Most folks take a more customized approach to the shows they watch than to their nutrition. Let’s face it, being able to watch exactly what we want when we want is incredibly rewarding. If having our TV shows customized is so rewarding, how much healthier would we be if we consider a customized nutrition plan?
What Is Customized Nutrition?
Customized nutrition is essentially the Netflix of healthy eating. The standard food pyramid and one-size-fits-all approaches out the window. It’s all about maintaining a healthy diet in a way that works for your lifestyle, goals, and needs. Trainers, nutritionists, chiropractors, and physicians have been creating customized nutrition plans for decades.
If you have a history of heart disease in your family, one of these medical professionals is likely to help you create a heart-healthy diet that blends well with your goals and lifestyle. Helping a patient who is overweight and leads a busy lifestyle is another prime example of customized nutrition. Simply following the food pyramid or a generic diet will most likely set this person up for failure.
Digging Deeper
There are plenty of diets out there for people with heart disease or someone who is always on the go. Customized nutrition takes things to the next level. Customized nutrition delves into genetics, individual biology, physiology, and psychological and emotional characteristics. It truly is a holistic approach to nutrition.
What Are the Benefits of Customized Nutrition?
It should come as no surprise that a customized nutrition plan can help you drop pounds, get healthier, and have more energy than a traditional, generic diet. Not only does a customized nutrition plan have the potential to perform better all the way around, knowing you have a one-of-a-kind nutrition plan created just for you may boost your motivation and increase your chances of sticking with your new lifestyle.
May Slow Disease Progression
You don’t have to look too closely to see a customized nutrition plan has the potential to make diets more effective and level up your overall health. However, there is also tremendous potential to use customized nutrition as part of a treatment plan for a myriad of diseases.
Greater Impact on Overall Health
A customized nutrition study followed 800 patients selected from seven European countries. The study aimed to decipher whether personalized nutrition was more effective than a conventional approach to nutrition.
Not only did participants who stuck to a customized nutrition plan eat healthier, but a customized nutrition plan was also found to have a greater impact on their overall health when compared to a plan.
Where to Go to Get a Customized Nutrition and Supplementation Plan
There are plenty of online programs, websites, and apps promising to help you create a top-notch customized nutrition plan. These resources aren’t a bad place to start if you’re looking to dip your toe in the water. However, many of these services rely on minimal data or questionable tests when making their recommendations.
If you’re looking for more than simply an introduction to customized nutrition, we recommend consulting a chiropractor or other healthcare provider who takes a holistic approach to health and nutrition. You also want to make sure your care provider has access to the laboratory tests you’re going to need to establish a roadmap for your nutrition plan.
Everybody Fibs
We’re not saying everybody is lying in trying to make themselves appear healthier. Even folks who are the most motivated to live a healthy lifestyle often and accurately report their eating and exercise habits. It is simply human nature to misremember, overestimate, underestimate or simply omit items when recording our activities.
Taking things one step further, our methods for recording our exercise and diet are inherently flawed. These pitfalls may lead to faulty data. As a result, incorrect decisions are likely to be made. As the old saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.”
All Things in Moderation
Almost any chiropractor, physician, dietitian, or trainer will tell you one of the biggest keys to living a healthy lifestyle is moderation. It’s wise to follow the same advice when considering a customized nutrition plan. Our understanding of how food and nutrition in our bodies’ general impact have grown by leaps and bounds over a short time. Despite this impressive progress, we still have a great deal left to learn.
This is particularly true when we dive into how our genes interact with the foods we eat. Our bodies and the challenges we are attempting to overcome are complex, made up of many interconnected systems and layers. It’s unlikely we will have a single, simple test to answer these complex questions anytime soon.