Setting Nutrition Goals That Actually Feel Good
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nutritionist, dietician, or nutrition professional of any kind. I am just sharing my experiences and insights working with a wide variety of people whose over-arching goal is to be healthier, stronger, and/or more fit. That is the perspective and experience I am pulling from. Any nutrition concerns you have should be discussed with a professional.
As a trainer, I am often asked, "What should I be eating?" or some variation. The truth is, I cannot tell you. Nutrition is complex. Your nutritional context and health history are a consideration. Your history and relationship with food are important. Your culture and upbringing play a role. Your lifestyle is a huge factor, whether you eat out a lot, whether you cook for yourself or depend on someone else to cook, when you have time to prepare and eat meals. It's complicated, and I never get proscriptive about it. It is, in fact, illegal for me to provide individualized nutrition plans in my state with my current certifications, and I take that to heart. I will never give a client a nutrition plan. I have from time to time given them information on various meal plans or ways of eating from reputable sources, but have never said, "You must eat this to train with me, or my plan won't work."
Even if I did give meal plans to people, I doubt more than a single-digit percentage would actually follow them, based on my experiences giving "homework" to clients. Often, even the simplest tasks are forgotten, never mind work that takes many steps and planning to carry out.
That is because eating plays many roles in our lives. We eat to live, yes, and to nourish our bodies with the nutrients they need to function well, of course. But we also eat for comfort. For stimulation. For social interaction. For novelty, or familiarity. For control, stability, ritual. Eating is complicated!
There are some goals I am always willing to support when it comes to eating to help clients in reaching their larger health, fitness, performance, and aesthetic goals.
Start small. No, smaller. No, smaller than that. Ok, now we're talking.
If you are trying to turn a new chapter on your nutrition, you are going to be tempted by a total overhaul. The world tells you this will change your life. Restrictive diets abound! Cut out all sugar, go vegan, paleo, keto, do an elimination diet like Whole30 or low-FODMAP, eat all the protein, all the fat, all the carbs! Cleanse, restrict, eliminate!
Stop it.
Don't do that.
Please, I am honestly begging you.
Unless you have a severe medical condition and have been instructed by a doctor that if you do not severely change your diet or you will die/hurt yourself, do not change your whole eating pattern! It will not last. It may lead to deficiencies, hunger, and a restrict/binge cycle that will just set you back, break you down, and perpetuate the cycle.
I have clients come to me with so much guilt, shame, and uncertainty around food, and taking a big leap does not build confidence. It only increases confusion.
You want to make minor tweaks to your current diet, not scrap everything and start with a completely new eating style.
So here are some goals that DO work to help you change your eating habits for the better, whether you're already pretty healthy, or getting take-out and convenience food for every meal.
Overall advice
Here is my general advice for people looking to improve their nutrition to be healthier:
Think about what you can ADD, and do not focus on restriction. Add veggies, add more nutrient dense foods, add fiber, add protein. Don't think too much about what you shouldn't eat. Focus on what you should eat. More plants. More high quality protein and healthy fats.
Tracking should be handled carefully, but can also be your most powerful tool. If tracking drives you down a path of obsession, control, or restriction, it is not for you. But if you can appreciate the insights without taking it so seriously you are rearranging your life, you can learn a lot! There is a lot more to track than just calories, though, and while calories are a very interesting data point, they are not one that I typically work with for clients. Usually much more insight comes from quality (macro and micro nutrients) of diet, rather than quantity, and even tracking fullness/hunger, emotions around meals, how many meals a day, or how much time was spent on meals and eating. Some people track blood glucose, or protein. What you track depends on your larger goal, but the act of tracking helps you keep your goals in your mind every day, and can alter your behavior from the act of tracking alone.
Nutrition is highly individual. If you want to increase longevity, your nutrition goals are going to look different than someone whose main goal is to build muscle. If you a woman who just gave birth, your goals will be different from a teenager playing sports or a man with an office job. I have made these goals as general as I can. You will have to plug in the individual factors for yourself.
Changing your diet is hard. Food can and should bring you comfort, joy, pleasure. But it also needs to nourish you. Finding where those things overlap is going to be your personal best nutrition plan.
Beginner goals
Drink water. I can't say exactly how much water. Your body needs around 3-4 liters of fluid, but that includes the water content of your food and other drinks like coffee, tea, soda, etc. If you don't drink any water right now, a good goal might be one 16 oz. bottle a day, working your way up from there. If you drink a little already, maybe make it 2 or 3, just to make sure you're well hydrated. If you drink a lot of soda or energy drinks, maybe set the goal of swapping one of those out for a bottle of water. Don't listen to influencers telling you to drink a gallon a day. That is not appropriate for most bodies and lifestyles.
Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. This is one of my favorites, because it is easy to track, and it is a huge wake-up call for many with regards to their plant intake. It can be a little confusing, so I always say a serving is around a cup, and you can eyeball it. This is all about increasing those vital foods that provide micronutrients, fiber, water, and satisfaction to our meals. Try it out and shock yourself with both how easy it is, but also how often meals don't include any fruit and veg at all!
