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17. Healthy is Relative — Why Doing Everything Right Still Isn't Working
9 Plays14 hours ago
Yu can eat healthy and still not see progress.
You might be doing everything "right" — and still missing the point.
Because here's the truth — healthy eating has general standards we should all strive for, like getting enough protein, fiber, and micronutrients.
But we forget - Healthy is not an objective term. It's subjective to the person, their goals, their background.
In this episode of The Basics of Balance, I’m talking about how you can still be missing key nutrients, eating more than your body needs, or making it nearly impossible to lose weight — even while eating "clean."
In this episode we cover:
- Why healthy eating is not the same as a weight loss plan
- The general standards we should strive for — protein intake, fiber, micronutrients — and why they matter
- Why logging might be beneficial for some but not for all
- Why generic nutrition advice can still leave you nutrient deficient
- How you can be eating too much healthy food and stalling your weight loss without realizing it
- How you can lose weight eating junk food and gain weight eating clean
- Why organic doesn't automatically mean healthier
- Why some people need to push harder in their workouts while others need to give themselves permission to rest
- How to stop following a one-size-fits-all approach and start understanding what YOUR body actually needs
This episode will finally give you some answers if you feel like you’re eating healthy but spinning your wheels.
💬 Comment below — Have you ever followed all the "healthy" rules and still felt stuck? What did that look like for you?
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Basics of Balance'
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Basics of Balance. Just breaking down, you know, just some health and some fitness topics, trying to cut through the noise, trying to help us kind of like reframe how we hear certain things online to help us focus on really what matters in our health and our fitness journey.
What Does 'Healthy' Mean?
00:00:20
Speaker
um And so today i want to talk about how healthy is a very vague term that does not is not an objective term, okay? Healthy is relative. It is very much subjective to who we are talking about, what we are talking about. Context matters, okay? And it is very common in the health and the fitness world that we look at things as black and white, right? we are all in or we're doing nothing at all. um You know, this is the best exercise to do to target belly fat, um which kind of, you know, denotes anything outside of that. You're not doing the best, right? This food is great to, you know, improve your insulin response. And so, you know, we kind of hear these like absolutes, right?
The Importance of Context in Fitness
00:01:07
Speaker
We hear these terms and we follow that kind of advice because obviously we want to make healthy choices, right? However,
00:01:16
Speaker
Things are not necessarily always what they seem, and healthy is just too vague. um Context very much matters. Things are rarely black and white in the fitness industry because you are a living, breathing human being. um Our energy is you know fluctuating based on what we are going through you know in our life, throughout our day.
00:01:36
Speaker
um you know Not every single day looks the same, so we're always you know doing the best with what we have and You know, the same can be said for your health and your fitness, right? There is a standard that we want to strive to. um And so, you know, there might be healthier choices that we can make. There might be healthier habits that we can implement, but healthy is very much relative, okay, to the person, to the context of their life.
Personalized Health Advice
00:02:01
Speaker
And so, you know, oftentimes when I'm working with a client and if they ask me a question, um you know, whether or not I actually say this to them in my head, it is, well, it depends. I'm never going to just like
00:02:15
Speaker
you know, word vomit on them, it very much depends. And sometimes I need to ask more questions to give them the answer that they're looking for, right? Because what's healthy for one person might not be healthy for another. Or depending on what we're focused on, I might give you, um you know, some advice versus somebody else in a similar situation. I might give you a different advice, right? For example,
00:02:38
Speaker
Um, last week I, ah I was checking in with two specific clients. Okay. One client I work with just on the nutrition side of things. Uh, and another client I work with training and nutrition. Okay. And so for client a, we just started working together.
Managing Calorie Intake
00:02:54
Speaker
So we're kind of still like in the first like few weeks of just like like getting the ball rolling, like learning what's normal for her and what's not like kind of where she struggles and, how I can help her and, you know, things like that, right? It takes time to kind of learn these things in a coach-client relationship. And so all that to say, we right now um are focused on trying to eat enough calories, trying to learn how to spread her calories out throughout the whole day, right? While trying to stay within her calorie targets, all right?
