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Life Is Too Short To Eat Food You Hate · Your Strongest Body

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: You are listening to your strongest body.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Betsy Foster, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and certified nutrition coach.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I've worked as a personal trainer for over a decade, helping people build strength, speed, muscles, as well as a deep appreciation for their bodies and confidence that helps them live their life to the fullest.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness, nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of your strongest body.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: It is December.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Before I get into the thick of this episode, I just wanted to remind you that I'm doing a free 12 days of fitness for my email list, a new resource every single day for the first 12 days of December.
• 1:06
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• 1:14
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• 1:18
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• 1:23
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• 1:24
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• 1:32
  Speaker 1: If you haven't, this episode is going to come out on the 4th of December.
• 1:38
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• 1:41
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• 1:43
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• 1:48
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• 2:03
  Speaker 1: That's coming to my email list.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Let's get into today's episode.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: That is life is too short to eat food you don't like.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: This came up to me because I was thinking about someone.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: They were having a conversation and they were talking about how they just don't like X.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Then, 12 hours later, my daughter said I don't want to eat that, I don't like it.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I would rather have this.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I thought about the transition from childhood to adulthood, where we begin to believe that for some foods, for some goals in particular, we have to eat a certain way.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: We have to have a certain food.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: We are lucky enough I don't know where you're listening from, but at least in the United States, at least in the part of the world where I live, at least in the, I am lucky enough I'll speak for myself that I have access to an abundance of food, an abundance of varieties of food from different locations, I have the ability to purchase that food for myself and for my family.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: There are folks who do not have that.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I want to be really clear about that.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: When we are talking about our abundance of riches when it comes to food, isn't it sort of wild that we then continue to get caught in this thought pattern that says some foods are are superior when it comes to us reaching our goals and we have to eat them or we have to eat in a certain way?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: What I want to help you understand is that while, yes, there are foods that carry greater nutrient ratios, nutrient dense, compared to their caloric totals, there are foods that are, you know, have things, have micronutrients, that are going to be really helpful for us.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: There are also foods that are delicious in taste, that, you know, feed our spirit and our soul.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: While there are a variety of different kinds of foods, there are no right and wrong food choices and if we get out of the mindset that in order to be healthy or in order to be fit, I have to eat this in this way, even though I hate it, we can start to find joy in our food.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: We can also reduce our stress levels and we can start to create a menu that supports our goals and supports our taste buds.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I think it's so funny.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: We're in 2023, almost 2024, we've got lots of options and people are sold this idea that some foods are must-haves for their nutrition because of their fitness goals and some foods are no-no's and and that is the point of today is sort of talking through instead of thinking about I have to eat this even though I don't like it.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: How can I look at that food?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Think about the properties in that food that are that are the things in which I'm trying to utilize for my goal.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: For example, if a food is high in protein and low in fat, or if a food is high in carbohydrates that I need post workout, whatever that may be.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: What, after I've identified that, can I find a food that meets those qualities that I also enjoy eating?
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: And can I look at my nutrition not as a win or lose game with every bite I take, but a more complete picture of the food that I eat over a week, month, that kind of thing?
