Most of you will agree that nutrition/diet is probably the hardest part of health & fitness. Everything else is usually a little easier to do for the majority of peeps. For example – getting in your training sessions, going for walks, and being active. But the nutrition yo! Have you ever wondered why it’s so difficult? Have you ever thought, “Is there something wrong with me” or “Why can’t I be consistent with “good” eating” or “I’m just not disciplined enough”.

I want you to know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. I’m going to highlight some of my reasoning/thoughts about this in hopes that it’s going to make you feel better and more motivated to get your nutrition in check. There are some things that I’m going to mention that you probably haven’t thought about and you’ll realize that you can’t blame yourself for anything.

Ok! Is julle gereed mense? (Are you guys ready?) 

Herewith my TOP 5 reasons why nutrition is difficult for most of us. I say “us” because I’m included here. Don’t think because I’m a coach, that I have everything under control na.

1. We have access to junk

There’s an interesting/eye-opening book and docu-series about the healthiest/longest-living people in the world. They explain how people are living up to the age of 90-100 and are STILL healthy, active, and full of life. So many factors contribute to their amazing quality of life. What stood out for me was that all of these people/environments didn’t have access to junk food. No malls, no takeaways, no processed stuff, no sweets, no cakes, no chips, no niks – completely nonexistent in their lives. I’m sure that if they ate junk in the way that we do, they’d probably have stomach issues for weeks. Lol. They ate high-quality home-grown food that they cooked themselves. They maintained healthy body weight, little/no disease, little/no stress, and crazy energy levels – super amazing actually. So imagine for a second that we didn’t have access to any junk/processed food? We would all be living our best/healthiest lives right now. If you’re keen to check it out, the book is called “The anti-aging diet” by Sally Beare, and the doccie is called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” on Netflix”.

2. Upbringing and culture play a big role

“Is that all you’re eating?”, “You’re eating too much”, “There’s more food hey, eat!”, “You’ve gained weight”, “You’re looking too thin now”, “We paid for this, so you mustn’t waste”, etc. You can let me know in the comments if you wanna add more! Lol!

We are so conditioned to certain eating behaviors and we don’t even realize it. And to be very honest, some things just don’t serve us and our bodies (and minds) positively and we need to unlearn some stuff. It took me almost my entire life up until now to just choose and eat what I wanted from a buffet as opposed to making sure I had a bit of everything. We mos paid, so we must get our money’s worth and have everything! LOL. The same goes for special occasions like Christmas/Eid/Easter etc. Eat until you’re miff and then you just end up feeling kak or even sick by the end of the day. I’m still working on this one, but I’ve made good progress thus far. Wouldn’t it be great to just choose what you want, truly enjoy it, feel completely happy, satisfied, and content, AND still feel amazing and energetic after the meal? Not completely DUK with farts of death, heartburn, burps, and unable to move your body. A literal food coma. 

It’s all about getting in touch with our bodies, honoring them, respecting them, and not forcing anything down our throats out of habit or obligation. It’s a tough one, especially with family things. But it’s important to just do you and do what’s best for you. (if you want to of course)

It makes complete sense that our upbringing and the food types/choices presented to us, influence our eating habits as adults. For example, if your parent/s ate high-quality whole foods – it’s most likely that you would too. If your household ate low-quality/highly processed foods – it’s also likely that it stuck with you. If you didn’t eat fruits and vegetables while growing up, then you’re probably not doing that as an adult. In the same breath, if your parents were super strict about eating well and forced you to eat vegetables and things you didn’t enjoy – that could also backfire. My mommy never bought processed cereals. Looking back, I understand and I completely get that it came from a good place. But can you guess what happened when I moved out of the house? LOL. Fruit loops, coco pops, rice crispies, oatees, ALL of the cereals went into my mouth and I had no control over it – and not in a good way.

3. Restrictive diets and an unhealthy relationship with food

If you’ve ever followed a diet or eating plan for weight loss, I’m almost sure that you might’ve developed a bit of an unhealthy relationship with food. Diets and meal plans are usually restrictive and it’ll have you cutting out things. So it makes sense that you would start viewing those cut out food groups/types as “bad” for you. Have you ever feared certain foods? Full cream products? Sugar? Breads? Pasta? The list goes on. If you’ve ever experienced feeling anxious around certain foods or on special occasions, then you need to work on your relationship with food. If you do not work to heal your relationship with food and realize that no foods are off limits, then you will forever be stuck and unhappy with your nutrition AND your life. Food is food and it shouldn’t control us and our thoughts or make us anxious. If you truly understand food, nutrition, and how to eat for your goal, you will come to realize that there is no need to follow a diet/meal plan or remove/restrict anything from your diet. You absolutely can include your favorite things and still reach your goals. This brings me to my next point.

4. No knowledge & understanding of basic nutrition and how to eat for your goal

Smart nutrition and eating for your goal are so much easier when you understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. I’m a firm believer in educating yourself on basic nutrition, food, food types, calories, calorie/macro targets, and how to execute and apply yourself to any goal. For example, how to eat for weight loss/fat loss, maintenance, and weight/muscle gain – how many calories you need to be consuming, food types that work in your favor, and also (very important) how to incorporate your favorite foods and not restrict any food groups/types while reaching all of your goals. If you understand how to do all of this, you will realize that it’s not as complicated as you think. It is 100% possible to reach your body goals, include all your favorite foods, AND be happy and content about what you’re doing.

The reason why most diets fail is because there is no understanding of how to maintain your results once you stop the diet/meal plan. BUT if you understand food, how to eat for each phase (deficit, maintenance, surplus), and everything you’re doing, it’ll be much easier to maintain long-term. That makes sense right? 

5. Forming new habits and letting go of old ones is hard

The body doesn’t like change. So when you try to change your habits/usual way of doing things, it’s super uncomfortable. For example, if you’re used to having dessert after dinner and you try not to do it, it’s going to be super hard not to have dessert. Your body and mind become so conditioned to doing certain things. Some of my habits (that I was completely unaware of before) include – licking the bowl after baking a cake, eating the remaining chocolate/toppings for the cake after baking the cake, going for second (or third) helpings just because it’s lekker, etc. These are all habits that have been with me for as long as I can remember and I still do some of them as an adult. The only difference now is that I’m aware of them and I know that they will hinder my progress if I’m not careful and if I do them regularly/consistently.

We have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

So it just takes consistent practice to change or completely remove these habits that (you know) stall progress and try to replace them with new/good habits that make a positive difference. For example – instead of immediately going for a second helping, I take more time and wait for about 10 minutes. This extra time usually makes me realise that I don’t need more food and that I’m actually satisfied. I will keep practicing this one. The more I do it, the better I will get.

It might be a good exercise to assess your habits and try to make small positive changes over time. It’s these small things that can make a big difference. Do you eat/taste things while prepping lunch/your kid’s lunch? Do you eat mindlessly/unnecessarily out of habit when you’re working from home? Do you have a dedicated “tea time” with biscuits/rusks/donuts/crackers/etc although you’re not hungry? Do you eat badly when you’re having a bad day? ALL habits. Let’s try our best to replace them with good ones that support the body in the best way. There are many other good ways that don’t involve food.

Final thoughts

I hope these points helped you understand your struggles with nutrition and had you reflect on your upbringing, lifestyle, and habits. Our bodies are not the same anymore as adults. We defs can’t be eating in the same way/s we always did. In our younger years, the majority of us could afford to eat anything we wanted with no consequence. Things are different now and we have to be ready and willing to make some adjustments to our nutrition if we wanna be fit and healthy.

I look forward to hearing from you guys in the comments below! Did anything resonate? Any light bulb moments?

Love you!