00:03:24
Speaker
And so she doesn't have a whole lot of parameters outside of that because I take things one step at a time because I have learned um you know over the years, if we do too much too fast, that's when we get overwhelmed, right? That's when things don't stick because we're doing too much. And so when we're learning the basics of nutrition, we take things one step at a time. She starts logging just for awareness, just to see how her choices add up. And that right there has so much value because that's setting the foundation, right, for nutrition. everything else that we're going to focus on. Okay. We have to have that understanding so that when we go out to eat, even if we're not logging or anything like that, we can still identify, Hey, I remember when I logged this a few weeks ago, it wasn't as healthy as I thought. Right. And it triggers an action. So anyways, You know, we we spent some time logging just for awareness for, it you know, to see how our choices add up. And then last week we were focused on logging for her calories. Right. So, like I said, spreading her calories out throughout the day, trying to stay within her calorie targets. Right.
00:04:25
Speaker
before we we move on to more specifics, protein, fiber, you know, making healthier choices, things like that. So her only parameter is calories. And so while I was going through her log and, you know, just checking to see kind of what she normally gravitates towards, um,
00:04:41
Speaker
She had logged a chocolate cake as part of her lunch. And honestly, that chocolate cake didn't do anything to her calorie targets, negatively speaking. She was able to fit in ah that chocolate cake into her day. And at the phase that we are focused on right now,
00:04:58
Speaker
That's all I asked her to do. So like, what's the issue here? You know what i mean? So I reached out to her in my check-in response and I basically, I wanted to point that out, okay? I wanted to point that out basically saying, I want you to know i am happy to see that you were able to fit in some chocolate cake into your daily targets, okay? Number one, that's going to help her see, hey, this can be flexible. I don't have to give up my favorite foods because it's true. And also, number two, um it's really important that we, from an early ah early on, we stop labeling foods as good and bad, right? When we label foods as good, um anything outside of those good foods is bad. And when we eat those bad foods, we feel like we're doing something naughty and we feel guilty and we feel shameful. And arguably speaking, when we tell ourselves we can't have bad foods, well, when we're in front of those bad foods because we told ourselves we can't have it, guess what we're going to do?
00:05:56
Speaker
We're going overindulge on those foods we said we couldn't have, right? Because we're labeling things incorrectly. And so it's a way to kind of normalize um you know our food choices. All foods fit in moderation. The phase that she's in right now, she made cake fit in her lunch.
00:06:10
Speaker
Good for you, girl. You know what i mean? Like, I want you to know that.
Tailored Advice for Different Clients
00:06:12
Speaker
Client B, on the other hand, ah she is, i would say, a little bit more advanced in nature. We have been working together for a few months, um and we first initially started working together. She wanted to build muscle, okay? So we kind of took her through a bulking phase, um And we have since then you know started dropping her calories down ah to start chasing fat loss, right? To kind of chisel away um and see the definition that she worked so hard for in her bulking phase, okay? For her, I saw her eating you know chips and um um you know fries and things like that. And for her, even though she was able to fit those foods in throughout her day, also in her check and responses, she was telling me that she was dealing with some hunger. um And pretty early on, we want to make sure that we are eating foods that provide us enough nourishment to help us combat hunger. Not all calories are created equal. And for somebody like her, who we're starting to taper down calories, we're going to want to make sure that we are making choices that provide us as much nourishment and and support to try to curb hunger. Right. So like French fries is a carb source. That is going to be very different than, let's say, butternut squash, right?
00:07:29
Speaker
Also a carb source, butternut squash is going to have a lot more fiber, is also going to have a lot more volume. So your butternut squash is going to go a lot further for you in terms of appetite suppression and control, okay?
00:07:42
Speaker
All that to say, you know, I was seeing her having, you know, some chips and things like that, some cheesecake in her log, but she was telling me that she was dealing with hunger. And I know that we are not done tapering down her calories. I know that we still have some work to go. And so we need to get ahead of that.
00:07:58
Speaker
We need to get control over that hunger from the get-go, right? So, hey, let's make these choices, you know, have have this instead of your chips, stuff like that. So all that to say, Context matters, okay? Same situation, meaning logging your food, all of these foods are fitting within your daily targets. However, context. Client A is in a different phase than client B, and client A is also a little bit, I would say, more novice in her level of you know health and fitness and logging. then client B, context matters. So as an example of that, similarly speaking, logging in general, a lot of people take these absolute statements to say logging is ah promotes like eating disorder tendencies. And I very much disagree with that, okay? Kind of what I was saying with client a we use our log to see how our choices add up, to give us the information we need so we know how to make
00:08:55
Speaker
more accurate choices when we're not logging. Meaning the point of logging is to not log for the rest of your life. and And what's going to make logging healthy or not healthy for you, obsessive or not obsessive for you, is the intention behind your choice to log, right?
