An oft-mentioned lifestyle goal is to “eat healthier” – but what does this really mean? There are many different ways to “eat healthy”, and it can take time to figure out what it means for each person.
In truth, it depends on what an individual’s body requires, and his or her specific goals. Observation and practice are often required to get it right.
Many take an extreme approach; for instance, they decide to go on a 100% ketogenic diet without warning, or consume nothing but kale, quinoa, and chia seeds. While this might be trendy, it likely isn’t sustainable.
The stress and lifestyle of a university student can have an impact on one’s health and food choices. (Envato Elements pic)
For Choy (not his real name), one of the biggest surprises when he left home for university was figuring out how to eat well. His parents had always prepared meals for him, so he’d never really thought about what he was eating, simply because he’d never had to.
ADVERTISEMENT
Even with a cafeteria on campus, figuring out what a healthy meal looked like was difficult. There were too many options, and nutritious choices weren’t exactly front and centre.
It was easy to fall into bad habits such as emotional eating or eating for convenience. During his first semester, he would eat an entire bag of chocolate-covered almonds almost every night. He was stressed, so he binged on sugar and ended up feeling awful all the time.
When he returned home to Ipoh during a break that year, he begged his mum to make all her signature veggie dishes. It felt like his body was telling him to stock up on nutrients.
Choy knew he needed to make a change. He was no longer the energetic teen who could subsist on curly fries scarfed down in the car on the way to a two-hour class.
After years of relying on being active to keep him feeling good, he was suddenly a more-or-less sedentary student who spent more time at a desk than in the gym. He could feel the effects on his mind, body, and energy levels; he wasn’t able to concentrate on his studies as he used to.
So he started to pay more attention to how meals made him feel – not while he was eating them, but an hour later or throughout the day or the following morning.
He began to notice patterns. Eating cereal for breakfast left him lethargic and starving by 11am, while fresh fruits and yoghurt kept him going.
After meat-based or carb-heavy dinners, he felt bloated and slept poorly. On days when he managed to eat lots of greens, he felt alert and energised.
ADVERTISEMENT
Over the years, Choy has learnt to eat different kinds of foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains and proteins. He has also learnt to cook and is now a vegetarian as it makes him feel better overall.
The media loves to talk about fad diets, but diets or big lifestyle changes do not work equally for everyone. While eating paleo or tracking macros might be productive for some, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
And to be clear, “dieting” and “eating healthy” are two completely different things. A big revelation for Choy was that “healthy” did not necessarily equate to “skinny”. Restrictions are rarely a route to happiness or health.
That said, he has had a lot of fun learning to “healthify” his cravings. He has made buckets of banana ice cream and roasted sweet potatoes, and has learnt to add flavour to food with a full range of herbs and spices instead of just salt.
For the most part, his meals taste good and make him feel good, which offers him a healthier outlook on what he eats. He feels better, sleeps better, and can focus better. He looks forward to his meals and doesn’t feel guilty after finishing them.
Choy concludes that loving one’s food means loving one’s body, and eating healthy is ultimately about making choices that bring you joy.
ADVERTISEMENT
TELEME Healing Life Stories is a collection of inspirational stories of how ordinary people triumph over their health conditions and recover to lead a healthier life. Email [email protected] to share your story.