Monitor your daily protein intake. For my folks with strength or muscle growth goals, this one is a no-brainer. Find a tracker you like (I'm a fan of Chronometer, but there are so many free options available!) and log your protein. Don't pay much attention to anything else, just track how much protein you are getting in a day. There are many calculators online that can help you set an appropriate goal for your size, activity level, and sex.
Set a timer and eat mindfully X times per day. I love this goal so much, but so few people are willing to do it! You would set a timer you thought was reasonable (maybe 5 minutes for a quick snack, 20 minutes for a real meal) and you would sit without distraction with your food. Eat with interest. Notice how you feel, notice textures, tastes, colors. Maybe you keep a journal and write down how hungry you were when you started, how you felt before you ate, how full or satisfied you were after you ate. This will completely change your relationship with food. It will make you feel more satisfied with your food. It will help you get in tune with your body's hunger and fullness signals. It's a wonderful goal to set!
Intermediate/Advanced Goals (Not right for everyone)
Track your eating for two weeks. If you work with a doctor or nutritionist, this will likely be something they want you to do as well. I will warn you, it's tough, and not just because remembering to write down everything you eat is tricky. It is tough not to change your behavior and just track what you really eat. It is tough to keep emotions out of it. It's tough to keep it a healthy habit. That is why I don't use this goal often with clients. It is incredibly powerful, and you can learn a lot, but it is difficult to walk the line between precision and insanity. However, it is the best way to really figure out if there is a big piece missing in your nutrition profile.
Eat only from the grocery store. This is for my takeout lovers, my ballers with a deep restaurant budget. When I say this, I don't mean every meal has to be made from scratch, but that you should be eating things you buy from the grocery story. You can even buy convenience meals, just make sure it comes from the grocery store. This goal is not for everyone, as many people already do this most of the time. But if someone is struggling to meet their goal or feel better about their nutrition, eating from the grocery store builds a habit of knowing what is actually in your food. Restaurants and takeout often include extra salt, butter, oil. They are often fried, too large in portion, and you have no way to know! Even if you get pizza from the grocery store and just heat it up in your oven, you have a little better idea of content, AND you will improve your financial life as well. This goal is all about breaking a bad habit, not necessarily changing everything at once. So if you have tacos every Tuesday, keep having tacos, just get it from the store instead of the restaurant.
Keep a food journal. This one is heavy on administration. Write down not only what you eat, but how you felt. Were you a little hungry, very hungry, ravenous? Were you in a heightened emotional state, or calm? This is a great goal for people who feel a little out-of-control around food. If you are an emotional eater, it can help you identify triggers, and make better choices for your long-term health.
Eat 30 plants a week. This is definitely an advanced goal, and not right for everyone! This goal is for those who just want to generally be healthier, and more satisfied by their food. Anything counts. Herbs? That's one! A few olives before dinner? Yep. A sprinkle of pumpkin seeds on your soup or salad? Add a tally mark. This goal is all about improving your digestive health by feeding your microbiome a wide range of foods. It's also surprisingly tricky! Eating more plant foods is not right for every goal or every person, but many people could benefit from seeing how much or little variety they have in their normal diet, and changing the focus from calories or restriction to micronutrients, fiber, and satiety. It is often a wake-up call, not only to how little variety you might be eating, but also how easy it is to increase your variety. One meal-prepped salad with tons of veggies, herbs, legumes, nuts/seeds, and fruit, dried or fresh, can get you half-way to your goal, AND provide a quick, easy side for meals that week. Getting a stew or soup with many different veggies also gets you there! A jar of kimchi, salsa, or mixed pickles can add flavor and boost your weekly count by 5 or more.
Prep your meals for the week. This one makes a lot of sense for some people, and zero sense for others. If you are in a busy time of life, this may save you, or drown you, so be careful! It is one of the more labor and planning intensive goals you can try to meet. But most of our worst nutrition choices are made because we are human. We are tired, we are hungry, we are busy. Prepping a few nutritious meals that support your goals can make meeting your goals feel easy! I like this one because it is a loving gift to your future self, and practicing that kind of love can be powerful. You can do a full meal prep for every meal that week (high commitment), or you can start a little simpler by just prepping one or two things for the week. Maybe try prepping a protein and a side. Season and roast up a tray of veggies and chicken breasts. Make a big, hearty salad. Or even just prep ingredients. Sometimes cutting veggies or marinating meat is the thing that stops you from cooking at the end of a long day. Having your onions, celery, carrots, or mushrooms chopped already can make a high-effort meal feel easy.
Focus on micronutrients. This is a tough one to track, as most apps don't have all micronutrients for all foods, but it can be huge for some people. It is also highly individual, and I would usually only recommend it if your doctor brought it up or your tracking revealed a hole in your diet. If you are a vegan or vegetarian, you might want to track your B12 or iron, either from your diet or from a supplement source, to ensure you are getting enough. If you are a woman, you might want to consider calcium, vitamin D, iron, or folate. For men, you might want to watch fiber or magnesium. Again, this will be highly individual, and difficult to track well, so this is only something I would recommend if someone knew they had a deficiency, or had tracked thoroughly and discovered their usual diet was falling significantly short.
There you have it! Some goals to help you build a healthier diet. I hope that I have provided enough options to meet a variety of goals and lifestyles.
Do you do any of these? Are you excited to try one of them? Do you think I'm crazy? Let me know!
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