00:09:11
Speaker
And so if you are logging to simply hit numbers, right, on an app and not paying attention to how your choices are adding up and how those choices, you know, fuel you a little bit more than others and, you know, things like that, well then sure, that that can turn into very much a obsessive frame of mind, especially if you have Kind of those disordered patterns that we have kind of picked up throughout our life and whatnot. um And also the intentions behind the action, right? It's a tool of logging, but how are we using that tool to limit us from eating whatever we want? And if we want... to eat that chocolate cake, but it doesn't fit? um You know, if we do eat it now, we feel like we're doing something naughty.
00:09:52
Speaker
Or do we log with the intention of trying to see how much we can get away with? Like pre-logging some treats, for example, and then working the rest of your day around that chocolate cake, okay? Being able to say, this is either limiting me and I'm trying to hit numbers and it's making me feel shameful and guilty and ah guilty and obsessive versus, hm This is gonna help me make better choices for my day. It's also gonna help me see how I can make the most out of those choices. And therefore I wanna make sure I'm fueling myself accordingly. And you see what I'm saying? Very different.
The Dual Nature of Food Logging
00:10:28
Speaker
So logging is not necessarily unhealthy. I think the intentions behind why you're logging and based on the person and their background um is going to dictate if it's healthy or probably not the best idea for you. See what I'm saying?
00:10:46
Speaker
ah Similarly speaking, um you know, Some people need to be more okay with eating cold meal prep in their car during lunch versus some people need to be more okay with giving themselves permission to go out to eat and not worry so much about what they're eating, right? So that right there, another healthy is relative example. Some people need
00:11:17
Speaker
are not necessarily used to practicing restraint, planning their meals, having structure, eating similar meals throughout the entire week, and just allowing food to just be food, to just basically get you from one meal to the other, to check a box, to provide your body nourishment and fuel to get through your day, versus somebody who is maybe obsessive right about food,
00:11:41
Speaker
tracking their food, for example, and, you know, needing to to know what's in every single gram of every single thing that they're eating. Well, that might be really hard for them to be like, hey, I'm going to go out to eat with some some girlfriends. um I'm just going to order what I think sounds good. And like for some people, that's really hard to do. um So, you know, healthy is relative in those situations.
00:12:04
Speaker
How about exercise, all right? Rest days. Ooh, this is such a big, big, big topic for um a lot of people who are learning ah you know strength training and how your workouts can have purpose, right? And gives you permission to take rest days because when you understand you are lifting to build and your building happens on your rest and recovery, not during the workout, right? We've talked about that a few times. um You know, rest days are crucial. It is absolutely fundamental fundamentally crucial. However, if you're coming from a background of no pain, no gain, bootcamp style workouts, you're working out six, seven days a week, you feel guilty for taking a rest day, well, hey,
00:12:49
Speaker
it's probably a healthier choice for you to learn how to take rest days versus somebody who is sedentary, who is you know trying to establish that consistency of working out regularly, right?
00:13:05
Speaker
And they're maybe be giving into, i don't feel motivated. I just don't feel like working out. Well, no, you need to push yourself. You're not always going to feel like it, right? You're not always going to want to work out. And so in those situations, Yeah, we need to just kind of like go with the flow. We need to just go through the motions. It might not be your best workout, but hey, we are trying to establish consistency. So for that first person who is no pain, no gain, um you know, yes, we need to learn how to take rest days. We need to learn how to implement them, how to educate yourself regarding
00:13:38
Speaker
how building muscle works and how we make progress and things like that to to give you that um awareness, that understanding, that knowledge to give yourself permission to take rest days, right? Versus somebody who is just getting started and is not used to um pushing back on their feelings sometimes, right? And not necessarily giving into, oh, I don't feel like it and recognizing you're not always going to feel like it. And this is what's going to help you get where you're trying to go, you know?
00:14:07
Speaker
um You know, pushing yourself to work out two different situations based on workouts.
