Nutrition Recipes
Health Recipe List:
1) The One Thing We Should All Be Eating: Fermented Foods
2) Let’s Get Back to the Raw Ingredients
3) Stop With the Fad Diets and Off-Limit Foods
4) Grow Your Own Crops, Harvest Them, and Enjoy With Others
5) Taking Food Breaks: Benefits of Fasting
6) Food Quality Influences Food Quantity
7) Let’s Talk Protein
8) Reconnect With Local Food Sources
9) Go For a Walk After Eating
10) Dessert First? Why Food Order Matters
11) Your Sleep Impacts Your Diet, and Your Diet Impacts Your Sleep What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
12) Pay Attention While You Eat
13) Decrease Your Time at the Big-Box Grocery Store
1) The One Thing We Should All Be Eating: Fermented Foods
Timing: 1 minute buying in a store, 1 minute eating
Level of Difficulty: Very easy, great bang for your buck
Serving Size: One serving a day of fermented foods
Spiciness: Not usually spicy unless you go for a spicy Kimchee
INGREDIENTS
Some fermented food options: sauerkraut (homemade or buy refrigerated), kimchee (homemade or buy refrigerated), yogourt (with active and live cultures and sugar free), kefir, pickled relish, miso paste (do not boil), tempeh, natto, kombucha
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Fermented foods are some of the most incredible foods you can eat to improve your health. Every single culture in human history has fermented foods as a celebrated part of their food tradition. (Bulsiewicz, p. 117) Fermented foods contain probiotics, which are little bacteria that help protect you against allergies, improve digestion, decrease bloating, boost the immune system, reduce inflammation, lower cholesterol, and create the lactic acid-producing bacteria that will fight cancer cells. (Miller, p. 34, 177) Fermented foods are especially important right now because so many of us have diets full of refined carbohydrates, unhealthy processed foods, and an excess of certain meats, which can all kill the healthy bacterial population of your intestinal lining. Bad gut health leads to issues such as diarrhea, indigestion, bloating, leaky gut, and other digestive problems such as difficulty absorbing nutrients. Introducing probiotic rich fermented foods into your diet is a key component to maintaining this healthy gut lining. (Miller, p. 177)
Another key component to eating fermented foods with probiotics is to make sure you are also eating PREbiotics. These are foods with fibers that will actually feed and maintain the health of the good probiotic bacteria in your gut. Some examples are: garlic, onion, leeks, bananas, and cereal grains in whole form like wheat, oats, barley, etc. Prebiotics lay the foundation and feed what you already have, and probiotics help reintroduce healthy bacteria you may be missing. In order to maximize the nutrients from the foods that you are eating, you need to have the proper bacteria available in order to break that food down and extract those nutrients to feed your body.
A quick note about supplementing with probiotics. You cannot fix a bad diet with probiotics. Probiotic supplements have a hard time colonizing your gut permanently, and often only have a small number of bacterial strains, while foods offer a wide variety. So make sure you think of a probiotic supplement as a “supplement” to your diet. Eat prebiotics and fermented foods in unison with your probiotic supplements if you choose to use them. A little bit goes a long way. Try to have something fermented every day, and this may just be the single most important positive improvement to your nutrition.
INSTRUCTIONS
Determine what fermented foods you actually enjoy, and can see yourself eating on a consistent basis. For example, if you do not like kimchee, don’t choose it.
Decide if you would like to make your fermented foods, or buy them, and then do it.
Set yourself up for success and make a plan to introduce the foods you have chosen into your daily diet. If you acquire the fermented foods, but do not make a plan to actually eat them, then it will not consistently happen.
Try out some different fermented food options, try out different eating times, and discover what works best for YOU.
If you choose to make your own fermented food such as sauerkraut (our favourite), make big batches at a time so you don’t have to make it as often, or make it with a friend to make it more fun.
PRO TIP: If you plan on making your own sauerkraut—which is one of our favourites—you will be getting a little workout in at the same time! Massaging the salt into the cabbage to get the liquid out of the cabbage will take some elbow grease, so you can count that as some movement as you bulk up your forearms!
* “Fermentation makes foods even healthier. Compared to other hyper-sterilized foods, the consumption of fermented foods could increase the number of microbes in the diet by up to 10 000-fold.” (Bulsiewicz, p. 124)
** “Fermentation was a staple in our diets until the 19th 20th century when we started new techniques for food preservation: canning, pasteurization, preservatives, refrigeration, freezing. These work by altering the microbes. Sterilizing destroys the bacteria, good and bad.
