Nutrition: Eating for Life

Physical Wellbeing:  What every body needs to thrive

Nutrition: Eating for life

We saved the best for last, completing our reflections on Physical Wellbeing with nutrition.  Arguably, this is the most important, and least appreciated, aspect of maintaining Physical Wellbeing. 

Nobody likes being told what to do, or worse yet, what to eat!  So we take a different approach at Leadership for Life.  We encourage you to think of nutrition and your eating choices as a form of energy balance. 

Healthy, happy people have enough energy to do what they most want to do in life.  I don’t mean completing a “bucket list” before you die, but rather having enough energy to live fully each day and not feel like you are just making it through the day.  Naturally, we all occasionally have days where we are just getting by.  However, if days like that are the rule in your life, rather than the exception, then getting proper nutrition may be your ticket to a more energized lifeJ 

The concept of energy balance is simple: calories in = calories out + stored energy (usually in the form of unwanted fat).  We want to take in enough calories in order to enjoy what is most important to you – playing with our children, accomplishing tasks at work, spending time with friends, etc. - without overdoing our intake and/or taking in relatively useless calories.

In order to do this, Leadership for Life does NOT encourage a prescriptive diet but rather thinks about diet in a different way.  We think of diet as a lifestyle, or way of life, rather than some form of restrictive food rationing.  In fact, the origin of the word diet is from the Greek word, diaita, meaning way of life.  Instead of dieting (since most crash diets don’t work), think about crafting a healthy “eating lifestyle” that works for you. 

To use a personal example, I spent January in Florence, Italy, where the temptations to overindulge were many and deliciousJ  My colleagues and I ate hearty Italian meals with all the trimmings but none of us gained any extra weight because we adapted our lifestyle to accommodate the increased calories that we were too tasty to turn down.  We did this by simply walking around the beautiful city of Florence, both before and immediately following every big meal.  It is amazing what little adjustments can do for your health!

During our Costa Rica vacations, we encourage you to experiment with variations in your diet.  For example, one minor adjustment that you might consider is including more of their delicious fresh fish and fruits into your diet in lieu of some heavier carbohydrates.  I hope that you will consider these thoughts on healthier living a bit more, and perhaps view this website for more ideas on eating for life.  Better yet, come explore the tasty options for crafting a healthy eating lifestyle in Costa Rica this summer!