Misconceptions in Fitness Advice
00:14:12
Speaker
You know what i mean? So I think when it comes to healthy, we have to remember that context very much matters. OK, and what's healthy for one person is not necessarily going to be healthy for another person. Which is why it's so um hard for somebody in the health and the fitness space to see, you know, influencers say things like, you know, do this kind of workout. And it might not be the best workout for somebody or it's not realistic. And it's like, ah guys, it's, you know, let's cut through the noise kind of thing. We're kind of learning right now, healthy is very much going to be dependent on the person, what they're working towards, you know intentions behind their intentions behind their actions, things like that. In that same line of logic, you know as a trainer, as a nutritionist, a lot of people come to me saying, you know i try to make healthy choices. i know I eat healthy, but like I'm not seeing changes or I still don't have energy or whatever the case is, they're eating healthy and they think that should be enough to see changes and they're not seeing changes and that is frustrating.
00:15:18
Speaker
However, in that same line of logic that healthy is relative, when you tell me you eat healthy, I have questions. I want to know what you're eating because healthy does not necessarily mean what we think it means. If you go to any grocery store, you're going to see healthy listed on so many different labels. And it's like, well, what does that mean? Okay. And I want to kind of go over ah five different reasons as to why healthy is not a plan to lose weight,
00:15:50
Speaker
healthy is not a plan to actually make sure that you're healthy. And so just because you eat healthy doesn't mean you get an unlimited amount of that healthy food. You can be eating healthy and still be eating too many calories, okay? So if your goal is to lose weight, you need to make sure that you are in a caloric deficit, which means there is a target calorie threshold that we don't want to cross. Going above that threshold means that you are no longer in a deficit, okay? Staying underneath that threshold means that you are in a deficit.
00:16:29
Speaker
And so you can be eating healthy foods like avocados, like Ezekiel bread, like protein. You can eat all the protein in the world, but just because you are eating protein and Ezekiel bread and avocados,
00:16:43
Speaker
doesn't mean that you are in a caloric deficit. Okay. And so yes, make healthy choices, right? However, there is a limit to those choices. And so we have to remember that just because you're eating healthy doesn't mean you're going to lose weight because you could very much be eating in a caloric surplus.
The Role of Caloric Balance in Weight Loss
00:17:03
Speaker
the furthest thing from a deficit, and no wonder why you're not seeing changes. So we we need to learn how our choices add up so we can, yes, make those healthy choices, but understand where that limit lies so we can you know do the best with what we have kind of thing, right?
00:17:19
Speaker
ah Another reason why eating healthy is not a sustainable plan to lose weight is you can still be deficient in key nutrients um even if you eat healthy, okay? For example, you can...
00:17:36
Speaker
Eat superfoods. You can, you know again, make sure that you're eating all the avocados and things like that, but you can still be deficient in fiber, okay? that fiber is going to directly impact not only your gut health, which means your total health. um But it's also going to help keep you more satisfied throughout the day, which is going to help you control how hungry you are. And I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. If you don't, your hunger is very much going to affect your ability to stay within your calorie targets or not. If you're starving, if you're white knuckling it because you're hungry all the time, you're going to burn out. Okay. So it's really important for us to make sure
00:18:16
Speaker
Of the calories that you're eating, we are eating a wide range of nutrients to make sure you are eating enough macronutrients, protein, carbs, and fat, but also micronutrients. What about your fiber, right? So you can be eating avocados. You can be eating all of these healthy foods, but you can be deficient in certain foods.
00:18:36
Speaker
foods that make it harder for you to stay in that deficit, right? ah Protein is another one where, again, just because you're eating protein doesn't mean you're going to lose weight, okay? Your protein is also going to help to keep you a little bit more satisfied too. So, you know, sometimes when we are looking at staying in a deficit, we're focusing on, hey, are we making sure we're eating enough protein and we're eating enough fiber? Calories, yes, but calories, protein, fiber, okay? Those are like the the top three um because that's the biggest bang for your buck.