Now it is sterilized and mixed in with countless chemical preservatives to inhibit microbes and their food processing enzymes.” (Bulsiewicz, p. 122)
*** We are always looking for quick fixes when it comes to nutrition, adding some fermented foods to your diet every day may just be one of the quickest, easiest fixes you can do!
2) Let’s Get Back to the Raw Ingredients
Timing: The amount of time it takes to go get ingredients and put’em together
Level of Difficulty: Medium - Hard
Serving Size: Petite – once a month and build from there
Spiciness: Spicy, zesty, bold, whatever you deicide
INGREDIENTS
You, your recipe, and the raw ingredients
REASONING AND BENEFITS
If we want to improve the quality of what we’re eating and feeding to our family and friends, we need to cut back on the processed pre-made foods from ‘far away’. The closer to home and the less refined the better. Start choosing a meal here and there and prepare it from its most basic, unrefined elements. Instead of using pre-made burgers, buns and frozen fries, pick up some ground beef, add the spices, bake some buns, and cut up a tater and fry it yourself. Not only will this be healthier, but it allows you to make connections with local butchers, farmers, sellers at the market, and other people in your community, and it gives you a much better appreciation for what exactly goes into your food. It may sound intimidating, but it’s way more fun and it's worth the extra time. It may even inspire you to start a garden to grow some staple herbs and vegetables. If you don’t have the space outdoors, start on a windowsill. Start with one meal a month and then maybe once a week and go from there.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Pick a meal you love that you think you can break down into more raw ingredients.
2. Try to obtain ingredients from local sources - local farms, butchers, markets or even your own garden.
3. Prepare the meal from scratch.
4. Enjoy the benefit of getting more intimate with a recipe and the payoff of collecting and combining the ingredients to prepare a homemade meal.
PRO TIP: Watch your cooking skills explode as you start truly appreciating everything that goes into your favorite foods. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t taste perfect the first time or as good as the store-bought stuff, keep learning and refining.
* Make your own snacks for the week from raw ingredients, such as granola bars – try a variety of kinds.
** Include friends, family and children in the collecting of ingredients and the making of food from the raw materials.
*** For expert level - take things as far as you can possibly go! Mill your own wheat berries into flour, make your own cheese, get your own chickens.
3) Stop With the Fad Diets and Off-Limit Foods
Timing: A little time to set up a new nutrition plan
Level of Difficulty: Start with small, easy changes for success
Serving Size: Start small, grow from there
Spiciness: Mild - spicy depending on the changes
INGREDIENTS
Yourself and the foods that you like to eat
REASONING AND BENEFITS
When you make foods forbidden, what usually happens? “Dieters who suppress thoughts about certain foods will have the least control over their food, and science is proving that restricting a food will automatically increase your cravings for it.” (McGonigal, 223) Then when you eat that forbidden food, you often feel guilty, and feel like your diet has been destroyed. Whereas if you did not make it forbidden in the first place, you probably would have just eaten a little bit of it when you were craving it, and then moved on. Then there are the fad diets which often lead to “yo-yo dieting,” which is when you end up gaining back all the weight that you lost when you were on a diet. This can be worse for you than ever going on a diet in the first place. According to one study, we last on average around 5 weeks before we give up and revert back to how we used to eat. This is because we often completely overhaul our eating habits when we go on a diet, and a lot of these changes are ones that we don’t actually enjoy. When you don’t enjoy the foods you eat, or the way you eat them, then it is no wonder that diets fail. What you need to do to succeed with healthier eating is by making small changes, by eating the foods that you want to eat, by limiting unhealthy foods, not outlawing them, and by creating healthy patterns to follow that are realistic for YOU. There is no one size fits all when it comes to dieting, so do not go on a diet just because your friend is. Make nutrition changes you enjoy, make changes you can follow, and you will be well on your way to finally succeeding on healthier food patterns.
INSTRUCTIONS
If you have had a habit of trying different fad diets and outlawing foods, put a stop to it.
Be real with yourself. Think about what healthy foods and meals you actually enjoy, and create a plan to incorporate those foods throughout your week.
