What should we eat to facilitate the amazing feelings of the Exercise High? There is a lot of information out there about what you should and what you should not be eating. It can be confusing and frustrating to try and seep through this simple overload of information that we have created in this space called the internet. Because of that I have tried to make it as simple as possible for you. So if you are about to make a dietary choice in the future, try and keep the following in mind on the feel-good whole-foods diet to improve your decision-making process.
Did you know that roughly 90% of your feel-good hormone serotonin is produced in your gut? I am aware that you know that what we eat has a significant impact on how we feel throughout the day, as well as how we feel in the days coming but I just really wanted to share this surprising fact with you!
What do we need to consume to increase the production efficiency of our happy hormones, increase our confidence in successfully recreating an intoxicating Exercise High, and maximize our basic well-being (even for those not exercising)?
Well, to sum it up, it seems like the more we learn about nutrition, the more we learn that we should eat like people did centuries ago, before the era of highly processed food and heavy doses of sugar. Eating a whole foods diet has been shown to decrease the risk of depression by about 26%, and whole foods—specifically whole grains, vegetables, fruit, fermented dairy, fish, olive oil, nuts, chocolate, coffee, and tea—have been associated with a lower risk of cancer, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
What Is the Whole Foods Diet?
Whole foods are foods that are in their most natural state, having undergone little to no processing. A whole foods diet is not a formal or commercial diet. Instead, it is a diet you design for yourself that follows certain principles, and is designed to be a long-term, sustainable plan. The idea and ultimate goal is to load your plate with healthy foods and, to the extent possible, stay away from processed ones (usually those packaged in non-see-through material). You will want to stick to foods that are as close to their unaltered, original state as you can.
The whole foods diet offers a great variety of food (some of which you are likely already eating), including whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats like chicken and fish, milk, yogurt, legumes, nuts, and seeds. That is it. Simple enough, no?
A Few Points
You’ve probably noticed the absence of certain comfort foods you enjoy, and so perhaps you have some doubts about being able to sustain this diet. But remember, the primary goal is to make you feel great following your workouts and help to discover your best feeling self—and nutrition is a pillar of our health.
However, we do not need to abandon all the guilty pleasures we enjoy and follow this diet to a tee. Instead, we just need to create enough internal change to increase your baseline production of happy hormones. Of course you don’t need to entirely stop eating delicious snacks or meals such as chocolate cookies, ice cream, or pizza.
My goal is to have you create small, realistic, permanent adjustments to your eating habits, not drastic changes. If you are still concerned or skeptical about changing your diet, let me give you a bit more information about the whole foods eating plan that should clear up your concerns:
Why Whole Foods?
It is a Clean Diet
Despite the existence of millions of things on Earth that can kill us, I fully believe that nature wants us to thrive. That’s why it provides us with clean sources of beneficial food. No preservatives. No added sodium or sugars. No chemicals that we cannot pronounce. While some foods have undergone some treatment by farmers to ward off pesticides, whole foods are the most natural and healthiest type of food there is. They have been subject to little if any processing. In addition, they give many of the macronutrients and micronutrients we need to function perfectly.
Phytochemicals
Over the last decade, scientists have discovered hundreds of biologically active plant components known as phytochemicals (or phytonutrients). They include lycopene, a red-colored carotenoid found primarily in tomatoes; anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant that gives berries their deep blue color; and pterostilbene (found in blueberries), which appears to activate a powerful “switch” in cells that breaks down fat and cholesterol. The only way to ensure you’re getting all of the phytochemicals we know about, as well as those we haven’t yet discovered or named, is to eat whole, unprocessed plant foods, which are an essential part of the whole foods diet.
Healthy Carbohydrate Sources
Most whole plant foods are high in fiber, whereas many processed, junk, and fast foods have been stripped of fiber. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, fiber benefits your health in a variety of ways, including keeping the GI tract moving, making you feel fuller faster, and aiding in the prevention of heart disease and diabetes. Whole foods are also free of added sugars. They only contain natural sugars, which when ingested in moderation pose no risk to your health.
Healthy Fat Sources
When you eat mostly whole foods, it’s easier to reduce the bad-for-you fats that are frequently added to processed foods and fast food. Simultaneously, it is easier to emphasize the “good” fats (omega-3s from fish and plants, and monounsaturated fat from plant sources). Some meats can contain naturally occurring trans fats, but usually only in small amounts.
The Rising Cost of Whole Foods
But whole foods are so expensive! How can you expect me to sustain this diet?! I know, I know. With inflation on the rise and natural whole foods getting increasingly more expensive, it is getting more difficult to keep them on your grocery list. I hope, however, that by now you are able to see that in the long run, following a whole food diet is much cheaper than following the traditional Standard American Diet, with all of its negative health consequences.
Tooth decay and illnesses like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cancer are substantially influenced by a diet high in processed, salty, sugary, fried, and generally unhealthy foods. A seemingly cheap diet can eventually balloon into years’ worth of expensive medical interventions and pricey medications to treat a variety of illnesses.
But of course we all need to save a bit of money here and there, and stick to our budgets. Fortunately, there are many ways to do that. Here is how:
1. Buy in Bulk
You can save a lot of money by buying your whole foods in bulk at large stores (e.g. Costco) rather than your local supermarket. If you decide to buy in bulk, you can increase your perishable food’s longevity by:
- Wash it prior to storing it (for around 60 seconds in lukewarm water).
- Ensuring your fridge temperature is correct (1–4 degrees Celsius for your refrigerator and -18 degrees for your freezer).
- Storing foods in separated, individual places to prevent cross-contamination.
- Refrigerating or freezing foods as soon as you can (no more than 90 minutes after purchase). Also, defrost your food slowly after taking it out of the freezer.
2. Visit your Local Farmer/Butcher
Support local farmers and butchers by paying them a visit and seeing what they have in stock. Farmers often have the absolutely freshest produce at great prices. From vegetables, fruits, eggs, and meat, they may offer all that you need.
3. Grow Your Own Food
Grow your own food. If you have a piece of land, have you ever thought of creating a little garden? This is undoubtedly a commitment, and will take a lot of patience. But it can be so very rewarding! And more and more people are doing it.
Final Thoughts on Changing Your Diet
Prior to starting to change your diet, I recommend that you get your current dietary habits analyzed with an expert using a dietary history interview questionnaire, the most comprehensive and accurate representation of your dietary habits and calculate your caloric needs.
This is usually done via in-depth dietary tools, such as food frequency questionnaires and lifestyle analysis tools, which should be carried out by a professional. This will help you to identify what changes you can make to your diet, as well as your specific caloric needs as they pertain to the management of your weight and the maintenance of your health.
Maintaining Rhythm and Keeping It Fun
A final point that I want to make before we end this chapter is to keep some regularity with your cooking and eating times. Similar to when it comes to your sleep, being consistent about your meal times will help your body prepare for the demanding process of digestion. Regularity will help your body produce chemicals responsible for digestion when it gets closer to the time to eat, and it will optimize your energy levels for your mood-boosting Exercise High workouts.
In order to ensure that the changes you have made in your diet are both realistic and sustainable, however, do not overwhelm yourself. Introduce your planned changes gradually. The goal is to slowly introduce permanent changes to your life. So ensure that you have the time and resources available to consistently follow these changes. Make things easy for yourself.
For example, try to prep your meals ahead of time, and make extra amounts so you have convenient leftovers available for the following day. Most of all, try to have fun with these changes! And if you are not currently in a position to make big changes to your diet, don’t worry. Just keep in mind what I said earlier: even small changes can make huge differences in your well-being.