Stop Over Complicating Your Nutrition

When it comes to nutrition, the health and fitness industry is over-encumbered with so much information that it makes you feel absolutely clueless about what you need to do to live a healthy, nutritious life. As soon as you feel you have a grasp on what you "should" eat, some guy on a podcast with a mic says: "Studies have shown, blah blah blah". This in turn leads you to rethink your entire process and honestly, it's so frustrating, isn't it? So you then ask the question, "Who or what should I listen to?" In all honesty, that is a hard question to answer, but if you are reading this blog post, you have already found somewhere where I take facts and provide facts and ignore the bro science fluff that the industry is saturated with.

Let me start with this. There is a lot of information about nutrition. Every day I'm learning something new. Whether it's down to how a micronutrient impacts the body or a food item that induces certain hormonal changes and regulation issues etc. So what does this mean? Nutrition is powerful. Nutrition, some would argue, is medicine. Some have even cured conditions with correct nutritional intake! Isn't that crazy? When there is so much positive information out there surrounding the benefits of food and food items, no wonder we start to get confused when social media claims foods can do certain things. Especially when we are online looking for solutions and answers to the way our body is responding.

How you should start planning your nutrition:

So where should you start? What should you first start thinking about when it comes to your nutrition? The answer is simple. You must first not overcomplicate what you need with the vast array of information out there and then start focusing on one specific factor of nutrition at a time until it feels natural to you. Now you're probably wondering, "What should I focus on first?", "What's the most important?", "I should probably focus on protein, right?" I'm going to stop you right there for a moment. You're starting to overcomplicate again. So let me answer this question for you. Start with breakfast. I don't mean start perfecting your macros and micronutrients with breakfast, don't be silly. I'm talking about actually having a breakfast! Regardless of whether it's big or small, or a banana or a cereal bar, just start the day with something.

That's planning part 1 taken care of. Simple, isn't it? So what next? Do the same for lunch and dinner. Once you have the meal timings regular, you are hitting the first objective of fuelling your body throughout the day.

Tidying it up:

After you have spent time creating a habit surrounding eating 3 times a day, we move onto the second part, which is tidying what's actually on your plate. The simplest method for this is the same as meal timing, start with just breakfast! Once breakfast becomes a habit, you move onto lunch and then dinner. You're probably reading this and now thinking, "Wait, this isn't to be 'fixed' within a week?" Correct! We are doing things at a pace that allows your eating habits to change and become second nature, so sometimes completely flipping your nutrition upside down to get it to where you want it to be can take months! You're now probably saying to yourself, "Months!? I don't have time for that." Well as a matter of fact, you do. You have spent years eating the way you have, and undoing that habit quickly will not be sustainable. What we are doing here is a sustainable, life-changing development to your nutrition that you can keep up with and not feel overwhelmed by.

So what does "tidying the plate" actually mean?

Good question. And no, before your brain runs off again, it does not mean weighing everything to the gram or banning entire food groups. Tidying the plate simply means looking at what is already there and making it a little better.

Start with breakfast, same as before. If your usual morning is a cereal bar on the way out the door, brilliant, you already have the habit. Now ask one question. Can I add something to this? Maybe that is a yoghurt alongside it. Maybe it is swapping the cereal bar for a bowl of porridge a few mornings a week. You are not throwing the old habit in the bin, you are just nudging it in a slightly better direction. Once that nudge feels normal and you are not even thinking about it anymore, you move onto lunch. Then, you guessed it, dinner.

Notice the pattern here. I am never asking you to overhaul everything at once. We are stacking tiny, manageable wins on top of each other until one day you look down at your plate and realise it looks nothing like it did a few months ago. And the best part? You barely felt the change happen, because it was never overwhelming in the first place.

What about the "perfect" foods?

Here is where I want to gently take some pressure off you. There is no magic food. There is no single ingredient that is going to fix everything or ruin everything. The internet loves to tell you that this one food is poison and that one food is a miracle cure, and honestly, most of it is noise. A balanced plate over weeks and months will always beat one "superfood" eaten in a panic on a Tuesday.

So instead of chasing the perfect food, aim for a plate that has a bit of everything. Something with protein to keep you full and support your body. Some colour from fruit or veg. Some carbohydrates for energy, yes, actual energy, they are not the enemy the internet makes them out to be. That is genuinely it. You do not need a spreadsheet, you just need a little bit of balance and a lot of patience.

A quick word on hydration

I could not write a nutrition post and skip over water. Hydration matters more than most people give it credit for. Being even slightly dehydrated can leave you tired, foggy, headachy and convinced you are hungry when really your body is just asking for a drink.

But before you go and buy one of those enormous gallon bottles with the motivational timestamps printed down the side, let me stop you again. You do not need to overhaul this either. Same approach as everything else. Start small. If you barely drink water during the day, do not aim for three litres tomorrow. Just add one glass. Have one with breakfast. Keep a bottle on your desk or in your bag where you can see it, because out of sight really does mean out of mind. Build it up slowly until reaching for water becomes the automatic thing you do, rather than the thing you keep forgetting about.

And no, your cups of tea and coffee do not undo all your hard work. They count towards your fluids too. Just be mindful that water is still your best friend here.

Bringing it all together

So let me tie this whole thing up for you. If you take one thing away from this post, let it be this. Nutrition does not have to be complicated and it absolutely does not have to be perfect. The industry wants you to believe it is this impossible puzzle that only the experts and the podcast guys can solve, but it really is not.

Start by simply eating three times a day. Once that feels natural, tidy up what is on the plate, one meal at a time. Add a little balance, a little colour and a little patience. Drink your water. And most importantly, give yourself the time to let these changes settle in, because the slow way is the way that actually sticks.

You have spent years building the habits you have now. Be kind to yourself while you build some new ones. There is no rush and there is no finish line you have to sprint towards. Just small, steady steps that add up to something genuinely life changing.

You have got this. And if you ever feel lost in the noise again, you know where I am.

Stay weird 🖤

FJB 🥀