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: So I broke this down into a few things again.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I really think that eating to reach your goals doesn't mean you have to eat foods you don't like.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: The only foods that I would say you should not eat are those that you are allergic to or that you don't like.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: There are ways in which we can find foods that fit our goals.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: So, number one, you're going to think about food both from a taste perspective and a nutrient perspective, and so that's more than both.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Three things satiation perspective, energy management.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Energy management just meaning how full do I feel now and how does it complement the activities and the things I'm going to do after this or between now and my next meal.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: So when we break those things down, we can start to pick foods that are going to meet all those requirements.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So, if I think about the macronutrients and to remind you, the macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates and fat we need all of those and we need them in different quantities at different times, based on our goal.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: If you're trying to get more protein at a given meal and you're thinking about trying to get lean protein per se, let's say you're trying to get a larger quantity of lean protein.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Chicken is not the only answer, and I'm just picking out chicken.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Let's say you love chicken and you don't love something else.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Turkey is not the only answer.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: There are different kinds of varieties, in the same way that when it comes to supplementing your protein with, like a protein powder, we are in 2023 and there are so many different flavors and textures and options that are available to you.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I will note that a lot of things.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: When we talk about selection based on taste preference and when we have the privilege of getting to make choices around our food that are about what we like versus what we can afford, there is inherently a lot of just like what I said their privilege to that Having the financial access to foods that you like versus foods that are going to sustain you and be affordable.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I just want to note that there's something to be said about that and there's some reflection to have in that as well.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: If you are lucky enough to choose the kind of food you want to eat, maybe take a moment and appreciate that, rather than belaboring lots of foods that you think fall into this perfect nutrition category.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Same thing is going to go for our micronutrients.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Now, micronutrients are present in lots of different foods as well fruits and vegetables in the foods.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: That same thing there are micronutrients in that chicken or in that turkey.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: You can think about those as you make decisions as well.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes people get fixated on a certain vegetable.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: That is the right vegetable for them to eat.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, I have to eat blank.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: There are many vegetables that offer these different micronutrients.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: There are many vegetables that have the same amount, or a relatively equivalent amount, of fiber per se.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Let's say that's the thing that you're looking for.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: There are a variety of things.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: If you have the ability to mix and match, you can choose a vegetable that you like, believe it or not.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: For most foods, as long as your body is not recognizing the food that is coming in, it's recognizing those smaller parts, those nutrients.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: You can go your whole life without eating X if you're getting those nutrients from somewhere else.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Now I would like to also note that this does not pertain to individuals with needs for their diet around their medical diagnosis, and I am not a registered dietitian, I'm just a certified nutrition coach.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: So I don't work with individuals who are who need medical nutrition plans, nor do I write meal plans specifically for clients.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Because in some ways, you can build your meals without having a specific meal plan, and also because that falls outside of my scope.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: But let's think about that.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I think about the way in which I introduce vegetables or fruits to my children, letting them see different colors, letting them get different textures, letting them get different cooking methods.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So the idea that a vegetable has to be raw versus cooked being able to.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: And again, yes, nutrient properties change when things are cooked, but they're also changing in the other foods that you might be able to swap out for.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: So if you don't like cooked spinach but you do like cooked broccoli, there could be a good swap there.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about that specifically.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I'm explaining to you.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: What I want you to be thinking about is that there is no one food that has to be included.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: If we can take a look at the properties of these foods, find mix and match ones that we like together, then we probably don't need the ones that we don't like.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: You may also and this is gonna depend on speaking with your physician, but you may also supplement with a multivitamin.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: A lot of physicians will suggest a multivitamin to potentially meet those missed nutrients, micronutrients that your body needs that you may not guarantee you're getting every day from your food If you are eating in a way that reflects the seasonality of harvest and such, some fruits or vegetables are not going to be as readily available or aren't going to be in season at particular points in the year, and so you may have a.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: You may not hit all of those ideal goals at different points of the year, and your physician may suggest a multivitamin, but that is up to them.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: So if we're thinking about food less as foods are good or bad, they are simply a mix of nutrients, micronutrients, textures and tastes then we can build a meal plan that supports our goals and tastes good.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The other thing that I had mentioned before was thinking about sort of the profile of the food in terms of what kind of energy it provides.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: So does this provide sustained energy for concentration, for high intensity exercise, for the sleep?