Balanced Eating and Nutrient Deficiencies
00:19:08
Speaker
And so great, I love that you are staying within your deficit, but you're starving all the time. And so therefore you're at greater risk of burning out and going from, you know, your your deficit calories to hey, an entire week of surplus. And it's like, okay, well, all of that effort now is you know kind of in vain. And so all that to say, you can still be eating healthy, but be deficient in nutrients that's gonna allow you to stay in your deficit
00:19:35
Speaker
um A lot more um outside of physical goals, um you know, outside of losing weight, anything like that. You can be deficient in key nutrients that, you know, help your body run properly. I have a friend ah who this might have been a couple of years ago and we were talking. um She eats pretty.
00:19:54
Speaker
quote unquote healthy. She eats pretty healthy. She eats lots of veggies, lots of fruits. And she's kind of always been like that. um And we went on like a weekend getaway, meet her, and another girlfriend. and she was talking to me about how she is a little constipated, like things are not moving properly. And she's super gassy. She's super bloated, which gas and bloat are signs that your body is struggling to break something down. which we'll get to in a second. But um she was talking to me about all of this and she was like, man, it's just it's so uncomfortable. And it's also embarrassing. Like who wants to live like this? And so I was asking her question because again, context. And so I was asking her questions about, you know, well, tell me about like what a regular day of eating looks like for you. Like, let me try to help you because like who wants to live that way? I remember in my IBS days when that was my life, it's like, that is so uncomfortable. So like, yes, let's let me help you, please. um
00:20:49
Speaker
And it was pretty clear that she was eating tons of fiber, right? And like, awesome. She's she's on the right track. She's eating tons of fruits, veggies, grains. um You know, she tries to, you know, ah eat plenty of protein. She makes, you know, choices in moderation, things like that.
00:21:04
Speaker
Awesome. But like she wasn't eating a lot of fat, like she was barely eating any dietary fat um and dietary fat. One of the benefits is it helps you know keep things moving. OK. And so if your body is struggling to move, we want to essentially lubricate your colon. um And so, you know, dietary fat, one of its um you know benefits is helping you know aid in regular digestion.
00:21:29
Speaker
And so ah later on that week, she had texted me and she was like, I just want to thank you because I tried increasing my fat a little bit. Nothing crazy. She had like a little bit more avocado in the morning and, you know, a few other things. But she tried increasing her fat and her digestion regulated. She wasn't as gassy. She wasn't as bloated. And it was like her quality of life had improved by eating more fat. And so she was eating healthy.
00:21:53
Speaker
making great choices. She was on the right track, but she was still deficient in something that was, you know, her body needed to run properly. Right.
Debunking Organic Food Myths
00:22:01
Speaker
And so that's, you know, the thing there, you can still be deficient in key nutrients just because you eat healthy. And that's going to affect, like I said, your physical goals, but also your overall health and your quality of life.
00:22:13
Speaker
um I will also say, you know, a lot of times when people are looking at making healthier choices, very normal to ah to work or to look at more organic foods, okay?
00:22:27
Speaker
And here is the thing. I personally do not buy organic foods. I don't go out of my way to do that, okay? Number one, it is pretty widely proven at this point that there are still tons of pesticides being sprayed all over a whole lot of organic foods that you don't think are being sprayed through pesticides, okay? And so what ah what are we paying for at that point? You know what i mean? Also, if you don't know this too, there are different levels of organic, okay? So, you know, organic is not necessarily as black and white as we think it is, right?
00:23:07
Speaker
Context very much matters. So I personally do not go out of my way to buy a lot of organic foods. When I shop at Costco, a lot of their stuff is organic, and so therefore, I get a lot of my organics at Costco just by...
00:23:20
Speaker
you know, shopping at Costco, but I don't go out of my way. I would rather spend my money in other ways. Right. Kind of like what I was saying a few episodes ago, marketing um gurus know that certain labels are going to get their product sold a lot faster. Right. And so right now everyone's, you know, focused on protein. There's protein water I saw the other day. like, what's happening? Yeah. protein pop tarts I saw. I'm like, what is going on? um And so, you know, marketers know that if they put protein on the front of their label, they're probably going sell a lot more of their product, right? Same, same as it relates to organic, okay?
00:23:57
Speaker
Not everything that is labeled organic is inherently better for you than the conventional option, all right? um And so that's another example, healthy label such as organic does not necessarily mean what we think it means.
