Are you eating or are you nourishing?

Each one of us is different, but we all have a few major things in common as living organisms on this planet – the main one being, we need food to survive. This sounds pretty practical but in today's world with all the different fad diets and trends that come and go, it is difficult to know what is best for fueling your body.

We live in a society where our food is highly processed, genetically modified, and not the “real” food that we think it is. This makes it difficult for us to know what to nourish our bodies with. It is one thing to eat, it is another to be nourishing your body properly.

A lot of processed food is just empty calories that your body treats as fiber, and just passes through your digestion system without extracting nutrients from them. As if that isn’t bad enough, some of the fillers, thickeners, and additives that processed foods have act as a gel like effect in your intestines, binding with your food, and making it difficult for your intestines to push the food through your body; this leads to increased inflammation, indigestion, bloating, and abdominal cramps, OR it has the opposite effect when your body realizes that it can not extract nutrients from these properties, it wants to get it out of your body as quickly as possible; which causes some processed foods to act as a laxative.

So, then what do you do to nourish your body? Nourishing your body versus just eating are two completely different things. Nourishing your body is consuming foods that are full of nutrients for your body to extract and use for fuel. The best foods that you can eat to nourish your body are ones that are as least processed as possible; lean proteins, healthy fats, complex carbs, and fruits/ veggies.

When you eat food that nourishes your body, you are giving your body the nutrients it needs to perform at the highest ability and not have to waste energy filtering out toxins and substances that it can not process. Just like you wouldn’t put bad fuel into your engine, you shouldn’t put bad food into your body.

To get around this issue and to learn how to properly fuel your body, I wrote up a sample meal plan for you to try out full of lots of foods to nourish your body. I prefer to go as all natural and organic as possible, but this is not an extreme necessity, it will just help limit the amount of toxins that you intake through your diet. I understand that shopping for all organic food is sometimes pricey, but look at it as an investment in your health.

Breakfast:

- Carbs: Oatmeal, Ezekiel Bread, Protein Pancakes/ Waffles, Honey

- Protein: Eggs/ Egg Whites, Protein Shake, Turkey Bacon

- Fats: Peanut Butter (or any nut butter), Coconut or Olive Oil, Avocado

- Fruit: Pick your favorite.

Lunch/ Dinner:

- Carbs: Potatoes (Sweet or Regular), Rice, Quinoa, Couscous, Whole Grain Pasta.

- Protein: Fish, Beef, Chicken, Protein Shake

- Fats: Olive/ Coconut Oil, Dressings, Sauces/ Marinades, Avocado

- Fruits/ Veggies- Pick your favorite fruit or veggie (1-2 servings)

Snack:

- Fruit or Veggie

- Protein Shake

- Chicken, Beef, or Turkey Jerky

- Clif Bar

- Peanut Butter

Eating to nourish your body isn’t that difficult to do, but it can have major health benefits on your body. It can help increase your body’s performance, increasing your brain function, physical ability, and overall health and longevity. Eating to nourish your body isn’t any crazy fad diet that is hard to stick to. It is simply making the right decisions to fuel your body with the food that it needs to perform at a high level.

I challenge you to try eating to nourish your body and see how you feel. Let me know on one of my social media platforms or comment on here.

For your own custom meal plan full of foods that nourish your body, visit www.maxwolf.fitness and click the “nutrition” option.