Eat When You Need To, Not When You Want To

You are what you become? Do you believe so?

Victor Lindlahr was credited for saying,” You Are What You Eat “, from his book with the same title written in 1940. Today, you can find many books on the shelf and online that offers guidance to proper food consumption that will help your body to heal from within.

Food has always been a source of your physical natural energy. We have generally been eating based on sight, then taste and to over-consume our daily meals. We eat food not because we need to, but we want to. Our senses are overwhelmed with enticing flavors and taste from the experiences of trying food, either for the first time, by invitation or being part of a regular family diet. Some are vegetarians and others are not. Some choose only to eat specific food in their diet, whilst others can just consume anything they like, when they like and want to.

When you are training for sports related events, you are required to follow a dietary plan. It will indicate which type of food to help you build muscle, have a good stamina and quick recovery from exhaustion. It helps you to build consistency in your meal intakes. Unfortunately, this also can be detrimental when athletes are made to drastically to lose weight, when they are not initially trained to metabolize their body to understand loss of food that they regularly take. This means, proper conditional fasting.

Just like anything else, your body and mind is a trainable source. When you execute proper fasting techniques, your body will also help to properly condition itself. You mind at the beginning becomes equally restless, telling you that you are hungry because you did not eat as much as you normally do.

For example, lunch was two big bowls of rice, a good helping of meat or vegetables and one liter of processed fruit juice that has nearly 45% sugar content to every serving you take. Three hours later, you go for your favorite cookie jar along with a large mug of coffee or tea. A few hours later, something else to fill in your unwavering need to keep on eating. At some point, someone has noticed your increasing weight gain, but your mind is not accepting this fact because your body keeps demanding more food.

It is not surprising, that you may decide to go on a diet plan. A seven-day crash course, only eating salad and fruits. You buy off the shelf ready made all-in-one drink sachet, having it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. By the end of the first day, you are trying to convince yourself that you will last one more day.

Surprisingly, you manage to push yourself to the second and third day before you finally giving up. Your body goes into a trauma, your stomach makes so much noise that it sounds like a tribal drum, your blood sugar level drops and you now also feel dizzy. On the fourth day, you feel sick and decide to go to your doctor. You are being told you have gastritis and you now need to take antacid tablets for some time.

Body shaming is humiliating.
Shaming yourself with negligence, is worst.
Maximus @ MaximusPrimo.com

The moment I mentioned proper fasting technique, you feel weak altogether. Fasting is an art, it’s a practice conducted to induce the body to realize that it only needs food for sustaining energy and not to overwhelm it with excess. Fasting also helps the body to detox naturally. It uses your body’s organs to function more effectively, to remove toxin, lower excess sugar levels, helps heart rate stabilization and more. Do take note that this is not an immediate remedy for your ailments, but you will learn that if you do it right, it helps you in many ways.

Take fasting one step at a time. Start with intermittent fasting. Start with 12 hour fasting once a fortnight for the first three months. Then progress with once a week. I recommend that you do not take heavy meals 12 hours before you start you fasting, so that you body begins to adjust itself accordingly. Be consistent with your progressive fasting, instead of punishing body and mind unnecessarily with a process that you have not yet acclimatized with. Eat healthy food to resume the required sustaining energy needed for your body and mind. I know junk food is greatly tempting, and having them once a while is all fine; just don’t overdo it.

I find preparing food at home, very helpful indeed. Plan out your intended meals so that when you go to the local supermarket to get your groceries, you do not overbuy or overstock your refrigerator. You save both on cash and also the quality of food kept in storage. Fresh vegetables are to be eaten soonest possible. Meat can be stored a bit longer and in fact, if you have marinated them, it makes the storage more worthwhile cos it infuses the meat with your ingredients.

Enjoy what you eat, in small portions. In that manner, your stomach will understand reasonable consumption of food intake. Over time, you will realize when you overeat, your stomach feels bloated or uneasy. There is an old saying that goes, “ Eat to fill only half of your stomach in every meal ”. I know of some people, who eat four to six small portions of meals a day. They are very active and also due routine exercises daily. Their metabolism is high and in return, they remain fit, belly free and energetic.

You can too. So, review on your eating habits to help you having a better option to continuous healthy lifestyle.

I have a small jar filled with mixed cookies, mostly with less sugar option. Once in three days, I take two cookies and snack on them. That’s my treat. I am sure you also have yours. So, just be moderate. Last but not least, do a general medical check-up once a year. It helps you keep progress on the status of your inner functions of your body.

Medical check-up helps you to be aware of many unforeseen ailments, especially if you do have a family history of critical illness. If you do notice any spikes that shows unfavorable reading, find out more about how you can improve on it. Most of the time, it relates to lack of exercise. Whilst you have your annual self-motivation to join a gym, I recommend that you start simple cardio and stretching exercises done at home first. When and if you have the consistency, progressing to the next level of fitness makes sense.

A healthy lifestyle starts with you. Focus, commit and implement consistency.