is working and how balanced our blood sugar is.

This type of insulin-fuelled weight gain tends to cause inflammation, and it signals definite blood sugar issues.

But the main thing to think about here is that we’re eating food that’s supposed to be fuelling us, giving us energy. We’ve eaten a meal or snack, and yet we’re still hungry, still craving. And our energy, frankly, sucks. The only place that glucose can be burned as fuel is inside the cell, not in our bloodstream. So if glucose isn’t able to enter the cell, because the cell isn’t listening to insulin, then we don’t get energy from that particular food. So that’s a big thing.

Insulin resistance is so common and can be very detrimental. And if it’s allowed to continue on over the months and the years, diabetes can develop. Type 2 diabetes is basically chronic insulin resistance. But guess what? We have such power over this, because we have control over the food that we choose to eat. And when we ditch the refined carbs, or at least lessen our intake of them, and we focus instead on eating meals that provide protein, fat and fibre, we need less insulin.

So our pancreas secretes less.

And this makes our cells more sensitive to it, so it can do its job as it should. And then our food starts to fuel us again, we have energy from it, we feel satisfied from it, our cravings lessen. Then we can focus on other things, on being a mom, on cooking nourishing meals for our family, because we actually have the energy to do so. We can literally focus on enjoying life, instead of chasing our hunger and always thinking about food, and the wrong types of it at that.

Okay, that was a big one. But so important, because when we can get a handle on our blood sugar level and our cells’ insulin sensitivity, our health improves so much. So many processes in our body just work better, and we simply feel so much better.

Alright, on to the third of our five common nutrition mistakes… here it is: Basing your meal off a carb instead of protein and fat.

We talked about this in episode 1, but it’s worth repeating because it really truly is something that I see so often, even when people think that they’re eating the best way they can. Some examples of a carb-based meal include cereal, pasta, toast or a sandwich. How common are these foods, right? But think about how you feel when you eat these foods. And you might say, well, I feel totally fine, actually, thank you very much. And you might be right.

But I want you to look deeper.

I want you to really take a look at how you feel throughout the day. Really take a look at your symptoms. Are you feeling energized throughout the day? Are you feeling the need to nap all the time? Now, if you have a newborn, this is different, it doesn’t apply to you because, of course you feel the need to nap, and you should if you can, but that’s a different story. If you feel like you’re dragging throughout the day, I really want you to look at the foods that you are eating and take an assessment of your meals.

Are you starting off with a carb, like pasta, and building from there? Or are you starting with a protein and/or a fat, like salmon or eggs or chicken, and building your meal from there? When you do that, it helps to keep your blood sugar level more stabilized. It will require your pancreas to produce less insulin. And now we know that the less insulin, the better, and it will give you longer lasting energy, and more of it.

Moving right along. Let’s head over to the fourth of our five common nutrition mistakes. Are you ready for this one? Counting calories or points.

What should you do instead? Focus on getting the highest possible level of nutrients in every meal. Episode 3 actually dives into this very topic. So give that a listen because you’ll get so much info, and food for thought really.

But for today, I want you to think about this: Focusing on the number of calories a food contains takes the focus away from where it should be… on how nutritious that food is. Which vitamins is it providing? How about minerals? Healing fats? Oh wait… those are high calorie, so we should keep them to a minimum, right? Wrong! That’s where calorie counting fails us; it doesn’t allow for plenty of healthy fats in our diet. And if we do decide to eat them anyway, then we feel guilty for going over our allotted number of calories for the day.

Yes, fat has the highest number of calories per gram over protein and carbs.

And yet it is vital for good health. It’s vital for health, period, let alone good health. And the fact that focusing on calories might limit or decrease the number of healthy fats that you should be eating on a daily basis… well, that’s scary.

So we need to focus instead on truly nourishing our body. Will this food provide my body with the building blocks it requires in order to carry out its functions? Will it give me vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, protein, fat, fibre? That’s where it’s at. Focus on nutrients and nourishment and leave counting behind.

As far as how much to eat, go by how you feel.

