Healthy is Pulling Nutritional Levers

When it comes to nutrition, there is more than one lever you can pull to improve your nutritional habits.

WHY IT MATTERS

When it comes to improving your nutrition, most of us often think about just changing what you eat or don’t eat. But science has shown there are two more levers that are equally as important: when you eat, and how much you eat.

how much

You goal should be to:

Always pull at least one lever

In other words, it’s not a wise decision to eat as much food as you possibly can, no matter what type of food, and at all times of the day. Aim to be pulling at least one lever at a time.

Often pull two levers at a time

Frame your nutrition goals by thinking about how much you can combine (1) what and when you eat, (2) how much and when you eat, or (3) how much and what you eat.

Rarely pull all three

Too often we think of a diet change and we pull all three levers at once. This is not necessary for long-term success.

Pulling the different levers

Lever 1: When you eat

Every 24 hours you can start to improve your nutrition by simply splitting your eating into chunks, like:

• 12-12 (fast for 12 hours, eat in a 12-hour window)
• 14-10 (fast for 14 hours, eat in a 10-hour window)
• 16-8 (fast for 16 hours, eat in an 8-hour window)

Larger eating window

Lever 2: What you eat

This can be framed by adding or taking away certain foods, or even following certain “rules” or “diets:”

• Add: Eat More Genius Foods or Coloring Your Microbiome
• Take away: Eliminate Inflammatory Fats or Reduce Refined Sugars
• Rules: popular diets like Paleo, Keto, and the “Pegan Diet

Add certain foods

Lever 3: How much you eat

This is the idea of eating more or less depending upon your goals.

• Pay attention to portions at meals (larger or smaller)
• Focus on number of meals per day (more or less)
• Total calories can also be a guide for this lever

Eating more

As with everything we do, start small and aim for convenience to your schedule. Small changes can lead to big impacts!