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: So the meals that you have right before you go to bed probably don't need to be energy dense in a way that supports performance.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: It's you just need to recover.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: At that time.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Your body is not going to need that kind of caloric demand or the actual sort of utilization of those fuels to propel your performance.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: So if we think about food in that way too, we can have a better understanding of what I can eat now.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: That is both going to taste good, help me meet my nutritional goals and help me get to the next meal.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Sometimes people make non-ideal nutrition decisions because they do not know what is ahead of them.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Think about an individual who struggles with food insecurity.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: You may be forced to make food decisions that are are larger in quantities, filling you up, eating more than feels comfortable, because you do not know the next time you'll have food available.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I hope this is not your experience, but in a similar way, but in a certain way.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: If we aren't planning ahead of time, if we aren't thinking about the hours before, we can make decisions that come out of a place of fear of oh, I don't know when I'm going to have this again, or I don't know when I'm going to be able to eat tonight, so let me eat this.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: That's where planning ahead of time can make a huge difference.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of this is maybe a little bit all over the place, but also just nugget after nugget after nugget of something that you can apply to your nutritional philosophy and the decisions that you're making.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I write an outline for these, and this one didn't feel as like step one, step two, step three.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: It was like thoughts.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: So go with me on my thoughts here.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: The other thing about life being too short for food not to taste good is that you can despite whatever you read on the internet, you can use spices and oils and butter and condiments with your food.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Now it is worth noting that these things that we add to our food, depending on what they are, do have calories, so they add to our caloric total.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: They also have their own properties.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Are they more fat, more saturated fat?
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Are they more carbohydrate?
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Do they have more sugar in them?
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: That is not to say one is bad or good.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: It's simply to say, if you didn't think about that and you are thinking about your food, it's something to bring your attention to.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: It's something to note like oh, when I cook in this, this is what it's adding to my food.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, if I dip this food in that, it is adding this to my food.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: In many ways that improves the taste quality of our food and it doesn't make that food.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Then it doesn't take a healthy food to an unhealthy food, because one, we've determined that that distinction is a little bit arbitrary.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But second, if something is more palatable and you can get those nutrients when that food is more palatable, then it may be worthwhile.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: It's just also maybe worthwhile to think.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: If you are concerned or focused on your overall calorie total, you might want to be aware of how much you're consuming.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Again, this is just about bringing awareness, about bringing mindfulness to the kinds of things that we're taking in, and then making decisions based on your best life, not on what some Instagram coach says to you, and me included.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Not based on that, based on what you want.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: So you have to decide do I want to be ex-amount leaner or do I want to enjoy the taste of this food?
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: For many of us, we are not facing.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: We do not compete in physique competitions or sport.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: That requires us to be at a certain level of leanness where we should skip these kind of like delicious tasting oils or condiments on our food.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: If you so choose to be involved in those kinds of sports or activities, or your whole goal is to achieve that level of leanness, then by all means that may be a choice that you feel is appropriate, but you also.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: There are so many things we can do in our lives to improve our health, change our body composition that don't also mean our food doesn't taste good.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: We don't have to have dry or tasteless food just to achieve our fitness goals.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: So that's an important thing to think about.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Bring awareness to what it is that you're adding to your food and what it does to your food, but also make the decision based on how you want to live your life.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Is it worth eating that food in a way that tastes good?
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Remember that tastes change over time.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: So if you were a certain size, or you were lifting a certain amount of weight, or you loved the way you looked or felt or how strong you were at a certain point and you were eating X, y or Z, and now you no longer like the taste of that, you can still achieve those goals or a goal similar to that with different foods.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: We also have to remember that the idea of recreating a moment in time is going to be absolutely impossible, because your circumstances were different.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: For many of us, age is something that is going to change our ability, especially to reach certain goals, especially if that goal was 20 to 30 to 40 years ago, while we can craft a new goal, a goal that will help us achieve confidence, strength, whatever physique we're looking for, and allow us to eat foods we like.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So don't feel like I'm going to pull one out of the hat here, because I just think it's funny and not to make fun of anyone.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Just to note for all of us to bring a little perspective For a while, there was a time where there was the special K diet.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody is familiar with that, if you're listening.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: The special K diet was eat a bowl of special K in the morning, eat a bowl of special K for lunch and have anything you want for dinner.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Why did this work for people?
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Because cereal is a low calorie food option in the quantities that you're going to eat it.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: At these two meals you're going to have a little milk, which is going to provide a little protein, but it's not ideal.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: It's highly calorie restrictive.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: So people lost weight on it and then felt a lot of freedom with their evening meal.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Did it?
