Eating Less Is Not the Answer
busting one of my worst pet peeve nutrition myths..
**I wrote this to my newsletter list, as well shared it on my instagram, but it felt like I needed to share it here too. I believe focusing on our basic nourishment is one way we ReMother ourselves. Enjoy
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I read a post where someone claimed that the average American eats 3500-3900 calories a day.
But I am always talking about how people need to eat more? What gives?
The Myth I Want to Bust
Using this kind of claim to imply that everyone needs to eat less really gets under my skin because it creates and adds to this blanket idea that we are all overeating.
The nuance is so important here.
So many people, I would argue women especially, are under the impression they over eat. They believe they simply need to eat less and they would lose weight, feel better and generally be healthier.
So they try to control their intake though overall restriction or restriction of certain foods and maybe it even kind of works for a bit, but eventually they “cave”, “fall off the wagon” and/or start to feel awful; not better.
This is the myth I really need to bust right here.
Average Does Not Mean You
Calories in and calories out matter.
AND it’s not as simple as just total calories. If you’re not aware or familiar with calories/macros/micros and/or you’re eating out a lot; you could quite easily eat 1500 calories one day, then eat 5000 the next (I see this level of discrepancy all the time in my clients’ food tracking journals).
Your average calories per day would be somewhere around 3000, but those are two very different days and create a very different outcome for the body, your nervous system, and nutrients, than if you were to eat the same about of calories in similar macro/micro nutrient spreads day after day.
Averages can be really deceiving because we assume we are average. So, if you’re reading this post, you’re probably not ‘an average American.’ You could very well be simply not eating enough calories. Most of the women & men I do Intakes for are not eating any where close to enough in simple total calories.
Oscillating Amounts of Calories Communicates Inconsistency
The extreme difference in nourishment between these two example days communicates to your body and nervous system: inconsistency eg ‘not safe’.
Chronically oscillating big and small amounts of total calories and having massive inconsistencies in macro and micro nutrients intake creates a baseline of confusion and lack of safety for our bodies.
This lack of safety translates to a system on alert, which creates a catabolic (break down) state in the body. This will not lead to increased health, muscle growth, nervous system regulation, healthy cellular regeneration, smooth energy levels, or an overall happy mood.
I’ll give you a few more examples..
Example: The Night Time Binger
A person eats really “clean” & controlled (tends to mean they aren’t eating enough) during the day, then at night they find themselves binging on hyper palatable (high calorie nutrient poor) foods like crackers, chips, cookies, fast food etc.
These people tend to think; “Arg! I’m such a slob! I’m an emotional eater! I have no CONTROL!” When really, they need to eat more nutrient dense foods earlier in the day so they aren’t starving at night. Starving leaves our bodies essentially powerless to gorging on whatever high calorie thing we can reach.
Staying in a pattern like this long term may create a high overall calories but the way the calories are spread over the days creates an over abundance of calories from low nutrient density foods in the evening (when we’re meant to be complete with digestion). The high calories aren’t the issue.
Example: The Partier
One more pattern I see that wouldn’t necessarily look like under eating but would cause the body to feel very unsafe/inconsistent, is the person who controls their food intake most of the time (again, ‘controlling your food intake’ tends to equal under eating unless you’re consciously trying to eat ENOUGH).
However, this person goes out on the weekends or a few times a month, drinks a lot of alcohol, & eats with abandon at restaurants. There’s an energy of “I deserve a break” here.
This is similar to the nightly binge, but the binge is less frequent. This could even be someone who most of the time ‘eats clean’ but then gains weight every holiday season.
Same thing, the overall average calories might be decent, but there is a skew towards bulk of calories being from overly processed foods or alcohol, in the evenings.
What All These Patterns Really Need
All of these patterns may look & feel to the person like they just have to be ‘more disciplined’ or ‘eat less,’ when really they need to be more consistent with eating ENOUGH food on a daily basis, not eating less.
I hear from people all the time that they’ve ‘done everything!’ when it comes to diets, but almost no one has tried to just eat 2500 calories of whole foods [nutrient density] in a energy supportive macro split of 25% fat, 25% protein & 50% carbs every single day for a year. [this is just a SUPER ballpark average for a grown woman, you may need a lot more, not likely any less, you also may need to really slowly & intentionally increase your calories if you are actually under eating or actively gaining weight].
If they have; I guarantee they’ll tell you how incredibly healing it is.
When You Eat Enough
When you’re eating enough & giving your body what it needs nutrient & energy wise, you will feel the desperation & food noise fade away. It just won’t make sense anymore.
There are definitely emotional aspects to foods & cravings, but these won’t come with such fervor or intensity.
You may over eat sometimes but far, far less often.
You can still go out & socialize & have a good time, but you won’t wake up feeling absolutely wrecked & be much less likely to go to extremes.
We live in an insanely stressful times for our minds & bodies.
Most people are in massive need of grounding, consistency & boring sameness as a way to offer containment to ourselves.
We are addicted to novelty & constant stimulation. We see this reflected in the ways we want to eat. More variety. More sensation. Less actual nutrients. Less balance. We can have any kind of cuisine we can imagine at our fingertips. Hyper palatable foods are available everywhere we look. We can jet off to far away lands in a few hours. We need to remember that our bodies did not evolve with these options.
Our bodies are actually craving so much more rooting & we can give this to ourselves via the way we choose to eat.