It’s more than what you eat.

The media is always talking about what people are eating. As a nutritionist, I find the public coverage of food and nutrition quite devastating. It’s simply misrepresentative of how to actually eat a healthy diet and confuses so many people.

Nutrition is weird, in that it’s one of the few professions everyone seems to think they know about, with very few working with a professional to improve their lifestyle. People overcomplicate things, go on fad diets, and get defensive when others talk about what they are doing.

I would never go up to a lawyer and say: ‘Hey, I bet I know how to do your job, in fact, I don’t need you, I’ll do it myself!’

Yet, I feel so many people do this with their health- mainly because they think they have knowledge from the media.

Unfortunately, it is really just not the same and is a reductionist, unindividual approach.

One thing I wanted to talk about today is all the ways outside of the content of your food, that matter and contribute to your health when you are eating. This is often overlooked unless you work with a professional so I wanted to share some vital tips for you to start incorporating for better health, digestion, and benefits.

Always eat at a table

In our modern world, food has become a grab-and-go commodity. People think for convenience, unaware of the detriment to their health a lot of these habits have.

We have lost the art, especially in the younger generations, of sitting around at a dinner table to eat. I feel grateful that growing up this was a ritual every night. I miss it now as an adult not living with my family, but very much try and replicate it for myself as much as possible.

When you are sitting down for dinner, try and sit down at a table.

I know you would rather watch in front of the tv, but hear me out.

When we sit at the table, we take more time for our meal. We are undistracted, we are also sitting in a good position to receive food and nutrients and we carve out sacred time to eat our food.

Eating our meals with more focus and mindfulness helps our digestive process as we are not distracted or overstimulated.

Simply eating at a table starts to mark this act of eating a meal as something important on its own, rather than something to be blended in with the TV. This overtime will have knock-on effects on how you view your meals, how willing you are to cook when you are feeling tired, and also how well you digest your food.

Cook from scratch

Meals bought out are not the same.

I repeat meals bought out are not the same.

People have no idea what is added to food when eating at restaurants or buying a ‘healthy’ preprepared meal. Let me tell you, it’s a lot of oils and high-inflammatory substances that don’t need to be in your food.

Like eating at the dinner table, we have lost the art of cooking.

Preparing, chopping, cooking- it’s a meditative act. It is a creative process and invites greater mindfulness and flow into your life. Not only this but you have complete control over what ingredients you are eating.

Spend more time cooking meals at home, it may seem boring, but it is one of the fundamental pillars of life- creating a healthy meal for yourself.

Every time you cook a meal instead of ordering out, you are also moving your nervous system into a more parasympathetic state, moving to more presence and relaxation, that you will take into eating your meal and will help your digestion and absorption of the healthy ingredients!

Not only this but you will feel better about yourself which will improve your health!

So many of us are spending our lives not living in line with our true values. We get caught in the Netflix, order food, over-stimulated cycle.

All it takes is the will to break that cycle, throw some ingredients together in your kitchen however basic, and voila, you are breaking the stress cycle your nervous system is in. You are creating more self-esteem, better habits, and eating healthier each time.

Eat with people

When we eat with other people, several things happen.

1. Due to the social nature of the activity we activate the parasympathetic nervous system and allow our bodies to be ready for more efficient and greater digestion and absorption of our food.
2. We create good feelings and positive emotions around food and that only helps our overall health around food.
3. We help to remove ourselves of any guilt or shame we might have around food, by being with others, and breaking bread.
4. We might try new foods or expand our palette from our usual.

Many of us live alone, but I invite you when you can try and go have a meal with someone you love.

I recently spent my Sunday cooking dinner with my 96-year-old grandma, and It was such a lovely process.

We took our time cooking, we chatted, we collaborated and then we reaped the rewards of our labor.

I realized she cooks every meal at home and has done so for the last 60+ years, one of the reasons she is a healthy elderly woman and still going strong!

Take a breath before eating

We have talked a little about our parasympathetic nervous system so far, and we will talk about it again here- because it is so important in our health and in our food.

If we are consuming our meals in a stressed state- which many of us don’t even know we are in we will not digest our food properly or absorb the goodness we are eating. Over time this will lead to many issues like digestive issues, fatigue, and more.

It is important that we start to really look a little more at HOW we are eating not just what.

Before you eat, take a moment, take a pause.

Feel your body, where you sit, notice your breath, and take a moment to become aware of your present moment.

Then perhaps take a deep breath in and a big sigh out.

Look at your food, what colors are on your plate, what is the consistency, just take a moment to be here now, before you start eating, to allow the moment regulation in your nervous system, and therefore optimum assimilation of the food you are eating.

Eat at similar times each day

The body and nervous system run on a 24-hour clock, it learns to expect things at certain times each day. When you don’t give it that, it moves into more of a stress state, given the unpredictable nature of not knowing when it will get food for example next.

Where possible try and establish a routine with your meals, at similar times each day. This is beneficial to your nervous system health and overall well-being.

Please, eat breakfast

Ladies- I am especially talking to you here.

I grew up in London where the norm with women was just to survive on coffee until a salad at lunch.

Unfortunately, this is destroying any chance of optimum hormone health or general well-being.

It is essential we eat upon waking, this breaks our fast and regulates our blood sugar levels which helps regulate our hormones. When we constantly skip breakfast we are stressing our adrenal glands every time, putting ourselves in a more chronic stress state, over time causing more inflammation in the body, poorer gut health, and imbalanced hormones.

We don’t want to be ever ‘fasting’ for longer than 12–14 hours as a woman due to our hormones.

Eat your porridge before you run to work.

Trust me.

Try not to eat 2–3 hours before sleeping

You have probably heard this one before, and I have to admit I too in the past have struggled with this, but it is very important.

The later you eat the more your body is spending time digesting your food when it is time for it to get to work on restoring, regenerating, and all the wonderful things it does whilst we sleep.

If you wear any kind of sleep tracking device like Whoop or oura ring, you will notice your sleep score lower when you eat later and your recovery score lower too.

Try and limit food from 8pm to give your body a break and time to wind down without digesting before bed.

There you have it. Many things for you to focus on alongside what you are eating to improve your health and well-being. If you are interested in learning more about how I work with clients you can read more here or book a call with me here.