Hey there, Reader!

Have you ever finished a meal and still felt like you needed something else to eat?

Maybe you ate what you thought was a pretty healthy lunch, but an hour later you're back in the kitchen looking for a snack. Or you've been trying to eat better, so you're watching your portions, cutting back on certain foods, and doing all the things you think you're supposed to do. But you're still hungry!

I think sometimes we get so caught up in trying to eat less of the things we think are bad for us that we forget to ask whether we're eating enough of the things that are good for us.

And there's a pretty big difference between the two.

Are You Actually Getting What You Need?

When we talk about healthy eating, it's easy to get caught up in all the things we're supposed to avoid. But our bodies need a wide variety of nutrients to function well, and simply eating enough food doesn't necessarily mean we're getting enough nutrition.

So what should we actually be eating?

Here are a few general recommendations worth paying attention to:

Vegetables: About 2½ cups a day.

That's the recommendation for someone eating around 2,000 calories a day. And variety matters! Dark leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables provide different combinations of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Fruit: About 2 cups a day.

Whole fruits are especially beneficial because they provide fiber along with vitamins and minerals. Berries, apples, oranges, bananas, and whatever other fruits you enjoy can all contribute.

Fiber: Around 25-38 grams a day.

The specific recommendation depends on your age and sex, but most Americans aren't getting enough. Fiber supports digestive health, helps regulate blood sugar, and can help you feel satisfied after eating.

For perspective, a cup of cooked lentils provides around 16 grams of fiber, and a cup of raspberries provides about 8 grams.

Protein: Enough to support your body's needs.

The basic recommended intake for most healthy adults is about 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. That means someone weighing 150 pounds would need approximately 55 grams per day as a baseline. Older adults and people who are physically active may benefit from more.

Protein isn't just about building muscle. Your body uses it to maintain and repair tissues and support all kinds of essential functions.

Whole grains: Make at least half your grains whole grains.

Oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, whole-wheat bread, and other whole grains provide fiber and nutrients that are often reduced during refining.

Healthy fats: Include them regularly.

Foods like nuts, seeds, avocados, and olives provide unsaturated fats that support important functions throughout the body. There isn't one specific serving target that works for everyone, but these foods can be part of a nourishing eating pattern.

These aren't rigid rules, and your individual needs may be different. But they give us something useful to work with.

And here's something else worth remembering: you don't have to get every nutrient into every meal. What matters is the overall pattern of what you're eating consistently.

What Are You Focusing On?

I've spent a lot of years studying nutrition, and one thing I've noticed is how often the conversation revolves around what we shouldn't eat.

Don't eat too much sugar. Stay away from carbs. Cut out fat. Watch your calories.

And while there are certainly things we may benefit from limiting, I wonder how much better off we'd be if we spent a little more time thinking about what we need to include.

Are we eating enough vegetables? Enough fruit? Enough fiber? Are we getting the protein and other nutrients our bodies need?

Because we can follow all kinds of food rules and still not be eating particularly well. And I don't think that's what faithfully caring for our bodies is supposed to look like.

One of the things I want people to understand about Warrior Wellness is that taking care of our health isn't about following a bunch of rules or trying to achieve some ideal version of ourselves.

It's about recognizing that God has trusted us with these bodies and with taking responsibility for caring for them.

That's where Awareness and Responsibility, two of the Warrior Wellness principles, come into the picture.

Awareness means paying attention to what we're actually doing. Not what we intended to do or what we think we usually do, but what's really happening in our everyday lives.

And Responsibility means doing something with that understanding.

If we recognize that we're not eating many vegetables, we can make an effort to include more. If we realize most of our meals are missing a good source of protein, we can start thinking about how to change that.

We don't have to fix everything at once. But we do need to be willing to look at what we're doing and make adjustments when they're needed.

Let's Put That Into Practice

Before you start making a list of things you need to stop eating, take a look at what you're already eating. You don't need to track every calorie or write down every bite. Just pay attention to your meals for a couple of days.

Compare what you're eating with some of the recommendations we just talked about. Are you getting close to the suggested amounts of vegetables and fruit? Are you including good sources of protein and fiber? Are most of your grains whole grains?

You might discover you're doing better than you thought.
You might find a few places where there's room for improvement.
And you may be thinking, I have no idea where to even start with this.

That's what I'm here for, and we're diving into the specifics of this in the Warrior Wellness Community this week!

I'm sharing some super practical resources like a simple meal-building guide that will help you make sure you're getting what you need through the course of a day, a list of foods to choose from for each of categories we talked about earlier, and some of the ways I build my meals to make sure all those nutrient boxes are checked. Plus, you'll get to meet a lot of great people and hove some fun in the process!

If that sounds like a place you'd like to be, come join us! (Oh... and did i mention that it's completely FREE??) Just use this link to join: https://www.skool.com/warrior-wellness/about, and I'll see you there!

You've got this!

Warrior Wellness content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your nutrition, exercise, or supplement routine. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you’ve read here.

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