Do not overhaul your whole diet. This will most likely lead to failure. And if you do, and it does lead to failure, that is okay too because you can learn from it. Think about where you went wrong, but also think about the small things that did actually work, and throw those in your next plan.
Do not overthink how you eat, you have enough on your plate in your busy life. Do not make nutrition a stressor. Pick foods you like, pick meals you enjoy making and eating, start small, and be honest with yourself about what has worked and what has not and learn from it.
PRO TIP: This is a great recipe to do with a friend. Get together once a week to make a good meal together. If you can’t meet, choose a meal that you will both eat separately, and hold each other accountable to follow through with it.
* For every 2 pounds of weight you lose, your brain will unconsciously ramp up hunger and causes you to eat about 100 more calories. Our brains developed this mechanism to survive. Be aware of this, become more comfortable with allowing yourself to be hungry. (Easter, 139)
** Next time you crave a food that you are trying to limit, just have a little bit of it and move on to teach your brain that it is okay to have it.
*** Work at getting better sleep for 7-9 hours a night, and try to reduce your chronic stress. This will help you follow your new nutrition plan.
Sources
Learn more about avoiding fad diets and outlawing foods:
Easter, M. (2021). The comfort crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Rodale Books.
McGonigal, K. (2013). The willpower instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. Penguin.
4) Grow Your Own Crops, Harvest Them, and Enjoy With Others
Timing: Pretty fast to throw a plant in some dirt
Level of Difficulty: Easy don’t let others convince you differently
Serving Size: Start with a couple plants, then go from there
Spiciness: Deliciously sweet (unless you are planting hot peppers)
INGREDIENTS
Some dirt, some plants or seeds, some water, the sun, and some patience
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Have you ever tried growing any food? We have found that a lot of us have been convinced that growing fruits and veggies is too hard, the plants won’t survive, and bloody animals will eat everything. This is a perfect example of having our preconceived beliefs stop us from trying something new—based on nothing but maybe your Aunt Sally and Uncle Chet convincing you of this because they could never get their tomatoes to grow “no matter how much they tried.” We are here to tell you to forget all of that, go buy some seeds or plants, throw them in the ground or a planter, and just give it a shot. There is no better way to enjoy food than when you grow it yourself, water it to keep it alive, and enjoy the delicious food that comes off the plant. You will experience what fresh fruits and veggies taste like, you will get some pretty sweet nutrients because they weren’t lost in transportation, and you will get to share your crops with your friends and family—yes, even just one tomato plant can be your crop, be proud of it and even call it a harvest when you pick them! Eat it fresh off the plant, or find a new recipe to use them in, and better yet, invite some friends and family over for dinner to enjoy them together. Food has brought us together for centuries, let’s work on getting back to slowing life down a little and enjoying food together. If you have any kids, or if your friends or family have kids, make sure to try out this recipe. There is nothing better than seeing a little dude or dudette with tomato seeds running down their shirts, munching on a piece of kale in one hand, and a sugar snap pea in the other. Teach the next generation about quality food, make sure they know that growing food can be easy and fun, and teach them how to share and enjoy food with others.
INSTRUCTIONS
Before spring kicks into full gear, find a place to plant your crops. This could be a planter on your balcony, a pot inside by a window, a spot in your front or back garden, or decide to remove some grass to create a new food garden.
Go to the store and either buy seeds or seedling plants and bring them back home.
Plant them in the spot you picked out, and let the sun, the rain, and your watering do the work.
Watch them grow, and if you have kids, involve them in the process.
When they are ready to pick, it is time to enjoy your harvest! Eat them fresh off the plant or in a new or old recipe of yours. Enjoy them yourself, with your friends and family, or with your neighbours.
The food trifecta: home grown, quality foods, enjoyed with others. You can’t beat that.
PRO TIP: Do not make the mistake many people make and grow something that someone else told you to grow even though you don’t like that food. Start with a fruit or vegetable that you actually like. This will actually make you want to eat it, and then you can try planting some other foods to see if you like them better when you grow them yourself.
* You can put as much or as little effort into growing your crops. You will find loads of information on proper trimming and maintenance, but don’t stress about trying to do everything. If all you have time for is a little water every now and then, that is OKAY.
** If your plants do not grow, do not get discouraged. That happens. It might be your fault, it might not, who cares. Try again next growing season with the same foods or different. Eleven farmers have crops that don’t grow as they hoped.
