Food is My Friend
How many times have you found yourself in the kitchen, staring into the fridge or the pantry looking for something to eat even though you weren’t actually hungry. How many of us have ever been to a party and continued to eat chips and dip past the point of satiety. For triathletes, this scenario is rather typical. We eat more than the average bear with our training volumes and intensities. Hunger can make us dizzy after prolonged fasts of 2 or more hours. We are constantly focused on food to help us recover, give us energy, pull us through that mid morning slump and generally just be our friend (because training can be lonely, right.) Are we really eating because we are hungry or do we feel the need to eat to maintain our strength, endurance, body composition or because of the latest recommendations by some dietitian that writes articles for the club website?
According to the dictionary, hunger is a craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient. It’s an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food or a weakened condition brought about by prolonged lack of food. The basic physiological mechanisms driving hunger involve hormones, body fat levels, blood glucose levels and stretch receptors in the stomach. Mental or emotional factors in hunger are much less easily understood and oftentimes result in unnecessary calorie intake. Most of the time, unintentional weight gain is associated with emotional, social or cultural factors. We all have different reasons why we eat the amounts that we eat, i.e., genetics, activity levels, body weight and composition, relationships to food, dieting history, weight concerns and susceptibilities to cravings. Some may even be addicted to food or have abnormal food cravings. The key is to approach food with a balance of sustenance, enjoyment and performance goals. Review the below suggestions to see the other side of healthy eating.
Learn from diet mistakes. Even when you overeat, make poor choices or decide that starving yourself is the way to control your weight, there is an opportunity to plan for the next meal or snack and make a better decision. Many times, we get angry or feel guilty for our eating mistakes and this is quite normal, but learn from the experience and put it behind you. Inform yourself with safe and effective diet information and make the next day better. The guilt will get you nowhere. Fear may make you eat more and anger will only stop the learning process.
Give up perfectionism. Since we are all human beings, we need to accept the fact that our day is chocked full of opportunities to eat the wrong thing- welcome to an ‘imperfect world’. What is the ideal body weight in triathlon? Only one person knows that- you. Life is not a straight line, it is a zigzag line filled with nutritional ups and downs. What is important is that the general trend is in a positive direction- more good days than bad. Many people give up on making positive changes because they have a bad day or a series of bad days. Life is not that short- there will be opportunities to make up lost ground.
Break out of the "Being-Nice" trap. Don’t get caught in the snares of "the being-nice trap": know what is good for you as an individual, have a plan and stick by your nutritional goals despite social gatherings, holidays, office lunches and eating out. Also, make sure that you are making educated decisions when taking diet advice from your training partner.
Find alternative means of coping. Sharing problems, dialoguing, journal writing, communicating with self, dreaming, reflecting and meditating, working out, hiking, planning a get together with friends, actually writing a letter and playing board games are all excellent non-food related ways to lift the spirit. Be wary of the reasons why you eat and try to recognize when you are eating “beyond your means.”
Nurture yourself. Give yourself what you need. Don’t feel guilty for getting that much needed massage. Sleep in when you are tired, eat when you are hungry and give yourself a break at the end of a long season. Listen closely to the body as it will let you know when you have been too hard on it.
Get outside of your box. Start doing the grocery shopping or planning meals if you have never done this before. Start reading food labels and doing some comparison. Log your dietary intake for a couple of days on a site like fitday.com, nutridiary.com or dietdiaryplus.com and use it as a starting point to get a baseline from. Get a subscription to Eating Light or Nutrition Action for a year- enlighten yourself. Try eating a new vegetable or fruit once per week or try a different healthy recipe once per week with something you’ve never tried before.
Stop obsessing about food and LIVE! As we get involved with activities and the important people in our lives, we can reach a more balanced approach to eating. Take small steps to exploring your passions, what excites you and begin to follow your inner calling. Food compulsions can fall away and we can move into our zone of passionate living.
Brandon Nichols, RD, CSSD (Registered Dietitian, Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) vegasdietitian@gmail.com 702.245.7789 for a consultation.rn
