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Day 115: Understanding the Value of Food Tracking and Active Recovery

Hello everyone! Today, we had an insightful live session focusing on food tracking, elimination diets, and the process of reintroducing foods. The coaches excelled at providing practical tips and answering our questions, making these sessions one of my favorite parts of the program.

A woman is taking a picture of a well-balanced meal on her plate with her smartphone. The meal includes colorful foods such as grilled chicken, quinoa, mixed vegetables, and a small side of fruit. The woman is smiling and looks happy. The background shows a cozy kitchen with warm lighting, wooden countertops, and some potted plants, creating an inviting atmosphere that emphasizes a positive and mindful approach to eating.

Why We Don't Count Calories

Today's lesson explained why we aren't asked to count calories in the PN program and I am thrilled to read that. Here are the key points that they talked about 

Counting Calories Feels Restrictive: Focusing on what we can't have makes us feel deprived and triggers a rebellious mindset - to me calories are too abstract to mean anything.

Calorie Quality Matters: Calorie counting doesn’t account for food quality. Nutrient-dense meals are more beneficial than calorie-equivalent junk food. This is super important - we have talked about it many times.

Inaccuracies in Calorie Counting: Food labels can be off by up to 25%, making precise calorie counting unreliable. Wait! What?? I knew there was a reason to ignore them!

It's Tedious: Tracking every morsel is impractical and time-consuming and beyond that what it is annoying.

Building Habits is More Effective: Long-term health comes from consistent habits, not meticulous calorie counting. This to me is the most important thing that the lesson talked about - I have been doing my best to follow the habits of eating slowly, when hungry and working on stopping before I get too full and it is paying off 100% so far.

Awareness Over Calorie Counting

The lesson emphasized the importance of awareness—being mindful of what, why, when, and how we're eating. This awareness puts us in control, unlike calorie counting which can be cumbersome and distracting from the actual goal of building healthy habits. We talked about this in our live session today as well plus how do we feel after we eat certain foods, how is our digestive system when we eat foods, lots of interesting things to think about today.

Calorie-Counting for Calibration

They also mentioned that while regular calorie counting isn't recommended, it can be useful occasionally for calibrating our awareness. By comparing our intake with our body's cues, we can better understand what feels "just right," "too much," or "too little." I am not even thinking about this right now, but I know some people in the program are tracking this way so it is important to have an open mind and maybe this is something I will do in the future.

Practical Application

Today, I focused on recording my food intake without worrying about calorie counts with photos. Beyond that, I paid attention to my hunger and fullness before and after each meal. This approach helps me tune into my body's natural signals and improve my eating habits. After the live session, I'm also thinking about if I am having any kind of reaction to foods - bit list to track but back of mind now.

Active Recovery

Today was an active recovery day. My dog and I enjoyed several shorter walks throughout the day, as the sunny weather made longer walks a bit too warm for her and she was pulling me back home. The nice thing for me was these extra mini walks provided a nice balance of activity and relaxation.

Reflections and Moving Forward

This week's lessons and live sessions have reinforced the importance of awareness and habit-building over strict calorie counting. By focusing on the quality of my food and listening to my body's cues, I feel more empowered and in control of my health journey. I'm looking forward to continuing this approach and seeing how it helps me achieve my goals.

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Location: Canada

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