*** We are going to say it one more time to close this recipe off, enjoy your crops with others no matter how big or small your harvest is, unless all you get is one lonely tomato on your plant, then you just enjoy the heck out of that one tomato.
5) Taking Food Breaks: Benefits of Fasting
Timing: Eating less will save you time
Level of Difficulty: Easy for short fasts, hard for long term
Serving Size: Start small by stopping eating 2-3 hours before bed, build from there
Spiciness: Fasts will be spice roller coasters. Sometimes mild, sometimes muy caliente
INGREDIENTS
Just yourself and the odd break from food
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Fasting has been an important part of cultures around the world for centuries, so let’s follow their lead and throw some fasts into our lives. Not only will the occasional fast help keep your body healthy, but it will be a test for your body and mind as you battle with the uncomfortableness of being hungry. Taking breaks is great in all aspects of life, we want you to think of fasting as taking a food break for your body. A break from food will give your body time to heal your gut, clean up your digestive system, break down stored fat cells, and give your immune system a break. (Shojai, 132) Let’s look at what goes on along the fasting timeline:
12-16 hours into the fast: When you finish eating your last meal of the day, it will be fully metabolized and broken down after about 12 to 16 hours.
16-24 hours into the fast: Your body will now be burning stored tissues for energy. Glycogen is the most easily accessible energy source, and your liver stores enough for around 24 hours. (Fung, p. 44)
After 24 hours: Your body will start breaking down stored fat for energy.
3 - 5 days: Body clean up time. These long fasts will reset your immune function, reduce inflammations, and you will be giving your body the time to find and destroy the old damaged cells that are hanging out in your body and replace them with newer healthier cells. These old damaged cells are often the pre-cancerous cells, and without fasting, it is hard for your body to attack these old cells because the body is constantly using the new incoming food for energy, and never has time to take out the trash. The body is pretty incredible, it will actually renew itself, but this only works if you give it the time to take out the trash first by throwing a longer fast into your schedule. (Fung, p. 151)
INSTRUCTIONS
* Drinking black coffee, tea, or lemon/salt water will not interrupt your fast.*
Start small. Try and finish eating your last meal 2-3 hours before you go to bed at night. If you stop eating by 7 pm, a 12 hour fast will bring you to 7 am. Doing that alone will help give your body time to break down all of your food from the day properly.
If you delay your first meal to 10:30 am, you are hitting 16 hours. The main thing here is that you are making sure you still eat the proper amount of protein in your day, which is .7 - 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
Time to throw in a 24 hour fast into your schedule. Dinner to dinner is a good way to get started here. Stay busy throughout your day to keep your mind off of hunger. Drink lots of water, and maybe avoid strenuous exercise to allow your body time to chill.
Time for the big leagues: 3-5 day fasts. Set yourself up for success and put a longer fast into your calendar. Drink lots of water, and eat some good nutritious food leading up to the fast. Drink lots of water during the fast, take it easy, and be ready for some ups and downs. Note how you feel, enjoy the increased focus, and be proud of yourself for fighting through some uncomfortable feels to give your body some time to clean out some trash!
PRO TIP: A great plan to start with is making those 12 hour fasts between dinner and breakfast your new normal, hit that 80% of the time, and then throw in some longer fasts throughout your year. We try to do 2 to 4 longer fasts every year to make sure our bodies have the time to do a clean up every year. Don’t overthink it, jump into a longer fast and your body and mind will surprise you with how well you handle it.
* “Medical minds ranging from Hippocrates in 500 BC to doctors in the 1800s, theorized that stretches without food could help prevent and even fight back against diseases like cancer.” (Easter, p. 166) We have known this for a long time, it is time for us all to capitalize on these benefits.
** A 24 hour fast is a great way to evaluate your relationship with food, show you that you don’t have to eat all the time, test your mind, and test how metabolically flexible your body is. (Starrett, p. 164)
*** Adrenaline, metabolism, and HGH all increase while fasting. (Fung, p. 49) The benefits are vast. Give your body a chance to do its thing and clean out the trash, get fasting.
Sources:
Learn more about the many benefits of fasting:
Easter, M. (2021). The comfort crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Rodale Books.
Moore, J., & Fung, J. (2016). Complete guide to fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting. Victory Belt Publishing.
Shojai, P. (2017). The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace. Rodale
Starrett, K., & Starrett, J. (2023). Built to move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. National Geographic Books.
6) Food Quality Influences Quantity
Timing: A few minutes around mealtimes
Level of Difficulty: Easy-medium
Serving Size: Small
Spiciness: Mild
INGREDIENTS
You and your food sources
REASONING AND BENEFITS
There are many factors that influence what and how much we eat. Sleep and stress are two that often get forgotten. But what we eat also influences how hungry we are. This may seem obvious, but it can get forgotten as we find ourselves overeating as a result of low quality foods. Our bodies crave nutrients. High quality foods are nutrient dense. Low quality foods are typically processed and high in refined sugars and unhealthy fats. These do not satiate our bodies well. If we are restricting our intake to mostly low-quality foods there is also the potential of developing minor nutritional deficiencies that can also lead to overeating. One way of reducing our food cravings is to get a diverse range of good quality foods that are freshly harvested. The farther food travels and the more refinement the less energy dense they become. This approach to eating is essentially synonymous with the well-known ‘Mediterranean diet’ which encourages eating local, fresh and diverse food of high quality.
INSTRUCTIONS
Familiarize yourself to some degree with food quality and what the major nutrients are in the foods you eat.
Make a point to prioritize eating a range of high quality foods first before going to those, often delicious, lower quality foods.
Eat as fresh as you can, the most energy dense foods are the ones you pick right from your own yard or get at a local farm.
Ensure you are covering all the major nutrients required by the body as nutritional deficiencies can lead to overeating.
PRO TIP: Slow changes are key to implementing healthy changes in your diet. Move towards a broad range of fresh, nutrient dense alternatives to processed low quality foods one food at a time.
*Just one more reason to start growing your own food or getting to know a local farmer.
** Get in the habit of trying diverse foods by buying new fruits, vegetables, seafood and meat on a regular basis and experimenting with new recipes.
*** Plan your meals in advance and have high quality snack foods ready, that you enjoy, for when you need a snack.
7) Let’s Talk Protein
Timing: A little extra meal planning time
Level of Difficulty: Depends how much you have to alter your diet
Serving Size: 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day
Spiciness: That’s up to you and how heavy your spice hand is
INGREDIENTS
Delicious protein filled food
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Of the three macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrate), protein is the most important to make sure you are having the proper amount. Protein and the ESSENTIAL amino acids that come with them are the ESSENTIAL building blocks of life. There are twenty amino acids that make up proteins, and they are the building blocks for our muscles, our enzymes, and many of the important hormones in our body. Nine of these twenty MUST be acquired through our diet because our bodies cannot synthesize them. The current dietary recommendations are much too low at around 0.4-0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. This should actually be DOUBLED to 0.8-1 gram per pound of bodyweight. If you weigh 180 pounds, you should be eating 130-180 grams of protein PER DAY. This is recommended to be spread out in 4 portions because our bodies cannot synthesize and use more than 40-50 grams of protein at a time. (Attia, p. 330-334) To get a picture of what that looks like, a 6 ounce piece of meat or fish is about 40-45 grams of protein, and a block of tofu is usually around 50 grams. This is ESPECIALLY important as you age because our bodies become less efficient at using the protein that you provide it, and muscle mass is so important as we age to keep the body moving well. Also, ligaments, tendons, connective tissue, cartilage, are all all built out of protein, so hitting your protein injuries will help you avoid injuries. (Starrett, p. 171)
INSTRUCTIONS
Have a look at your normal daily foods and add up the protein that you eat to see if you are eating a sufficient amount of protein.
If you are not, are there certain meals in the day that you are lacking in protein? Think of meal substitutes to start throwing into your routine.
It can be tough to hit these numbers with food alone, so try drinking a protein shake to get a 30 gram boost in your day. Then you can spread out the rest of the protein between your three meals, or two meals and a high protein snack.
Here is a quick list of possible protein sources: 6 ounce of meat or fish = 40-45 grams, 1 lb ground meat = 100-125 grams, canned sardines/salmon/herring = 20-50 grams, block of tofu = 40-50 grams, 3 eggs = 18-24 grams, 1 cup of cooked lentils = 18-20 grams, 1 cup of black beans = 16 grams, protein shake = 30 grams.
