What should I be eating again?

What should I be eating again?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by conflicting nutrition advice? One day carbs are the enemy, the next day they're essential. Fat was demonized for decades, now it's supposedly the key to health. Should you be eating six small meals or intermittent fasting? Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?

If you're confused about what to eat, then you're not alone. The constant stream of contradictory information makes it incredibly difficult to know what the right thing is

At Run Fit Fordingbridge, I believe in healthy eating as the basis of nutrition. By that  I mean eating in a way that supports your overall health, gives energy for daily life, mental clarity, and helps your body function at its best.

But what does "healthy eating" actually mean?

Healthy eating isn't about following the latest diet trend or eliminating entire food groups. It's about nourishing your body with a variety of foods that provide the nutrients you need to thrive.

The World Health Organization defines a healthy diet as one that includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and wholegrains, while limiting added sugars, unhealthy fats, and salt (WHO, 2020). For active women, healthy eating means consuming enough energy to support your activity levels while providing all the nutrients your body needs for recovery, immune function, bone health, and overall well being.

Notice what's missing from that definition? There's no mention of cutting out carbs, avoiding fat, or following complicated meal timing rules. Healthy eating is actually much simpler than the diet industry wants you to believe.

Rainbow eating - vegetables

Why what we eat matters

What we eat affects far more than just our physical health. It influences your energy levels throughout the day, your ability to concentrate, your mood, your sleep quality, and can even help manage menopausal symptoms.

When you eat healthily, you'll likely notice:

• More consistent energy throughout the day and no afternoon slumps

• Better recovery after workouts

• Improved sleep quality

• Support for managing menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes and mood changes

• Enhanced mental clarity and focus

• Stronger immune function

• Better overall mood and well being

• Improved body composition (think reduction in body fat and muscle preservation)

For active women, proper nutrition supports not just exercise performance but also recovery, adaptation to training, and injury prevention. It provides the building blocks your body needs to repair and strengthen our muscles after workouts.

So where do you begin?

One of the simplest ways to improve your nutrition is to start focusing on real, minimally processed foods. Think fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, lean proteins, nuts, seeds, and legumes—foods that come from nature rather than a factory.

Research consistently shows that diets based on whole foods rather than ultra-processed options support better health outcomes and reduced risk of chronic diseases (Pagliai et al., 2021). These foods are naturally rich in the vitamins, minerals, and fibre your body needs.

This doesn't mean never eating processed foods, but rather building your eating habits for the majority of the time around real foods and treating highly processed options as occasional choices rather than dietary staples.

Nuts, seeds and whoegrains

Start small

It can feel quite overwhelming. It might feel like that you have to make sweeping overnight changes, survive on quinoa and broccoli every meal and cook something different for everyone else in the family each night.

But eating healthily over the long term doesn’t need to feel that way. When it’s based around lots of small sustainable changes, made over time – it can be easy. Starting small with 1 or 2 things that you can do easily until they become daily habits that you just don’t have to think about.  

Here are two to start you off;

First. Pick a meal – and add in more veg. Vegetables are so important to include in our day to day eating. Vegetables contain fibre – to make us feel fuller, and lots of vitamins and minerals that the body needs to function (we will cover this more in coming weeks).

No matter how much veg we think we are eating each day, there is always room for more. One simple thing you can do is to pick one meal (whether that’s breakfast, lunch a snack etc) and work on consistently adding more veg to it every day. That could mean extra salad in your sandwich, a couple of blocks of frozen spinach to an evening curry sauce. It may take a few weeks, but keep doing it, until it becomes a habit. Then, you can move onto the next meal type to focus on.

Healthy meal choices and adding extra veg

Secondly. Water. Proper hydration is essential for nearly every bodily function, and even mild dehydration can significantly impact how you feel and perform. Look for opportunities to hydrate throughout the day. For example every time you make a cup of tea or coffee, have a small glass of water with it. Get into the habit of doing those things together each and every time. Yes, you may be visiting the loo more frequently to begin with, but the body will get used to it and it will settle down.

Drink more water

Building Your Foundation

Understanding and taking ownership of your nutrition doesn't have to be complicated. It's about developing sustainable habits that nourish your body, support your active lifestyle, and allow you to feel your best in all areas of life. From that everything else will flow.

Over the next few blog posts I will be getting into the detail around healthy eating and strategies more, based on the questions I get asked most frequently…. including how do I change my body composition?

If you'd like personalised guidance on nutrition to support your fitness goals, book a "Let's Chat - How Can I Help?" session through the online booking system. We can discuss your goals and create a path forward that works for your lifestyle.

References

Pagliai, G., Dinu, M., Madarena, M.P., Bonaccio, M., Iacoviello, L. & Sofi, F. (2021) 'Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis', British Journal of Nutrition, 125(3), pp. 308-318. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114520002688

World Health Organization (2020) Healthy diet. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet