Listen To Your Own Body

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, it's pretty easy to see that everything in nature was created perfectly. The food chain ensures that plants feed animals and those animals feed other animals, who in turn feed the soil when they die. The soil feeds the plants that feed the animals and on and on....

It's the same for the human body. Injuries heal themselves over time. Our organs were designed to perform a specific role to keep the whole system running smoothly. But if you just had a little giggle, perhaps your system isn't running so smoothly. If you feel a bit like a 1972 Datsun, even though you try to eat right, chances are you're still not giving your body what it needs.

Why do we have taste buds? Why are they different from one person to the next? And why do our tastes change over time? Because they're part of our perfect system. Taste buds don't just tell you what you like to eat; more importantly they tell you what you need to eat.

We all have different tastes because our bodies are unique, needing different nutrients. Some people love salads, and these people need greens. Others feel they couldn't live without red meat. These people need more protein than others.

I went on an alkaline diet once. No red meat, no pasta, no bread, no chocolate, no alcohol...basically fruit and veg, nuts and the odd bit of fish or chicken. How did it go?

In the first week, I felt hungry all the time and my concentration went out the window. I was training nearly 20 hours a week and lost 2kg. I should mention that losing weight was not my goal. I wanted to increase my energy levels so I could train harder.

In the next week, I lost another 2kg, and with little body fat, it took less than 2 weeks for people to notice I was losing muscle. So against the 'expert' nutritionist's advice, I added bread and small portions of red meat to my diet. Immediately my concentration improved and the 2 weeks of constant hunger was wonderfully over.

What was the problem? The ‘expert’ was telling me what worked for him. My body, however, was being starved of the nutrients it needed. When your body is hungry and runs out of fat to consume, if you keep ignoring those hunger pains, it'll simply start eating muscle. It's very clever....and resourceful.

This was a very important lesson for me - experts don't know everything. I needed to involve my body in the conversation about what it needed.

Of course, we can train our body in bad habits, just as we can train it in good ones. If you're on a regular diet of fast food and chocolate, then your body’s been trained to crave sugar, and it’s all very confused. There's a disengagement between what your body thinks it wants and what it actually needs.

The trick here is to think back to what your favourite healthy foods were as a child. Me, I couldn't get enough of strawberries. I also ate my way through many banana plantations, I'm sure. So now I start every morning with a banana and strawberry smoothie. I add some nuts and coconut, a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg and I'm set.

While my taste buds usually get tired of eating the same thing 2 days in a row, I can have this every single day and never get sick of it, because I've hit upon the essence of what I need.

A nutritionist once suggested I add cocoa and avocado to my smoothie. Both very good for you, he said. I was dubious. But I tried it and it was worse than I imagined. When I told him that, although I like both cocoa and avocado, I didn't like the taste of the avocado in my smoothie, he told me avocado had no taste. This is the point where I realised that his knowledge was limited to just what worked for him, because for me, avocado certainly has its own taste.

While his body needed a daily intake of avocado and cocoa, mine didn't. So the lesson here is to listen to the experts - they've done the research, read the books etc - but you and your body must be part of the team that decides what you should eat.

It's also a lot yummier that way, if you get to eat wh at you like rather than what someone else likes. Have you ever had someone cook you their specialty only to discover that you wish they hadn't?

I had a boyfriend once who was as proud as punch of a scampi dish he cooked. Pretty early in the relationship he said he'd cook it for me. He talked it up so much I was really looking forward to it. But when I tasted it, it just wasn't to my liking. There was nothing really wrong with it, he hadn't overcooked it or anything, but it just had some kind of odd flavour that he loved and I didn't.

This can be an issue for families. Sharing a meal brings the family together and gives us a chance to connect with our loved ones. However, each person at the table has different nutritional needs based on age, sex, body type, activity levels, blood type etc etc. When we all eat the same thing, we're not completely giving our bodies what they need. A meal here and there isn't an issue, but when we practice this for 20, 30, 50 years, we are not getting the nutrients we really need. Now, maybe you're asking 'so what'? We're still eating, right?

