Redefining How We Buy and Eat Food

Redefining How We Buy and Eat Food

Even if you go to the gym like clockwork, work with a personal fitness trainer and maximize heart rate efficiency, that’s still only half the battle to get in shape. Love handles and muffin tops are less about fitness and more about your diet. And, to be clear, how much you eat is just as important as what you eat.

This isn’t a diet article (although, stop eating sugar); this is a quantity article. If your diet states you should eat 4 oz of lean red meat in one particular meal, that doesn’t mean 16 oz is four times healthier. Moreover, mindful eating recommends lots of leafy vegetables, which always seem to be a lot easier to buy than they are to eat.

Food waste is a lose-lose

Food waste is a buzzword these days. It’s something we all can get behind, hopefully. Food waste, however, is also good gauge for how well you’re eating. Take note of all the food you’re throwing away; chances are, it’s probably the healthiest food you could be eating, which is also to say that its substitution probably wasn’t.

Food waste means that you’ve spent money on perfectly good food but tossed it. Second, it means that somewhere along the line, your best intentions went awry. And that’s why so many people hit the gym on January 1. When your plans derail from last-minute restaurant plans or fast-food runs to curb cravings, all that good organic matter goes to waste quickly.

Portion Control

The best gyms in Denver and across the country believe that fitness derives from good exercise and mindful eating. That sounds super boring in a country obsessed with food experimentation, but portion control goes hand-in-hand with putting work in at the gym to achieve optimal fitness. Super-sizing your portions is a fitness killer, no matter whether you’re cooking at home or eating a sit-down meal at a nice restaurant. There are too many opportunities to enlarge our meal sizes. Besides, most of us don’t have the luxury of being able to eat anything without consequence. Bad food takes its toll eventually, and bad food usually comes with a longer shelf life.

The good news with reducing food waste and enforcing portion control is that you’ll likely achieve your fitness goals more quickly than fighting extra calories. The challenge is to change your grocery-shopping habits. However, more frequent trips to the grocery means buying less food every time, potentially reducing food waste and motivating you to cook with fresh food more often. You might even consider a smaller fridge!

Fine, I won’t mess with your fridge size. But if it messes with your waist size, then you’ll likely hear it about it.