BS, Dietetics and Nutrition
We’ve all heard about “nutrition” and how we should be eating certain foods and avoiding certain OTHER foods right?
But we never really get to the core of what ACTUAL nutrition is, or why we should even have a basic understanding of it in the first place.
In this guide, we’re going to be going over some of the foundational principles to having a THRIVING body and mind through the power of proper nutrition!
Not only will we get into the specific food and resources that your body and mind need in order to operate its BEST, but we’ll also set a good foundation so you can easily determine whether the foods you eat support you or harm you.
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Why Nutrition Is 10x More Important Than People Think
Most people are aware of some of the benefits that come with proper nutrition…
The most common benefits are for example it can give you energy through eating healthy, or can improve performance using certain biohacking supplements.
But the truth is, nutrition and its benefits go MUCH deeper than that!
In fact, research has shown that there is a plethora of evidence that points to nutrition as being the main determining factor as to how our DNA is created, molded, and formed for generations:
“Nutrition in early life induces long-term changes in DNA methylation that impact on individual health and age-related diseases throughout life. Nutrients can either act directly by inhibiting epigenetic enzymes such as DNMT, HDAC, or HAT or by altering the availability of substrate necessary for those enzymatic reactions. This in turn modifies the expression of critical genes and impacting on our overall health and longevity.” [R]
This means that your nutrition has the potential to quite literally re-write your DNA, with the implications of this conclusion being life-altering!
As talked about in this post here, your diet can directly influence certain disorders that are commonly perceived to be unfortunate genetic predispositions such as autism, ADHD, depression and so on.
While many of these disorders could very well be caused by genetics, there is a large and growing body of research that points to the Standard American Diet (SAD) as being the main culprit.
Harnessing The Power Of Proper Nutrition
With proper nutrition, you have the power to rewrite your DNA in a way that is life-supportive.
Luckily, harnessing this power is rather simple and we’re going to get into exactly how to optimize your nutrition to support a life of healthy and effective living.
Ultimately, harnessing the power of nutrition can be boiled down into 3 things:
- Eliminate what’s harming you
- Give your body & mind what it needs to thrive
- Utilize beneficial supplements
Using these 3 simple yet profound principles, we will create a plan that has the ability to give your life a MAJOR boost in terms of energy, mood, performance, and so much more!
Let’s look at principle number one.
Eliminate What’s Harming You
The first step in putting out a fire (or in this case, eliminating sub-optimal health) is to eliminate the source, which is exactly what we’re going to do.
Now more than ever, people are being quite literally poisoned by the diets they consume.
Sugar for example, when combined with many other chemicals commonly found in found has been shown to have a negatively synergistic and inflammatory effect on the body:
“Although the research on the relationship between dietary sugars and the above diseases has been relatively thorough, the impact of these sugars on inflammation was previously unknown. In recent years, as more researchers have explored the relationship between high-sugar diet and inflammation, people have found that excessive sugar intake is closely associated with the development of low-grade chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases.” [R]
In other words, these chemicals and ingredients when combined with sugar (common in a Standard American Diet) are quite literally creating fire all throughout the body!
2 Good rules of thumb for eliminating toxic foods and reducing inflammation are to keep sugars to a minimum and a saying that goes “If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on the ingredient label, then it’s best to skip”.
For more information on removing these toxic foods and sources of inflammation, it’s highly recommended to check out this article on inflammation here.
Give Your Body & Mind What It Needs To Thrive
Next up, we gotta give the proper fuel for your body and mind…
Most people are aware that your body needs food as fuel, and some people are even aware that not all fuel (food) is created equally in terms of supporting the body and mind.
Going even further, foods can be fuel for the mind as well, but also vice versa where if you don’t get enough fuel (vitamins, minerals, etc.) it can quite literally leave your mind running on fumes.
So exactly do your body and mind need in order to operate at their best?
For the body & mind, it can be broken down into 3 easy categories:
- Protein
- Carbs
- Fats
Obviously getting high-quality versions of these 3 will also benefit both the body & mind through getting the necessary vitamins, minerals, and so on…
For now, understand that getting high-quality protein, carbs, and fats is KEY when it comes to giving your body & mind the fuel it needs to perform at its BEST!
For carbs, some great nutritionally dense sources include quinoa, fruits, veggies, brown rice, etc.
For proteins, some great sources include fish, eggs, beans, red meat, chicken, etc.