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Was it very sustainable for people?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I don't believe so, but maybe someone is still doing it right now and I don't know.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: The amazing thing about that is that's just like a company got people to believe that they could reach their weight loss goals by just eating their food.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: It was like a marketing campaign and a diet all wrapped in one and people were just like only eating cereal for the first three quarters of their day, and that's just kind of wild to me, thinking back to who you were 10, 20 years ago.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Your food taste might be different, but you can achieve what goals you want now, even with your changing tastes, because we have better information and because you can make decisions that support it.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, with certain goals, you are going to have to weigh the pros and cons of certain foods, or you may.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: If a goal is important to you in a way that it supersedes the taste of a certain food or the frequency with which you can have X kind of food, you may opt.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: To restrict is not the right word, but you may opt to forego things because it is more important to you to reach that goal.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: That, again, is literally autonomy, and you have the ability to make the choice to do that.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So some goals are going to require you to forego things that you may typically like.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: You have to decide whether that's a goal.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I believe that for many of the goals that are going to bring us the most joy in our life, we shouldn't have to forego any joy with eating.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: We shouldn't have to forego taste when we eat our food.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: That is my personal preference.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I still think you can have pretty incredible goals and still have butter and oil on your food and really enjoy the taste of things.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Again, this is not if you have a medical condition that requires you to make food swaps or changes or eliminate foods.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: That is an exception to what I'm speaking about.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: We also you can healthify foods if you'd like.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: So the idea that and I use like extreme quotes on this you can swap the sour cream for yogurt why would you do that?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You typically it has to do with fat content, decreased fat content and increased protein content you could and I say healthify because that's sort of the conventional term for it, but I'm not saying that one is more healthy.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Sometimes eating the sour cream is going to be healthier because it actually tasted good for you.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: You stopped when you were satisfied and it is what you wanted in that moment.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: But you can make choices to swap if that is what's important for your goal and you still enjoy the taste of your food and it leaves you satisfied and all of that.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: You just also don't have to.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: So if you like a muffin one day and you don't want it to be a protein muffin, or like I always say, like I like pancakes.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not all that crazy about the protein pancakes, so I've opted typically to have regular pancakes and get my protein somewhere else.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: But you can do those swaps if you want.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Just realize that again, the taste of your food, your actual enjoyment of food, can fit in to your goals.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: And why.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Let's remember this one thing Stress plays a huge role in your ability to reach your wellness and health goals.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: One the systems in your body, the physiological systems in your body.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: If you are adding extra stress from food decisions, you're undoing this recovery work that you're aiming to do.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: You are probably creating scenarios in which you are hungrier than you want to be, or you are fixated on foods, creating a level of stress, a level of distraction, a level of desire that is going to get in the way of you actually being able to reach your goals and an increased amount of joy relative to your Because you are eating foods you like can be restorative, can be supportive of your goals.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: It can.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: You have the ability to eat foods you like and reach your goals.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be all or nothing and it doesn't have to be perfect, and you can make choices that are swapping things out if it works for you.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Just don't swap all the taste from your food.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Find ways to still enjoy food and reach your goals.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Lastly, on this, before I go, I just want to say one quick thing, just a reminder that when we think about, you like certain foods, you don't like certain foods.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Everybody's tastes are different and so, as I say all the time, don't yuck anybody's yum.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Let people eat what they want to eat.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Bear your judgment.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: If you are not their physician which sometimes some physicians probably shouldn't be commenting on food it could be a registered dietitian and many registered dietitians will have some very nuanced ideas about how to bring up things about nutrition.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: You don't need to comment on anybody's food, their food.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Intake what they're eating, whatever.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Just let people be.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Let people enjoy what they enjoy.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Take that off your shoulders.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: That is a stress you don't need to take on.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: You don't have to yuck anybody's yum.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: All right, that's my thoughts on eating for enjoyment and your goals.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: If it's helpful, let me know.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: If you have more nutrition questions or you have a thought about what you'd like to hear on the podcast, fitness or nutrition or mindset related, let me know.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: You can DM me on Instagram at foster underscore strength, or you can email me, betsy, at the letter bfosterstrongcom.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: As always, I am very grateful that you would take the time to listen to this episode and to all episodes.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Go, build your strongest body and I'll talk to you next time.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Bye.