PRO TIP: There is no need to slap a one pound steak on your plate in a sitting. Your body cannot access all of that protein at once. Instead, delicately place a six ounce piece of meat on your plate, and load up the rest of the plate with some fibre such as vegetables, leafy greens, and some healthy grains.
* Eating protein will leave you feeling more filled up to help avoid the post meal snack cravings.
** Your protein needs increase as you get older, starting in your 30’s. As you age, make sure you are eating sufficient protein in order to slow the rate of muscle loss. Lift some weights while you are at it to really slow it down! If you are over 60, make sure to hit the higher range of the protein recommendations.
*** It is harder for our bodies to access all of the protein found in plant sources, so really make sure you are hitting these numbers when you are on a vegetarian diet. Supplement with shakes to help you get there.
Learn more about the importance of protein:
Attia, P., MD. (2023). Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. Harmony.
Starrett, K., & Starrett, J. (2023). Built to move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. National Geographic Books.
8) Reconnect with Local Food Sources
Timing: 15 minutes - 1 hour
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Small
Spiciness: Mild - medium
INGREDIENTS
You, and a map of your city
REASONING AND BENEFITS
It has become much too easy to disconnect yourself from your community and its sources of food. Both socially and nutritionally you should reconnect! Eating things that are local not only is healthier, but it will almost certainly taste better, help support growers and artisans and will connect you with interesting people in your community. It may inspire you to try new things based on the season or the recommendations of the sources themselves. It supports local economy, reduces your carbon footprint and is fun. And lastly, think about it from the perspective of the farmers, artisans and local store owners. They love seeing people from their own community trying, cooking and enjoying their ingredients. Try to replace as much as you can in your fridge, freezer and pantry with local goods.
INSTRUCTIONS
Once a week pick a part of your fridge or pantry and try to buy it from a local source.
Try to buy more and more of your food from local sources. Buy produce from local farms.
Buy meat from a local butcher or farmer.
Find a local source of sweetener; honey, maple syrup etc.
Continue until you have replaced as much as you can with local ingredients.
Foster these new relationships over years and many great recipes.
PRO TIP: Bring your children to see all the effort that goes into growing and making the food they are eating.
* Get to know the people behind the food. Ask them questions about the process, try a taste of everything.
** If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with vineyards or coffee roasters, etc. go take a taste and a tour.
*** Connect with local neighbours and make trades.
9) Go For a Walk After Eating
Timing: 10-15 minutes 3 times per day
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Small-medium
Spiciness: Mild
INGREDIENTS
You and your two legs
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Eliminate the habit of “resting and digesting”. Replace it with the habit of taking an after-meal walk. There are many benefits that come from this simple activity. Beyond the benefits that come from simply getting outside for some fresh air on our mood, sleep and cardiovascular fitness – the big benefit stems from what these walks do to your blood sugar and digestion. Taking a stroll shortly after eating reduces the spike in our body's blood sugar and encourages the body to use glucose more effectively, improving insulin sensitivity. The movement also helps with more efficient passage of food through your stomach which means sugars are absorbed more gradually, and sensations of bloating and indigestion are reduced. If you are in the habit of walking already, why not time it for when you get the biggest bang for your buck as a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health found that a 15 minute walk after eating was equivalent to a 45 minute walk taken at other times.
INSTRUCTIONS
Let’s not make this more complicated than it needs to be. Step 1: Eat
Step Two: Walk
PRO TIP: It may take a little while to form this habit, but try to form the link between eating and going for a walk afterwards. Eventually it should become instinctual, and if you will feel weird not doing it.
* Replace the mindset “rest and digest” with “move and metabolize”.
** Notice that you will feel less postprandial fatigue if you get in the habit of walking after meals.
*** Walking after meals is also a good way to curb that lingering hunger that sometimes drives us to overeat towards the end of a meal.
Learn more about the benefits of walking after eating:
Dunstan, D. W., Kingwell, B. A., Larsen, R., Healy, G. N., Cerin, E., Hamilton, M. T., Shaw, J. E., Bertovic, D. A., Zimmet, P. Z., & Salmon, J. (2012). Breaking up prolonged sitting reduces postprandial glucose and insulin responses. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 9(4), 486-493.