Moderation and Food Labels
00:24:12
Speaker
um The other thing that I want to say is all foods fit. When we are talking about healthy foods versus unhealthy foods, we are basically labeling foods as good and bad, okay? And the thing is, is that all foods fit, all right? Think about money, for example, okay? Think about your, you have $100. you have $100 that you can spend day and you can spend that $100 however you want
00:24:42
Speaker
ah But when it's gone, it's gone. All right. That $100, let's look at now as your calories. OK, so you have and this is a very low amount, obviously will work with me. You have 100 calories to spend on a day. OK, and you can spend it however you want to. And that is basically everything.
00:25:00
Speaker
what we are looking at when we are logging our food. Okay. You get to choose whatever you want to eat, but some foods are going to cost more than others. Okay. And it's up to you to decide if it's worth it to you to eat those foods that cost more and have less for your day. Right. Or eat a lot of foods that don't cost a whole lot. Right. And have more throughout your day. That's basically logging your food. That's basically macros. Okay. And so when we're looking at good and bad foods, no, no, no, no. no All foods fit. Okay.
00:25:33
Speaker
If you want a piece of chocolate cake, best way you can do that, like I said earlier, is log that food as soon as you can. The night before, the morning of, if you're going out to eat, you know, you're going to have a burger, log it the morning of, right?
00:25:46
Speaker
um And then work the rest of your day around it. That burger, that cake, that is going to take a whole bunch of your hundred dollars, a whole bunch of your hundred calories. But hey, if it's worth it to you, and sometimes it is enjoy it, right? And again, sometimes we go over our calories. you know Obviously, there's exceptions. There's context, right? However, at the end of the day, when we are learning to spread those calories out throughout our day, when we are using our log in that way to say, no, all foods fit, we start normalizing foods that we initially had said I can't have and they're off limits. Why? Why are we limiting our quality of life? You can absolutely eat whatever you want in moderation, right? And the reason this is important is you can still, kind of going back to like physical goals, you can still lose weight by eating foods like pizza and burgers and ice cream and tacos, just like you can still gain weight by eating avocados and chia seeds and matcha and Ezekiel. You know what i mean? Like just because something is quote unquote healthy does not necessarily mean that that is technically a better choice. You are a human and you're allowed to eat foods that just,
00:27:01
Speaker
taste good, okay? You are allowed to eat foods that just sound good. It doesn't always have to be like the most optimal choice as far as like health is concerned because you can still lose weight by eating foods that you might label as bad, all right? There's nothing wrong with any kind of food. Arguably speaking, the more that you label a food as bad and off-limits,
00:27:25
Speaker
You are going to spend so much more time thinking about that food that you just said you can't have. And when we are in front of those foods, that's when we lose control. That's when we say, oh my gosh, I can't have these Oreos. And now I have these Oreos in front of me. You know what?
00:27:41
Speaker
Last supper mentality is going to creep in. Now I'm going to have the entire pack and it might not start that way. It might start with five, 10. And then before you know it, the whole pack is gone because it's bad. It's off limits. I'm being naughty. I'm doing something wrong right now. Versus if you were to allow yourself to have three or four, even five Oreos a day, next time that whole entire pack of Oreos is in front of you, it's not as exciting. You've removed it from the pedestal because you've normalized it, right? You have allowed that food to be on the exact same level as chicken and broccoli and rice, okay? And so that's kind of it as it relates to
00:28:20
Speaker
you know all foods fit.
Flexible Dieting and Macro Tracking
00:28:22
Speaker
Your law can be extremely beneficial to you to see that you can fit in a lot of your favorite foods. It might take some planning. It might take some working around. ah It might take some strategy, but that's why macros works for so many people. That's why macros worked for me as somebody who has a pallet of a five-year-old. If you give me the option to eat chicken nuggets and mac and cheese or ah sweet potatoes and chicken and ah and broccoli, I'm 100% going to want the mac and cheese, right? I'm going to want those chicken nuggets. um And there's a way you can make those healthier, don't get me wrong. And oh I said it. There's a way you can make those more balanced, right? A little bit ah fit more into your day. However, at the end of the day, there is nothing wrong.
00:29:11
Speaker
And the last point I want to kind of point out um as it relates to you know eating healthy is healthy foods can still be unhealthy for you.
00:29:22
Speaker
okay um One of the biggest reasons as to why I got into the nutrition space as it relates to health and nutrition or health and fitness is because I was going through my own health journey issues.