Certainly, but if you have aches or pains, you're not your ideal weight, you have trouble concentrating or remembering things, chances are you're missing essential nutrients in your diet.

The good news is, though, that the nutrients you need are the ones that are tastiest for you. In other words you will enjoy eating what you need so much more than what you're eating now. And one last time for those who got lost on the techy stuff: Good health is delicious.

Maybe you like salads – great, eat loads! Perhaps, like me, you see salad as a garnish - there to make the plate colourful. That's okay too. You may need more protein in your diet. If you love red meat, eat it.

Of course, in a blog, I can only give generic advice. You are an individual and you should consult a health practitioner to get the right plan for you. But just don't follow their instructions blindly. For example, if you exercise a lot and love red meat and they tell you that you can get all the protein you need from nuts, move on, until you find a health practitioner that understands you.

I was once told to stop eating bread and pasta. I wasn't happy, because I love both, but I tried it because I felt it was worth the sacrifice for my fencing. How did it go? Short answer is that it was a disaster. My concentration and reaction time plummeted and my muscles were visibly disappearing within a 2-week period. So I had a bread roll. And what a glorious bread roll it was! Just a plain sour dough roll, but after 2 weeks of no bread, it tasted incredible. When I told the nutrition 'expert' what I'd done he asked me how I felt afterwards. I told him I felt great, that I had so much more energy and my concentration at fencing was so much better than the last 2 weeks. He said “But didn't you feel bloated, weighed down, lethargic?” Because that's what bread does to him. At this point I felt really stupid. I was paying an expert to tell me what he needs! Not one of my smartest moves!

I don't want you to have to go through the same thing....unless you like paying good money to not enjoy what you eat and watch your body deteriorate.

I should also mention here that, like everything, you get what you pay for. Mince is cheaper than steak because it contains less of the good stuff, and a whole lot of stuff you don't need but your love handles are happy to accommodate. Same for bread - mass-produced supermarket stuff is nowhere near as good for you as fresh from the organic bakery. Cos lettuce versus organic farmers' market lettuce - same deal.

The amount you choose to spend on your food will be determined by how highly you prioritise your health. The French spend, on average, a third of their salary on food. In Australia, it's roughly 10%. And we wonder why French women are slim.

I know how many demands there are on your finances. And your grocery bill is already rising more rapidly, without even changing what's in the trolley. But what if changing your diet meant not only that you would feel better, but also you could earn far more than the extra you spent on groceries?

When I decided to start looking after my health, apart from wanting to optimise my energy on the fencing strip, I was also working full-time and running a small business. I was constantly saying “If only I had a few extra hours in my day, I'd be able to get everything done.

But unfortunately there's only ever going to be 24 hours in the day”. Have you ever thought that?

Well for me, it was almost an overnight success. As soon as I changed to my optimum (still delicious) diet, I went from 10 hours sleep being my optimum to just 6 hours*. I immediately found 4 extra hours! Imagine what you could do with an extra 4 hours in your day.

I can actually also function perfectly well on just 3 hours sleep, including being able to still do a few hours of high-intensity training. Not that I recommend living on 3 hours sleep. 2 nights in a row of that and I need to catch up on some of the sleep I missed by the third night. But it's proven very handy on the odd occasion when I feel I need 21 hours to get everything done that day. It means more time for work, for catching up with friends, for sport and whatever else you enjoy. I was also far more relaxed because I wasn't stressing about my never- ending to-do list. So you could use those extra hours to work more, and ultimately earn far more than the extra you spent on groceries, or simply enjoy those freed-up hours, making your work-life balance much better.

*Note: Studies have found that people need 7-8 hours to perform at their optimum. I don’t know the state of the subjects’ nutrition. As with all elements of this blog, you need to safely determine when you feel at your optimum. For me, on a very nutritious diet, it is 6 hours. Please ensure you get the sleep that is right for you.

Hope you have a greeat week!