The Easy Button: Nutrition Edition

Last week, I was interviewed by Todd Poquette on the Made U.P. podcast. In a mix of nutrition-related questions he asked, "what are some universal pillars that regardless of your own personal chemistry and make up, what should people be paying attention to and really caring about?"

My answer? Having at least three meals a day which consist of a source of protein, carbohydrate, and color and hydrating based on the color of your urine. So let's unpack this.

Why is it important to eat at least three meals a day? There are many reasons but the simpliest is that it gives our body an opportunity to digest and absorb nutrients from food. This helps contribute to a normal rise and fall of blood glucose (read sugar). It also helps allow our body do be efficient in absorbing certain macronutrients like protein.

What should a meal look like? A meal should include a source of protein, carbohyrate, and color. Protein could include meat, fish, seafood, dairy, tofu, or beans. A source of carbohydrate might be toast, rice, pasta, cereal, cupcake or a donut. A source of color could be an apple, potato, broccoli, cantaloupe or raspberries. You might wonder where fat is included on the plate and we can get adequate sources of fat without it being a focus. This is because fat is found in almost all sources of dairy, can be added to sources of carbohydrate, and used to cook sources of color. There is also some overlap between sources of carbohydrate and color. The starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, and peas count as both.

What should portion sizes look like? A great place to start is to fill half of your plate with carbohydrates. Most folks can add a quarter of their plate with protein and the remaining quarter with color. Someone with a high training volume may want to focus on those starchy vegetables as their source of color to increase their carbohydrate intake. Someone with a focus on strength may increase their protein source to fill a third of their plate. Someone who has weight or body composition goals may start with half of their plate with color. It really depends on your goals.

When it comes to hydration, it's actually very simple. You just need to pay attention to the color of your urine.

What if my urine is clear? This means you are overhydrated. The issue with being overhydrated is that you can flush out electrolytes. So if you notice your urine is clear, back off the water and have something with electrolytes like a gatorade or grab a salty snack like nuts, pretzels, or chips.

What color should my urine be if I'm hydrated? It should look like pale lemonade. Keep doing what you're doing and continue to monitor the next time you pee.

What should I do if my urine is darker than pale lemonade? You should prioritize increasing your fluid intake. This should primarily be from water but can also include tea, soup, broth and smoothies!

We hope this will help you approach nutrition with ease. Let's make an effort to make things less complicated and easier on ourselves.

If you find you're continuing to make things complicated or struggling to meet these universal pillars of eating, we can help! We offer individualized nutrition counseling with resources that are created for you. Get started by scheduling a free inquiry call with Dawn using the Book Now tab right here on our website. We can't wait to support you.