The insider's guide to healthy eating patterns
Before we begin
It’s important to understand there are many ways to eat and no one way is better than the next. There are only priorities and trade-offs. Here at Rise and Shine Healthcare, our focus is eating for your physical well-being. What can we do to support your bone and muscle health so you can age with grace? We focus on eating for health most of the time. Then we balance this with eating for satisfaction sometimes. It’s about squeezing the most out of life.
What is your goal?
Our food choices are a reflection of many things. This can include taste preference, culture, lifestyle, and budget. You should not feel morally superior or inferior because of your food choices. The question you should then ask is: are my food choices supporting my goals?
The healthy eating pattern
It's crowded out there with the amount of information on nutrition. But no matter how crowded it gets, one thing always holds true. Your eating pattern is most important for health. What you do on most days is more important than what you do as a one-off. Mountains of research will support the following eating pattern as health-promoting:
Vegetables
Fruit
Lean protein
Healthy fats
Further refining this will help with more specific goals such as body composition and activity fuel.
Canada’s Food Guide
Canada's Food Guide suggests the following proportions to support your health:
1/2 plate vegetables
1/4 plate lean protein
1/4 plate whole grains, fruits, and starchy vegetables
Hydrate with water
Not every meal is served on a plate. Your meal might be in a bowl, on a shared platter, or all mixed together. You can reference the proportions and ratios at every meal.
Talk to the hand
Another method is to use your hand as an estimate at each meal:
1-2 fists of vegetables
1-2 palm-sized of lean protein
1-2 cupped hand portions of whole grains, fruits & starchy vegetables
1-2 thumbs of healthy fat
Using these proportions helps you create satisfying meals that support your health. They also help you stay full between meals and fuel your daily activities so you can squeeze the most out of life.
I know, but how?
So that's what to eat. It's not a surprise, everyone knows. The better question is: how do we do this? This is a complicated answer and a conversation for another time.
Here are some quick tips to help you get started:
Not every meal will look like this and that's okay. You can still reach your goals. What you do most of the time is more important than the one-offs.
Make small changes and be consistent. Start small, no matter how small, and build momentum. Adding a fist of vegetables at each meal can be a huge step in the right direction.
It’s not about perfection. Life happens. If you drop the ball one day, don’t sweat it. Move on and try again tomorrow.
That’s all she wrote.
I hope this has been helpful for you. For further support, book an online appointment with me and we’ll get you on track with your health goals.
Reference
Canada’s Food Guide: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/