Reaching for Healthy Fuel

Making more space to empower conscious decisions to support healthy eating habits.

Food is fuel, we hear this expression all the time. It is a pretty fundamental truth. Yet, how come we feed our bodies all sorts of foods with labels that have mystery chemical ingredients and are laden with things that just aren’t good for us.

There are all sorts of reasons: insidious advertisements, compounds in the foods that are actually put in there for us to be addicted to them, a real addiction to sugar, unbalanced blood sugar levels, pleasure hormones released when we do eat certain foods, the list goes on. But, a big part of it all, is a lack of consciousness when we do eat. Ever buy a bag of chips at the grocery store and polish them off before you even get home, only realizing it when the bag is empty? I’ve been very guilty of this. Almost as if you blacked out?!

Pause & Choose Healthy Food as Fuel – here are a few tips to inspire you. Ask yourself…

1. How will this food make me feel after I eat it?

Before preparing food or ordering from a menu, asking the question above. Will it make me lethargic and only sustain me for an hour or so? Or will it give me energy to focus on whatever I have lined up for the remainder of the day?

2. What am I eating?

What ingredients are in what I am choosing to eat? Are they clean fuel for my body or weird chemicals that I wouldn’t eat on their own if they weren’t hidden in foods? Pick it up, read the labels. Or better yet, reach for foods that don’t have labels such as: fruits, veggies, nuts etc.

3. What is my body telling me?

Before reaching for another snack, a few great questions to ask are, “Am I hungry or am I thirsty? Tired? Stressed?”

4. Is there a healthier alternative?

Eating healthy is totally trending. Take advantage of this opportunity we have to nosh on healthier alternatives to foods that have been dubbed “unhealthy”, like chips (made in avocado oil with himalayan salt), cookies (preservative free and sweetened with dates), organic breads (loaded with healthy grains and seeds). Of course, it is important to still take into consideration moderation with anything that isn’t whole foods, but at least you can skip the preservatives and additives.