00:29:37
Speaker
Digestion. i was diagnosed with IBSC. um I remember so many times where I'd be on the couch just crying because I hadn't eaten all day, but I'm so full and like food is the joy of my life and I'm uncomfortable and all I want to do is eat. But like you can't because like like you get it, right? If you've ever had digestive issues, um you get it.
00:29:56
Speaker
And so it led me down a path of, you know, trying to figure, you know, out what works for me, what's causing these issues, all of that stuff. um And in that process, I found out that there were certain foods that I was eating that was making me more gassy and bloated and, you know, um stopped up than other foods. And I was like, wait a second.
00:30:17
Speaker
Grapes. There's nothing wrong with grapes. But grapes, my body did not like grapes. Onions, bananas, like there were a lot of foods that I was eating that were healthy, but my body did not like them. And so therefore they weren't healthy for me. Okay.
Individualized Health Approaches
00:30:31
Speaker
Something that I work with a lot um with my individual clients is specifically for nutrition is one of the questions is I want to know about their digestion. Okay. We, we learn what their baseline is because everyone's baseline is different. And then once we've learned that baseline, I want to notice if there's any red flags. OK. And if there are red flags, I'm looking at things like what are you eating throughout your day, of course. um But, you know, other things like, hey, you know, are we you know drinking enough water? Are we, um ah you know, walking enough, you know, to promote healthy digestion, things like that. But oftentimes we're eating something that our body does not like. And so, you know, a lot of times whey protein.
00:31:14
Speaker
tons of people, whey protein is really, really hard for their system, for their diet. um And okay, they might not, their body might not like a certain brand of whey protein, but try another brand that might work for them, right? um For you know ah other healthy foods like broccoli, cauliflower, hey, we typically look at these foods as healthy. We typically eat these foods when we are you know trying to lose weight and dieting and things like that. But if it's causing you issues, we need to like not have those things. ah So like you know a lot of things like cauliflower pizza, cauliflower rice, um you know if your body can't process those foods, they might be healthy options. But if you can't process them, we got to stay away from them. You know what i mean? And we have to learn what foods are maybe triggering these issues within us. So um yeah, those are kind of some examples as to why healthy is relative. And so that can be something like you know food-based, but that can also be something like intention-based, right? The habits that you are doing, are we making ourselves get to that workout even if it's not you know part of our regular routine? Are we giving in to not feeling motivated or are we just saying, listen, you're not always going to feel motivated, like right? We have to push ourselves to do this. Or You know, again, if you're somebody who is maybe, you know, working out six, seven days a week, we got to learn how to take it down a notch. You know what i mean?
Lifestyle Fit Over Online Advice
00:32:40
Speaker
Like healthy is relative. So I would encourage you to kind of stay away from, you know, absolute statements that basically say otherwise, because again, in the health and the fitness space, there are no black and white answers. We have standards, right? We have standards. Things that we are striving towards, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Always exceptions to the rule. um And that is, that's the fun part, right? That's the fun part of figuring out what works for you and what doesn't work for you. And a lot of times it's not necessarily... um you know, an issue with, you know, your willpower or trying hard enough. It's an issue with figuring out, well, what works for you and what doesn't work for you, right? What's healthy for one person is not necessarily healthy for everybody. So maybe you're doing something that you saw online, but it's just not like working with your lifestyle or it's just not a good fit for you.
00:33:32
Speaker
Nothing wrong with that, but let's figure out what is a good fit for you, right? And that's kind of, um that's the fun. That's figuring out, you know, listening to your body and um You know, kind of decoding what your body is saying and learning to listen to your body and learning when you should take an unplanned rest day versus suck it up buttercup and all of that stuff. That's the fun.
Episode Wrap-Up and Engagement
00:33:51
Speaker
That's the journey, if you will. um And so I hope that this was helpful for you. i hope that this kind of gave you a little bit of context. um You know, if there's ever anything that I said on here that you want to learn more about or talk more about, let's talk. um There's a form in the caption of every single episode, so you can fill that out and get in touch with me. Similarly, if there's a topic that you want me to cover on here that maybe you've seen online, let's talk about it.
00:34:16
Speaker
You can also fill out that form, or if you want to be a guest on this show, let's have a conversation. Until next time, guys, remember, healthy is relative.