Do you feel satisfied after breakfast, not stuffed, but satisfyingly full? And do you stay that way for at least a few hours? Fantastic. If not, look at where you could have added more protein and/or fat to make that meal last longer. Or, do you feel a bit hungry or lacking after your meal, in which case, eat more of it! We should be listening to our bodies, not a decided-upon number that really doesn’t take our health in mind.

Okay, I’m pretty passionate about this, if you can’t tell! Go listen to episode 3 for more details on calorie counting, and why I simply don’t do it.

Okay, here we are on our last one, number five of our five common nutrition mistakes: Grazing throughout the day.

Instead, I suggest eating three solid meals of protein, fat, and fibre. This is both for proper digestion and blood sugar balancing. For both of those things, I believe it’s best to space your meals out enough to give your body time to process and use those nutrients from each one.

Yes, of course, if our meals aren’t satisfying enough, and we feel hungry, we do need to snack. And when we do snack, we should be reaching for foods that are higher in protein and fat and lower in carbs. Think a boiled egg, handful of nuts and/or seeds, or a scoop or two of almond butter. But the goal is to have enough protein and fat in our meals to keep us satisfied for a longer period of time so we don’t have to snack, simply because we’re not hungry.

Every time we eat, our body uses upwards of 80% of our energy to digest that food.

Imagine if we just always gave our digestive system food to digest, so it’s always constantly using up our energy to do so. Oh wait… that is what happens! No wonder we’re so low energy all the time. I mean, obviously there are many other reasons too, but this is a huge one that we have such control over. Let’s give our bodies time to properly and thoroughly break down our food and absorb the nutrients from it. That’s why we eat, right? To get those nutrients.

The other thing to think about when it comes to our digestion is the digestive symptoms that can happen when we don’t give our gut enough time to break down the food that we just ate. If we keep piling up food after food, we’re not letting our digestive system do its thing, and we can experience some unpleasant symptoms. In other words, we are in for a real treat of gas and bloating. Perfect! But if we just give our body some time and space to do its thing, to properly digest our food, then we can reduce and avoid that so much.

Beyond digestion, let’s go back to insulin just for a minute.

We now know that we need it. But we only want a small amount to prevent insulin resistance, and we want it to be super effective. But every time we eat carbs and protein (but mostly carbs), we get a spike of insulin. And the more our cells are exposed to it, the more likely they are to be resistant to it. So then our pancreas needs to secrete more and more, and our cells eventually become less and less sensitive to it.

What’s the ideal then?

Eating three solid meals of protein, fat, and fibre. Because not only does it nourish our body to eat this way, but that food will digest more slowly, which helps to prevent blood sugar spikes, which therefore allows our pancreas to just create a small but efficient amount of insulin. And that is the key. Insulin is a fat-storing hormone. It takes extra glucose (AKA sugar) from our bloodstream and turns it into fat, and stores it usually around our abdomen. And we can only be in fat-storing or fat-burning mode at any one time. If we’re eating three solid meals per day, rather than grazing (and snacking if we need to, obviously), then we’re helping to keep our insulin low but effective. And we in turn, have more energy and just feel better.

So there you have it, my friend. I hope you’re excited about this information. Maybe it’s new for you, or maybe you’ve heard it before. But either way, I truly hope that it makes you pause and really think about the food that you’re feeding your body and the way in which you’re doing so. It really does come back to the basics, and it’s not complicated. Eat real, whole food. Focus on the nutrients that provides and give your body time to digest it.

Think about which mistake or misstep you’re currently making, perhaps, and work on that one.

Or maybe make small improvements to all five, if that makes sense for you. Tune in to episode 3 to find out why calorie counting isn’t the answer to great health. We talked about it a little bit today but I want to give you more on this because it’s such an important topic.

The need to count calories and the belief that it is THE WAY to reach your health goals is so ingrained in so many of us that it’s worth an entire episode all on its own. I can’t wait for you to take a listen to that one. And I also can’t wait to hear your takeaways from this episode. Find me on Instagram @lauraannlima. Take a screenshot of this episode and tag me in your story, or send me a DM, and let me know what you thought. I will see you there. 

And don’t forget to get your free copy of my New Mama Energy Guide. Just go to bit.ly/newmamas for instant access.

Thanks for listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast. To find out how to work with me and for more great info, check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura! Until next time, love and lettuce.