People try all kinds of diets for all kinds of reasons. Most people come to understand what they like to eat and how that’s affecting them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re making the best choice for them. For instance, you might really enjoy eating and are keeping a healthy weight, but if you fail to eat any vegetables at all, it might be that you’re really doing without the kind of nutrition you need.
So, how do you understand your own personal dietary requirements, taking into account your medical conditions, your weight, your height, your health, your age, your schedule, and more? Furthermore, how do you know if you’re suitable for particular diets, such as a keto, or paleo, or more?
Well, these questions can be hard to answer. However, there are some metrics you can use to understand your diet, and moreover, to better keep track of how you eat. While none of the following advice should be taken as direct medical or nutritional guidance, you may be able to understand your dietary needs as below:
Measure Your Caloric Requirements
It’s important to measure your caloric requirements, and this will depend on your goals and medical needs. Usually, managing your caloric requirements can be calculated using an online calculator. This can help you more easily understand what you need according to your BMI.
This helps you more easily understand the CICO method, which is calories in/calories out. It’s really rather simple. If you hope to lose weigh, eat less calories than you need to maintain your weight each day. Up to 500 calories less can be the best option, as you don’t want to go overboard. This also works in the opposite direction if you hope to gain weight. But in order to know our caloric requirements, we must measure it, and from there benefit as a result.
Watch & Listen To Your Body
It sounds quasi-spiritual to say this, but that’s not necessarily the case. Listening to your body and watching your reactions to certain foods you eat can be a great indicator of how your diet should be comprised. Do you fall into a trance-like stupor every time you eat something sugary? It could be that you need to visit the Doctor to ensure nothing is going on, and if it isn’t, perhaps you’re just sensitive to sweets, and should limit your intake of them. This example can apply to almost anything, including the foods that help you feel together, nourished, and healthy. We are all comprised in different ways, and so it’s important to understand what that means.
Consider Your Vices
Consider your vices, and try to limit them. Do you have a tendency to eat buckets of ice cream with each takeout order? That’s not a great idea. It could be that limiting this, or switching up your daily snacks to something more low-impact, such as sunflower seeds, can be a great alternative.
Sometimes, applying different eating habits, such as intermittent fasting, can give you a powerful reason for not snacking in the evening. Consider your vices, and work to better them. You are stronger than them, and you might learn something in the process.
Understand Your Medical Requirements
Of course, some of us have real medical requirements that need to be considered when choosing what foods to eat.
This is emphasized in this excellent NewLifeTicket article, demonstrating the best foods to eat for those with fatty livers. It might also be that thanks to your diabetes you have to work closely with a nutritionist in order not to throw your blood sugar off in the worst possible sense.
Understanding your medical requirements will help you stay disciplined, and focus on what will actually nourish you, not that which will make you feel out of sorts or even increasing your risk to unpleasant outcomes.
What Do You Enjoy?
Remember that the joy of cuisine isn’t always solely in the eating. Learning new methods to prepare roast vegetables, trying new cuisines, eating seafood if you have otherwise sworn off it (it’s good to challenge yourself), and taking the time to eat in good company can help you consider food anew, and feel better as a result. If you’re not enjoying your diet, there’s something that needs to be changed, and this doesn’t automatically mean ordering high-calorie foods from your local takeout.
Learn More And More About Nutrition
The more you know about both your dietary requirements and the world of food in general, the healthier you’re going to be. So, if you can find out more and more about nutrition each week or so, that would be perfect. You could, one day, be making the likes of keto tacos as that could be your go-to meal. Right now, there will be certain ideas that you wouldn’t even bother to fathom. In the future, however, you could be fully knowledgeable and be using it as practical information going forward.
With this advice, we hope you can understand your personal dietary requirements in the best way.
You May Also Enjoy:
Share this Post