What is Nutrition (to you)

Nutrition. Seems like a good place to start. You know, since it’s a blog on nutrition and all.

Nutrition

{noun}

1. the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.

2. food or nourishment.

3. the branch of science that deals with nutrients and nutrition, particularly in humans.

Simple.

However, nutrition is very much an interpretive ‘science’ in a day to day context (science - a term I revere but use loosely here). We apply our own values to nutrition, though our habits (the way we eat) and our goals (the motivators behind why we eat a certain way). As a result, nutrition means something different to all of us.

Habits

As children, we typically eat with a high level of routine and predictability. The types of foods, the portions, the times of the meals etc. form our ‘base-level’ subconscious eating behaviour. As teenagers, we experience a greater level of freedom (plus all those rebellious hormones telling us to get Maccas). Here we develop our own preferences (typically driven by taste, but also cost, convenience, availability and possibly health considerations).

Our adult instinctual eating habits (e.g. the snack you reach for before you think it through) will generally sit somewhere between the two.

An example of an unwavering food habit of mine is breakfast. I grew up eating breakfast every day. You will never hear me say ‘I forgot to eat breakfast today’. What? Who does that? How? What about eggs?

My boyfriend, however, will happily not eat until 11 or 12. It just feels right for him (… he’s clearly insane).

Goals

This is the rational side of our individual approach to food (e.g. the snack you choose after you’ve thought it through). Food goals could include: simply feeling full (‘I'm starving, give me anything now!’), maintaining digestive health ('I don't eat beans or lentils, they upset my tummy'), enjoying every mouthful (‘I don’t care about health, I just want to enjoy this delicious food’), losing weight ('I'd love that toast, but I'm off carbs').

My food goals are a balancing act of:

1. Performance – I choose foods that facilitate my physical activity

2. Aesthetics – I want to maintain a strong, lean physique because I like the way it looks

3. Health – all encompassing: reproductive health, bone density, a strong immune system

4. Taste – I LOVE FOOD! I value the taste and the experience of eating (which is why supplements don’t work well for me!)

Going back to my breakfast habit (how good is breakfast!) it turns out that breakfast supports each of my food goals. It gives me energy for performance, prevents me from choosing less desirable food options at 10am, gives me macro and micronutrients to support good health and it ALWAYS tastes great (#cancookeggs).

To me, breakfast is nutrition.

Your Turn

Ask yourself ‘What is nutrition to me?’

• Think Habits – breakfast, packed lunch, take-away, snacks, 2 pieces of fruit a day? What are your reoccurring food behaviours?

• Think Goals – weight loss, muscle gain, reproductive health, allergy management, energy?

What’s the point?

Nutrition is interpretive. It means something different to everyone. Given that we’re all individuals, chances are your interpretation of nutrition is going to be different to mine.

Just about everyone wants to ‘eat better’. But have you considered what that really means to you?