Year 1

Exactly one year ago I quit my job in order to run @adaptive.nutrition full-time alongside @tnicho1. I’ve thought a lot about food before but especially since.

I’ve thought about how it can be isolating trying to eat healthy in a country where food is deeply intertwined with politics and profit. By avoiding the manufactured “foods” everyone else is eating without question, you’re regarded as high maintenance or fanatical when your dietary preferences differ from those around you.

Add to that that finding joy in food can easily be misplaced when we think of food as a means to an end. We might consciously manage what goes onto our plates, in order to lose weight or optimize training, or cook food in batches to last the week with minimal attention to quality.

But food is a social fabric and can be a profound source of joy. So how do we eat food to create optimal health, while weaving it into our life in a joyful and social way?

Last night I had dinner at a friend’s house with a big group. Our friend, a talented cook, recently started eating according to our basic @adaptive.nutrition meal guidelines, so she prepared a delicious meal of pork tenderloin, rice, salad, fruit, and some red wine. (Since she and her husband, who has diabetes, started eating according to our guidelines, she’s lost 7 lbs and her husband’s A1C has been the lowest it’s been in years.)

We need to overhaul the idea that eating healthy means deprivation, restriction, isolation, eating bland chicken and broccoli out of Tupperware. I think it’s partly because of our struggle to make healthy eating joyful that we fall back, in spite of our best intentions, to eating tasty, unhealthy foods. If we want to make these changes last, we need to find not just utility but joy in them.

The quote below sums up why I believe our health, above all, deserves attention, and why I believe helping people improve theirs is one of the most productive ways to improve their lives:

“When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.” —Herophilus

Looking forward to what the next year brings!