The most common request I get as a nutritionist, regardless of the current health status of the person asking, is: “I want to learn how to get enough nutrients, how do I learn which food nutrients and their sources and functions are right for me?” To begin answering this question, it takes a lot of digging into each person’s lifestyle habits and physical symptoms. To be able to help each client effectively, I review specific markers of deficiencies as well as review their daily nutrient intake habits.
What you Need to Know about food nutrients and their sources and functions
If you are not sure what nutrients your body needs, it is important to find out, even if you are healthy!
The first way to start eating more nutrients, is to adapt a “this for that” mindset. It is important to learn the difference between calorie density and nutrient density. Understanding your nutrient needs will also help you to understand the source of any potential cravings. If you want to learn more about how to stock your pantry with more nutrient dense ingredients without overwhelming yourself, check out my top 5 tips for stocking your pantry like a nutrition professional.
The important thing to note when you start learning how to get enough nutrients in your diet is that people often get into phases of trying different, healthier ingredients that do not seem to stick with them. Many people report having felt negatively about themselves when they do not successfully keep up with them. I often hear “This one time I tried eating xyz for a while, but then, I don’t know, I just sort of stopped.”
Even if you succeed for a time with those efforts, there is a high risk of failure or negative self associations by following routines of others without really understanding what it is your body needs. We can easily get into these patterns of falling away from what our body is crying out for. I tell every one of my clients that your body has a built in system that it wants to use- it tries to tell you want you need. You just need to give it that chance to be heard and actually take action on what you hear.
My goal is to eliminate the chance of negative healthy eating experiences and to hyper focus on what we LIKE to eat with what we NEED. I realized by helping others with this process that we can take this element of feeling like we are shooting in the dark, or like we are blindly lead to a life of balance by turning the learning experience into actionable, tangible steps that don’t overwhelm you. We have to learn our needs, target them and strategically choose the ingredients that will bring the biggest bang for our nutritional efforts.
I have reflected often on my own experiences and how I see my clients learn the most from our short time together. I decided the first step for anyone in this process is to learn how to navigate the wide range of nutrient dense foods. It’s not just about choosing all of the superfoods, it is actually about the whole of our life and some aspects are completely unrelated to what we eat (like how much we spend on grocery shopping). These 4 lifestyle factors really teach you what you need to reflect on about food nutrients and their sources and functions in your life:
Current Diet & Tastes
Health Status
Finances & Resources
Ditch popular opinions, ingredients and confusing diet rules! Let’s begin by focusing on exactly what you need to improve your nutrient status. Forget how distracting the whole nutritional world is- now it is your time to succeed and learn how to get enough nutrients.
Download my True Balance Pantry Toolkit which review these crucial steps and review my nutrition facts page for specific food nutrients and their sources and functions.
Don’t wait, get these learning opportunities while they are still FREE. Happy learning!
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