When to Focus on Your Nutrition

Stressed? Swamped with work? Are the kids at home for summer vacation and asking for a snack every 15 minutes? Are you exhausted or feeling emotionally drained? Now might not be time to make drastic changes to your nutrition!

Adjusting how we eat can do wonders for mental and physical health. Shifting to an anti-inflammatory, or more whole foods diet can always help you feel better. But there is a time and place for every individual. You want to find the diet that serves YOU best at a time when you’re not going to drain your resources further. I never support extreme dieting, cleanses or restrictions. The best changes we can make are those that are sustainable.

When is it a BAD time to change your nutrition?

Simply, when you’re already running on empty. You want to make sure you’ve got time, energy and are feeling (mostly) stable. If stress is high, or energy is already low, it is the worst time to think about adjusting your macros. The reason for this is that it takes time to find exactly where YOU need to be to best serve YOUR body. There isn’t a cookie-cutter approach, and inevitably it’ll be a bit of a bumpy road to finding your balance.

For example, if you want to eat low carbohydrate to balance your blood sugar, the calories you take out need to be replaced by adequate healthy fat and protein. Removing carbohydrates from your diet will change the fluctuations in blood sugar levels, and can make you feel tired and irritable. It has to be done right, and at a time when you’re feeling prepared to ride some waves.

Another time is when you’re a busy mom trying to accommodate many different meals and/or different dietary preferences. I hear this a lot! Ideally you want to find a way to cook for the whole family with one meal. Being a short-order cook is too complicated and draining. The exact fix will be individualized to your family, but it is attainable with some tweaking. Find a time when you can streamline your family’s eating to lessen your load and meet your nutritional needs.

Going back to school, or off to summer camp might help! Together we could take some of this time to set up meal prepping routines and look at ways to streamline your cooking. Or, planning ways to get kids involved so that they can learn to take ownership of their health through food like you do.

When IS a good time?

After a Pandemic when we start to return to some semblance of normalcy! Whatever your dietary goals, it’s a good time to take stock of new habits and interests. We have all spent a lot more time cooking at home, with family maybe, and being a bit more mindful of where our food comes from. It’s time to bank on this before we get swept back up in “normal” life. A nutritionist is a great companion for this period of time because I am able to look at your health goals, your individual body’s needs, and generate a plan to optimize energy, lower stress-levels and fend off any health issues that might’ve cropped up over the last 16 months.
When it’s summertime and you want to cope better with the heat! Adopt an anti-inflammatory or summer produce-rich diet. Reducing inflammation in the body can make us feel more comfortable (see: less irritable) on really hot days! Inflammation can contribute to feelings of bloatedness, affect joints and mobility, and contributes to mental fogginess and cognitive dysfunction.
Seasonal changes: Dietary adjustments should always be about adding new and exciting things into your routine. Anytime you have to remove something, for whatever reason, I want you to add two NEW foods in. A new season is a great time to take a look at what is growing locally and try something new! Right now let’s take advantage of local blueberries, swiss chard, parsnips and more.