Lastly, for some healthy fats, some great sources include avocados, coconut oil, nuts, animal fats, etc.
For more information on the various proteins, carbs, and fats for your body, it’s highly recommended to check out the rest of Nutri Inspector for even more information on these sources of rocket fuel for the body and mind.
Utilize Beneficial Supplements
Lastly, you can use supplements in order to help take your health to the next level, but I do want to stress one thing before we move on:
Supplements are meant to SUPPLEMENT your diet, not replace it completely!
While supplements are great to help get lost or missing nutrients that you don’t get from your diet, they should never be the main and/or go-to source of these nutrients.
With that said, however, we’re going to be taking a look at a few supplements that will be key to help take your nutrition and in turn, your health to the next level!
Obviously, there are MANY different supplements that you could take, but we’re going to keep it simple and boil it down to 3 that will be the most bang for your buck.
These 3 supplements are as follows:
- High-Quality Multivitamin
- Fish/Krill Oil
- Protein & Creatine
These 3 supplements will serve as a great foundation before you experiment with adding anything else.
Remember to always check with your doctor before consuming ANY supplements as everyone’s biology is unique and what works for some, may not always work for you.
That said, let’s dive deep as to how each of these supplements can be utilize and WHY they’re good for you.
High-Quality Multivitamin
The reason why a high-quality multivitamin is emphasized is because many multivitamins commonly sold, are not very effective, to say the least.
These multivitamins may SAY they contain certain vitamins and minerals, but more often than not, they are in HIGHLY bio-unavailable forms and/or don’t come anywhere NEAR the daily requirements that your body needs to operate at its best.
For example, if you currently have a multivitamin that only requires you to take one pill a day, then there is a high likelihood that it’s doing very little for you.
Real, high-quality multivitamins will usually have you taking at least 3 tablets, capsules, or pills a day to ensure that you are getting sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Once you do find a high-quality multivitamin you can expect your energy to receive a nice little boost within the first day.
Fish/Krill Oil
Fish and or krill oil is one of the most beneficial substances both for your body and mind that you could ingest.
Without getting too in-depth, fish/krill oil contains a type of compound called Omega 3’s which contains the beneficial fats EPA & DHA.
These Omega-3 fatty acids are nothing short of miraculous in terms of the benefits for your body and mind.
More research is being done but the studies thus far have shown these benefits of consuming Omega 3’s:
- Powerful Anti-Inflammatory
- Supports Healthy Joints
- Beneficial For Cardiovascular Health
- Shown To Improve Depression [R]
- Great For Brain Health
- And more…
Fish/Krill oil is a key substance that can benefit over a HUNDRED different processes within the body and mind!
And the best part is that it’s incredibly easy to add to your daily routine!
You can either consume it in supplemental form, or you could add some fish like cod or salmon into your daily diet regime as both of these fish have high amounts of these Omega 3’s!
Protein Powder & Creatine
Protein and creatine are listed together due to their synergistic benefits, especially for gym-goers.
With protein powder, you have one of two options: whey or casein.
Whey is a very fast-digesting protein that would be beneficial after a workout, to help the body get protein to the damaged muscles ASAP.
Casein on the other hand, is a slow-digesting protein that would be beneficial to take before bed, as it would be akin to an IV drip of protein for your body throughout the night.
Lastly, we have creatine, which as of 2023 is the MOST widely studied fitness supplement currently on the market.
Creatine has a whole host of benefits:
- Improved Muscle Building
- Enhanced ATP Production
- Boosts Energy
- Improves Recovery
- Shown To Have Beneficial Effects On Cognition [R]
- And More…
Creatine by itself is already a fantastic option for those looking to recover faster from physical exercise, but when paired WITH protein powder, it has a synergistic effect.
But creatine and protein powder isn’t just a supplement combo limited to only gym goers, as they both have benefits for anyone who supplements with them.
However, if you do get sufficient physical exercise, it may be worth considering adding these scientifically-backed supplements to your regime.
Nutrition Made Easy: In Summary
Nutrition has the power to change your life not only on a macro level but all the way down to a DNA and molecular level as well.
Nutrition can give you energy, cure chronic diseases, and fuel your life as a whole when utilized properly.
In the end, I thoroughly hope that you enjoyed this article and found the information presented useful!
If you want even MORE great articles on how to improve your health, then make sure to check out the rest of Nutri Inspector!
And until next time!
