Month of February, 2009

This week’s nutrition tip is about snacking. While it is true that healthy, planned snacks can keep your metabolism up and prevent you from overeating at meals, mindless snacking when you are not really hungry can contribute to weight-gain.

Sometimes, though, you may have a hard time distinguishing between real physical hunger and mental or emotional hunger. In the Bible, in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus tells us that man does not live on bread alone, and then in chapter 5, he speaks about a hunger and thirst for righteousness. This teaches us that we have a hunger within our souls that is bigger than the physical hunger in our stomachs. However, sometimes we try to fill the soul hunger the same way we fill the physical hunger, and this results in us eating when we are not actually hungry for food. We are really hungry for something more.

So how can we distinguish between the physical hunger in our stomachs and the emotional/mental hunger in our souls? It starts by knowing when we are truly physically hungry. Next time you are craving a sweet or salty snack, try this test to see if you are really physically hungry. Ask yourself would you still want this snack if it were only an apple (or some other fruit or vegetable)? If the answer is yes, why not go for that apple (or other fruit or vegetable) to truly nourish that physical hunger? If the answer is no, then the hunger/craving you are experiencing is probably not a physical hunger in your stomach, but instead an emotional hunger in your soul. Instead of reaching for the snack, this might be a good time to take a walk or take a 10 minute break and reflect on what it is that your soul truly hungers for. Need help with this? Go to the “contact us” page to get in touch with me.

When you get home from work during the week, you are probably tired, and the last thing you want to think about is how to throw together a balanced meal. It is for this very reason that it is so important to have a plan.

I recommend looking at your weekly schedule, and planning your meals for the week and do your grocery shopping accordingly. I can help you do this through my personalized nutrition planning sessions and personalized grocery store tours by helping you take the guesswork out of planning easy-to-make and balanced meals.

A plan is so important because it is when you don’t have a plan, that you make a trip through the “desperation drive-through” as I like to call it. David Zinczenko, the author of the book, “Eat this, Not that” was recently on Oprah talking about food choices at various restaurants. He suggested that some fast food options were “healthier” than others because they had lower calorie counts. However, I believe that it is important look at all aspects of a food (calories, fat, sodium, fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc.) when evaluating the health of that food. While there is certainly nothing wrong with monitoring one’s caloric intake, it is also important to remember that the word “healthy” does not just refer to “lower in calories.” If this were true, it would mean that 1 piece of hard candy is healthier than an apple just because it has fewer calories, and we all know that is not true.