3-2-1: Eat Eat Eat
Thursday 3-2-1 for Dec 10th, 2020
Every Thursday I will be sending out a post containing 3 things to check out, 2 personal thoughts, and 1 challenge, all on the topics of health, wellness, and fitness.
3 Things to Check Out
I’ve been on a big of a nutrition kick recently. So let’s start with this article about beans. Boring, right? But beans are easy to store, access, and cook; plus they are nutritional powerhouses. In fact, beans have been identified as one of the most important staples in worldwide Blue Zones (areas that have a statistically high number of folks 100 years old and older).
And lest you worry about protein consumption from plant based sources, like beans, the AFPA expounds on the nuances between plant and animal protein sources - tl;dr you don’t need to worry too much. Plant protein sources are often missing at least one of the many amino acids that all count as “protein”, but if you just consume other sources, it’ll all be fine.
Like a lot of things in life, variety is the right tact to take. Too much of any one thing - even water - can cause problems for you.
And while we’re on the topic of nutrition still, I find it fascinating that fruits and vegetables actually stress your body out, which is part of their health providing effects. In all forms of training, doing hard things allows you to adapt and get better at those hard things. Consuming things that you struggle to digest also causes adaptations. This is hormesis - a positive adaptation that comes out of a negative experience.
2 Personal Thoughts
Nutrition is hard. Even if you know as much as you possibly can about diet (and exercise), it can still be incredibly difficult to execute on those ideas. That’s because human psychology gets in the way. Learning to tackle your emotional or psychological blockers for achieving your goals is critical.
Sometimes you just have to do things to do them. To challenge yourself. Some people run marathons, or build a ship in a bottle, or whatever. Me, I realize I’ve never had fully visible 6-pack abs; so I’ve begun to dial my nutrition in an attempt to get there. It should be a “fun” experience.
So expect some more articles on nutrition and body composition than in the past.
1 Challenge
I’m sure you’re not perfect when it comes to eating right and training. For the next two weeks, whenever you eat poorly, delay or skip a workout, or don’t execute the way you want when it comes to achieving your goals, I want you to write the reason down. No one else but you will see this, so be honest. Why did you eat five cookies for lunch? Why didn’t you go for that run? Write it down. Every night, look your list over. Just think about it. Was it worth it?