10) Dessert First? Why Food Order Matters
Timing: 10-30 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Small - Medium
Spiciness: Mild – Medium
INGREDIENTS
Just you and your kitchen
REASONING AND BENEFITS
You may have wondered to yourself; is there a reason why we eat food in a certain order, why we eat dessert last? The answer is, yes. This recipe will highlight the reasoning behind it. Ultimately it comes down to sugar and our bodies response to it. The lower the spike in blood sugar and hormone insulin after a meal, generally the better. Higher levels of blood sugar over time can be damaging to the body. Eating dessert or high sugar foods last allows us to become less hungry and therefore eat less of it. Not only will we eat less, but our bodies won’t absorb as much if we precede it with protein, healthy fats, and fiber rich foods. So, if you eat a piece of cake on an empty stomach this can raise your blood sugar more than if you ate that very same piece of cake after eating a healthy meal. Plan out your meals to eat the sweeter stuff after the less sweet stuff.
INSTRUCTIONS
Dessert is best served last. Set up your meals in a way that minimizes the blood sugar spikes from sweeter foods.
Plan for a few courses in your meals starting with courses high in vegetables, fiber and protein.
Take your time and don’t rush through these courses just to get to that delicious dessert.
PRO TIP: Pay attention to what your body is craving and try not to let it go right for those sweets.
* Plan meals to include foods that help prevent blood sugar and insulin spikes by learning to cook some great recipes.
** Incorporating exercise after a meal can also help keep that sugar spike to a minimum. Going for an after meal is a perfect way to dampen the spike.
*** For master level sugar dampening, you can precede your meal by having a shot of things like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
11) Your Sleep Impacts Your Diet, and Your Diet Impacts Your Sleep What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
Timing: The time it takes you to think about your cravings when tired
Level of Difficulty: Easy to recognize, hard to change how you respond
Serving Size: Start by just being aware of your cravings, slowly start making changes
Spice Level: She can get muy caliente when you are fighting those sleepy hunger cravings
INGREDIENTS
Yourself, your thoughts, your will to fight sleepy food cravings, and your ability to set yourself up better with quality sleep
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Think back to a time when you were not sleeping well, maybe it is right now, do you find you crave more food when you are tired? Do you find you crave all of those delicious sweet, salty, high calorie, caffeine filled foods? This is not because you are weak, or because you have poor willpower, this is based on your physiology. You have two hormones that control your appetite: (1) leptin tells us when we are full, and (2) ghrelin triggers our sense of hunger. Inadequate sleep will cause leptin levels to drop, so your body will no longer be told when it is full, and your ghrelin levels will increase, sending you more hunger pangs telling you to keep finding that delicious food you love so much. This leads to increased snacking and overeating, making you feel bad about the increased snacking and overeating, which then leads to increased snacking and overeating. That is one vicious cycle my friends. It gets worse, this insufficient sleep will cause bad bacteria to hang out in your gut microbiome, which will prevent your body from absorbing the nutrients from the good food choices that you do make. This overeating and increase in high-calorie sweets will then decrease your sleep quality. Hang in there. This is where the good news begins folks! Getting good sleep will reset the communication with these important hormones. Leptin will be able to tell you when you are full again, and ghrelin will reduce all of those hunger cravings you were fighting off while you had insufficient sleep. The good bacteria will start taking over again and absorbing those good nutrients, leading to a happier gut with less gastric pain. Good sleep will lead to better food choices, less food consumption, and then better sleep due to these good food choices. The vicious cycle has now turned into a friendly cycle. Eat well, sleep well, sleep well, eat well. You make the choice on what comes first.
INSTRUCTIONS
Awareness: how do you feel when you are overtired? Take a mental note, or write down the foods you are craving, the foods you are eating, the amount of food you are eating. How does your gut feel? Just become aware of how your body reacts to short sleeps.
Intervention: There are two paths we can go here.
Let’s focus on improving your sleep quantity. Give yourself the opportunity to sleep 7-9 hours to help reset the communication with the hunger bash brothers leptin and ghrelin. If you are giving yourself 7-9 hours of sleep opportunity and still feel tired, let’s work on quality. Start picking recipes in this chapter to focus on to fix your sleep quality.
You are in a busy stage of your life and you can’t achieve adequate sleep to help fix the bash brothers of hunger leptin and ghrelin. Let’s fight those cravings and overeating. When you notice yourself craving that second dinner plate or that sweet, salty food, have some quality food on the ready to eat instead such as fruits and veggies, or crush a ton of water, or pump out some quick exercise.
