What does healthy really look like?

It’s a question we’ve been trying to answer for the last few weeks on the blog.

Health is about balance, boundaries, and discipline. It’s about knowing what makes you feel and perform at your best. While there are general recommendations that apply to us all, when we feel our best isn’t at all the same for everyone. There is no one size fits all.

I thought the best way to demonstrate this was by looking at the eating habits of our two nutritionists side by side. Both of them focus on eating healthful foods that make them feel and perform at their best, but they eat differently. Let’s take a look!

—

Lovisa, 27, nutritionist and recipe developer

Breakfast
Baked apple oats with protein pudding and cashew nuts

Morning snack
None

Lunch
Baked pesto salmon with spinach, sweet potato and herbed quark sauce

Afternoon snack
A banana, 400 g quark

Dinner
Teriyaki salmon with rice noodles, cabbage + apple salad, and peanuts

Evening snack
None

Drinks
Usually there’s a 1 liter bottle of water on the desk that gets refilled during the day, and then there are a few coffees here and there

Other

—

Frida, 27, nutritionist and fitness competitor

Breakfast
Oatmeal with protein powder, coconut oil, blueberries or raspberries, and cinnamon

Morning snack
Usually a boiled egg

Lunch
Homemade bibimbap

Afternoon snack
Varies, but most recently, a Barbells chocolate protein pudding with some berries and chopped nuts on top (it contains no added sugar)

Dinner
Out for dinner with a friend at a restaurant, eating their oven-baked cod and herb rice with a yogurt sauce.

Evening snack
A small bowl of quark, cottage cheese, raisins, and sugar free granola

Drinks
Around 4 cups of coffee, and a lot of water, with a minimum of 8 glasses

Other
Frida also chews sugar-free gum during the day

—

I asked both Lovisa and Frida to explain their approaches.

“I try to eat mostly vegetarian but with some fish. No processed foods if I’m cooking but if I go out with friends I don’t think too much about it. And I’ll have a couple beers!” – Lovisa

“I’d call myself a flexitarian. When I’m choosing which foods to eat it’s to help me optimise my life so I can live long and healthy. I eat for good performance and wellness during the week, and I eat for my soul at the weekends.” – Frida

—

When I was looking at the food these girls eat in a day, I was a little surprised by how normal their meals sounded. (For the most part).

I mean I’d happily eat a homemade bibimbap, or teriyaki salmon. That’s normal food. There are other things I probably wouldn’t do, like snacking on an egg, or eating lots of quark or cottage cheese, but that’s okay – making sure that my body is getting the nutrients it needs is the most important thing, how I do it is up to me!

The same applies to you. Healthy looks slightly different on everybody, but at its core it’s about making sure your body gets the nutrients it needs to keep you energised, fit, capable, and happy!

/Femi, The Girl Who Hates Working Out

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#nutritionist

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