Food Philosophy (Tips)

I don’t have a degree in Nutritional Studies, but then again most people don’t. Still, you’ve got to eat, right? And on top of that, most people want to eat healthily. That’s where the problems start because the first question you get is: “What is a healthy diet?”

And take it from someone who’s been spending way too much some time researching this subject: you will NOT find a perfect diet plan that will tell you exactly what and how much to eat – it does not exist.

So my first and biggest tip is don’t go searching for it, or you might end up like this:

“People keep contradicting each other on theories of what you should and should not eat! I don’t know what to do anymore!”

 This was me not too long ago.

And it’s true; everyone will claim that they have THE perfect plan that will keep you slim, healthy and happy for the rest of your life.

 For those of you who need to hear it:

IF THERE WAS A PERFECT DIET, EVERYONE WOULD BE ON IT!

 God knows, I needed to hear that then.

A healthy diet is not just about what food you eat! It’s so much more; it’s about a stress-free life and regular exercise as well and it will be different for every single person. So here are a few tips that have helped me out and might make your life easier.

Plan your meals

It can range from a vague idea of what you’re going to eat that day, to a detailed schedule of your meals for the next few days. This all depends on the situation and the person. I like to have structure, so usually I will plan out my meals for the day. However, when I’m on holiday for example or travelling, I’ll go with the flow and eat whatever is available. Even though you have a plan, keep in mind that you should always have some room to wiggle and eat something else – don’t get obsessed with sticking to it 100% of the time.

4-6 meals a day

1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi… ok, recovered from the shock now? When I first read this, I thought whoever had made it up must have been out of their friggin’ mind. Turns out, they were actually onto something. Many people find 6 small meals instead of 3 big ones beneficial for the following reasons:

• You never feel too full
• You never feel guilty for eating too much
• You can always look forward to the next meal (which is less than 3 hours away)
• You never get too hungry

If you’re wondering what eating that often would look like, it’s not too scary.

Breakfast – (morning snack) – lunch – afternoon snack – dinner – (evening snack).

Don’t skip meals

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” – anyone remember that little saying? Well apparently not! You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen skip their breakfast! Either because they were trying to save calories or because they weren’t hungry. Well tough luck for those who think they’re saving calories, because those who skip breakfast have been known to get the munchies later on in the day. Those who say they aren’t hungry in the morning – well, it could be true, but still try and eat SOMETHING, whether it’s an apple or a banana, doesn’t matter. Usually it’s a matter of conditioning; once you get used to it, it won’t be that hard. As for the other meals, don’t skip them either; when you skip a meal, you will inevitably (want to) make up for it later by eating more in the next meal. The other way around – eating  a lot at breakfast and then starving yourself the rest of the day is also not a good idea.

Don’t graze

This is what people usually don’t “count”. Though 4-6 meals a day is perceived to be a massive quantity, it’s often not as bad as the continuous grazing that takes place in daily life. Snacking is the culprit, in the 4-6 meals a day- theory (for lack of a better term), snacks are meals as well. While on the other hand, it is not uncommon to find people “nibbling” on chips, nuts, candy bars on the hour. Every time you eat something your stomach has to digest it – perhaps obvious, but then why do people do it? Mostly because the next meal is (too) far ahead. If you eat often, it will stop you from grazing because you can always think: “Oh, I’m going to eat again in less than 3 hours, so I can wait”

Keep it real

Maybe it’s just me, but when things get weird I’m off. Labels with ingredients I can’t pronounce – no thanks, food I cannot recognise – not a good idea. Whatever you eat, make sure it’s not over processed and stuffed with chemicals. If you eat meat for example and you buy a sausage that says 35% pork, I’d question what the other 65% is, back off and walk away slowly. Same goes for vegan and vegetarian products, though it may be 100% from plant sources, it doesn’t mean it’s natural or necessarily healthy. Consider buying real tofu instead, tempeh, chickpeas or beans. Whatever you decide to eat, make sure it’s real food and not something that’s been concocted in a laboratory.

Remember fruit and veg?

Yeah, they’ve missed you too. I am deeply concerned with the way society goes about working with these two guys. This stems from the following scenarios:

Person A becomes vegetarian/vegan. People say: “Omg! Where are you going to get your protein from?”

Person B eats fruits once or twice every week and vegetables are treated like an alien life form. People say… nothing.

Do I even need to start about the importance of fruits and vegetables? I didn’t think so. People know they are important but the response to this claim is something along the lines of: “Yeah, yeah, I know”… No you don’t! Or else you’d be eating them!

And just to clarify on the protein subject, I do not underestimate the importance of protein, I’m just saying that people (vegans/vegetarians and omnivores alike) often do get enough protein but not enough fruits and vegetables. The plain, undeniable truth is that fruits and vegetables have practically all the minerals and vitamins you need, I have yet to find an animal source to rival this. Check out TERRA Bites for fun and tasty ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your daily diet.

Try it out & do your own thing

This is my last and perhaps most valuable tip: try things out. Trial and error is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge. And there’s a reason this method goes back a few million years – it works.

“Learning doesn’t happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again.” (Traill, R.R. Brunel University Thesis).

Vegetarian, vegan, raw, high fat, low fat, soy/soy free, nuts/nut free… There are just SO MANY different ways you can eat. There are healthy people all over the world and those healthy people do not all have the same diet, you need to see what works for you. So instead of just theorizing over what does and does not work: TRY IT OUT! Pick something and try it out for a week or two, or how ever long you decide, then evaluate and go from there.

If you feel like combining a few things from different diets – go for it. If you want to eat breakfast and lunch raw but dinner cooked – do it. 

Stop thinking about doing something and start doing it!