Nutrition

And Two Things You Must Know: A Suffer City Perspective

Nutrition is your relationship with food.

For starters, it's worth noting just how complex this relationship is. For instance, most of your eating habits formed before you were even aware they formed.

Your relationship with food has been born and reborn as the product of three distinct aspects of what makes you You--your biology, your environment, and your experience of the environment.

Let's look at the role biology plays in your relationship with food. Before you even experienced taste, your genetic coding constructed your taste buds to interact with some flavor particles, but not others. This means that you'll have a preference to some flavors and not others; but this preference belongs more to your genes than it does to 'You', per se.

So, if you become hyper-stimulated by chocolate but not strawberries or if you love the taste of pizza but not popcorn, this has more to do with pre-programmed systems than it does with you actually choosing to like or to not like the taste of something.

Then there is the role of environment and experience. This has to do with many things which drive the complexity of your nutrition sky high.

Consider the type of food you had access to growing up. Did you have homecooked meals? Did your family dine out often? Was your food organic? Did you get vegetables? Or did you survive on cereal and Hot Pockets like I did as a kid :-) These eating experiences form habits and create patterns of behavior that shape your relationship with food early in life.

So, throughout your existence, your relationship with food has slowly been evolving based upon your biological disposition coupled with countless eating experiences which were made available by the environment you grew up in. And most of this has taken place underneath the observation of your conscious awareness.

But now here you are...all grown up and ready to take on the Universe and get in control of your eating.

But you already know how difficult this is. So...let's break it down into two questions that provide a lot of answers.

No matter where you think you are on your journey, there are two things you must be clear on when it comes to your nutrition:

1. What's your body type?
2. What's your motivation?

Understanding the answers to these questions will save you time, energy, and even a lot of money. Different body types transform calories from food into useable energy in your body very differently.

And, what you aim to do with your body (your motivation) will determine how you put together your nutrition strategy for optimal energy management.

BODY TYPE

This relates to the three main body types (ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph) but also includes a doctor's reading of your blood profile. This will help you determine what your body (metabolism) is using for fuel (fat or carbs) as well as inform you of any nutrient deficiencies.

Often, ectomorphic (thinner, more skeletal build) metabolism will burn fat more efficiently and produce a greater aerobic output than the other two body types--think about marathoners and triathlete-types.

The mesomorphic (medium, muscular build) metabolism naturally burns carbohydrate and fat efficiently and produces both aerobic and anaerobic outputs, but is more effective at short to mid-duration energy production. These are your 100 to 400-meter sprinters and football wide receivers.

And the endomorphic (larger, stronger build) metabolism naturally burns carbohydrate more efficiently because these body types mobilize blood sugar and muscle glycogen more easily for energy production. These body types are your strongmen competitors, shotputters, and NFL linemen.

Now, just because you have a particular body type does NOT mean that you're "locked in" to the physique and activities associated with them. Through training, conditioning, and nutrition you can program your metabolism to burn any type of fuel and construct your musculo-skeletal system to a variety of configurations.

You just need the right strategy!

WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION?

Do you want to focus on your physique? Or are you more interested in performance? How about a combination of both?

Are you planning to do lower-intensity or higher-intensity training? And...truly, how committed are you to this?

The answers to these questions will once again save you a lot of time, energy, and yes...even money. This determines exactly what you plan to do with your physical body and what challenges you want to expose it to.

Your motivation is your mental, emotional, and even spiritual horsepower to push you through adversity when things get hard. And things will get hard.

In fact, you want your challenges to be as hard as possible...almost impossible. Set ambitious goals and be courageous and relentless in your pursuit of them.

Once you've defined clear and compelling motivations for making nutritional changes in your life then you can start on a Nutrition Formula and create a Nutrition Strategy.

Eventually you want your nutrition to be something that's more natural, intuitive, and diverse.

Next Step

Take action today and find out what body type you are. The link provides a simple test option to get a decent idea of your body type breakdown. Once you've done so consider your motivations. 

Get clear and create compelling motivations for your future. Begin by writing no less than 1,000 words that describes what you want to achieve and how achieving it will make you feel.