PRO TIP: The most important part here is awareness. When you start becoming more aware of the food you crave when you are tired, that is when you can start making changes to how you sleep or how you eat, leading to positive changes in both areas.
* We are cranky when we are tired, we aren’t as focused, and our nutrition takes a massive hit. Improve your sleep and you will not only fix your nutrition, but your crankiness and lack of focus. ** If you can start fighting food urges and cravings, you will be training your mind and body to get better at it. Before you know it, you will be able to say no to that one food that you have been trying to avoid for years now.
*** If you are struggling with where you should start here, flip a coin. Heads means improve your sleep first, tails means improve your nutrition first. Flip away and follow the wisdom of the coin.
12) Pay Attention While You Eat
Timing: Daily
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Medium
Spiciness: Medium
INGREDIENTS
You and your food
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Paying attention while you eat and not rushing or going into a ‘food trance’ helps in a number of ways. The most important thing is that you will enjoy your food more if you are paying attention. Sitting and savoring your food and ideally sharing it with others allows for better adsorption and avoids overeating. It promotes satiety, helping with weight control, and blunting blood sugar spikes. By slowing down and enjoying the food it will allow you to relax and be present. It can be a great time to work on maintaining your focus and on sustained attention. Focus on talking and connecting with those who are eating with you. Avoid screens; phones, television or computers.
INSTRUCTIONS
Pause before eating a snack or a meal. Take time to appreciate the food and remember to be present when eating.
What’s the rush? Slow down with eating. Make the conscious decision to slow down with meals.
Taste your food. Chew your food. Taste it some more.
Pay attention to when fullness sets in.
When satisfied don’t feel compelled to finish your plate. Put it away for later.
Remember to move after meals. Go for a short walk.
PRO TIP: Slowly changing your approach to eating, connecting with what goes in your mouth and the people sharing your meal, will help prevent mindless overeating and a mindless relationship with what you eat.
* Make the mealtime/snacktime an experience of connection with what you eat. Enjoy the food.
**Avoid screens while eating. Make a rule of no phones, television or computer screens while eating.
*** Use the mealtime as a good opportunity to work on improving your focus and attention, communication, and listening skills.
Sources:
Learn more about mindful eating:
Pollan, M. (2009). In defense of food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Penguin.
13) Decrease Your Time at the Big-Box Grocery Store
Timing: Daily-weekly
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Small
Spiciness: Mild - Medium
INGREDIENTS
You
REASONING AND BENEFITS
If you can slowly decrease your time at the big-box grocery store and instead buy your food at more local markets or directly from farms, if available, your diet will be better for it. The quality of food at big-box grocery stores has been steadily declining due to the industrialized nature of supply chains and focus on mass production over quality. Many fruits and vegetables are picked prematurely to survive long-distance transportation, sacrificing peak ripeness, flavor, and nutritional value. Processed foods dominate the shelves, high in artificial additives, preservatives, and excess sugars to extend shelf life and reduce cost. The reliance on large-scale farming often prioritizes monoculture practices that deplete soil health, resulting in less nutrient-dense produce. In contrast, most local markets and farms emphasize freshness, seasonal availability, and sustainable farming methods, delivering food that is not only healthier but also more flavorful and friendly to the environment. If we can slowly shift our shopping habits away from the big-box stores, we can prioritize quality and nutrition while supporting practices that benefit both people and the planet.
INSTRUCTIONS
Start small by buying one thing locally instead of at the big-box store. An easy example of this would be if you eat honey, start buying it locally, someone’s got to have bees.
Every month continue to swap something out from your current shopping list to a source that is more local, when available.
Try to get to the point where most of your meat, dairy, eggs, and produce is from local sources.
PRO TIP: Befriend a local farmer, butcher, or market owner. Learn how they grow their food, learn how they view their food. This will allow you to appreciate the local food even more.
* Shifting away from the big-box grocery stores will also naturally help you get away from foods that are prepackaged and less healthy.
**Those packaged things that you previously purchased, such as cookies, you can still make yourself at home from scratch, and will likely be much healthier.
*** Building relationships with local producers is a nice way to be in the know about the freshest things you may not have previously known about. You may have to get more creative with your cooking.
