Lifestyle-nutrition and wholesomeness

Q: Will it be just another post about making your own diet chart and how to stick to it?

A: Nope.

Q: Then why should I read it?

A: Because this article will talk about the first three steps to steer towards a healthier lifestyle. And because, you are looking for something that works!

I have said this before and I will say it again: Lifestyle literally translates to your pattern of living. The keyword being "pattern". And with "patterns", there are only 3 things you can do:

• Identify and understand the pattern

• Improve the pattern

• Create a pattern

This is true for everything that you want to do and be successful at. And it is no different for having better nutrition lifestyle.

Q: How much is knowledge about nutrition and dietetics important to get to a healthier lifestyle?

A: On a scale of 1-10, an importance of 3 is required to steer towards a healthier lifestyle. Information and knowledge will help you with accuracy of your macros and micros which is vital for progress towards the fitness goals, but still not the first step.

Let this moment in time be T-0 and you are going to affect change from this moment onwards.

Identify and Understand Patterns

• Become an observer towards your food patterns and make a note of everything you are ingesting for 3-7 days.

• Analyse this data with these questions: a) Where am I eating most of the times and who is making my food? b) When am I eating my regular meals and when do I feel hungry? c) What is the constituency of my meals? What all ingredients am I subconsciously preferring?

• Gather information about the ingredients that you have primarily. Just knowing the amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat and energy is good enough to begin with.

It may seem overwhelming, but we are creatures of habit. We eat a very limited variety of ingredients in our everyday life. Just knowing a bit about what you are eating will take way less effort and mental space than you are thinking right now.

Improve the Pattern

• As of now you know what you are putting inside your body. Let that be: Carbs: 400gm, Protein: 60g, Fats: 90g, Energy: 2650 kcals. Find out by research or guidance what you should put inside of your body. Let that be: Carbs: 250gm, Protein: 100g, Fats: 55g, Energy: 1895 kcals. Not so surprisingly, there is a difference between the two. The entire game is to bridge this gap.

• I always believe in the theory of "Inclusion First" which says, "If you focus your energy in including the right thing, the wrong things will automatically get excluded". With this theory, just increase the source of protein sources that you are already having in your plate.

• And reduce the amount of oil used in cooking from before.

• While improving your pattern, try to add new variables as less as possible or none at all.

I see a lot of people skipping this phase because we tend to completely throw away a system which did not work for us. We have to understand the parts of the system which did not work for us and rectify that. After we have done enough, should we add new variables and patterns.

Create a pattern

• Up till this point, you will realise that there are definitely some more drastic changes are needed, like adding one extra meal in the day or eating another source of protein or bring in a change in the procurement of meals.

• Remind yourself that this is a long game and you dont need to change everything in one day

• Change one variable at a time and let it set in your routine for at least a week before bringing in another change.

Do this till you have bridged the gap between your current food intake and what it should be. If you do this slowly and gradually, being aware of the patterns you are creating, everything will fall in place and you will get what you came to this page seeking answers or direction for.

Remember: It is your responsibility towards yourselves and others to take care of this mind and body, because it is through this mind and body will you be able to do what you are meant to do for yourself and the world around you.