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Last week, I had two separate conversations with two different women: one online client and one who trains here in person at RevFit.

Both women are in their 50s.

And despite the geographic distance between these clients and how they receive their coaching, a common sentiment was shared between them:

“I know that I need to take care of my body. I know that I need to get stronger. I WANT to get stronger. And my body continues to betray me.”

Each of these women is dealing with their own respective injuries, impairments and impingements.

Each of these women has spent the last several decades taking care of others all while trying to prioritize themselves and their health.

And it’s as if every time they start to make progress in the gym, another setback occurs: another flare up or some new body part stubbornly refusing to make progress.

It’s enough to throw your hands up in frustration and ask: Why do I even try?

And my most affectionate response is: Because what other choice is there?

Like so many things in our lives, some things will come with great ease: maybe that’s friendships, how we move in our careers, and how we consistently find ways to put joy into our lives.

And yet, other things are an ebb and flow of challenge: our health, parenting, fitness, nutrition, and marriage.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you cash in your chips and walk away.

For so many, the areas of our lives that present the most challenge, the most opportunity to overcome, are the areas we often value the most.

So, you take the challenges, you meet them head on and you find ways to adapt.

Some thoughts:

-Prioritize strength training (at least 2x/week) and perform the movements you can make progress in that don’t add to current injuries. Some movement patterns may need to be avoided in the short term because the risk, temporarily, isn’t worth it. In some cases, reducing weight, reducing range of motion, and changing stance/grip/positioning can help.

-Prioritize recovery. The work you do in the gym is great. Make sure you’re giving yourself ample time to recover and rebuild. Training with high intensity every time you train isn’t going to get you the results you can sustain. This may mean you have a strategy for days off, restful sleep, or very low activity days.

-Fuel your body appropriately. Find the combination of proteins, fats and carbs that work best for your lifestyle and activity levels. You may find, as you are aging, that alcohol (or the day after imbibing) does not improve how you feel. Adjust accordingly.

-Your journey is yours alone. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the community and culture around you. It means that your body is responding to training, recovery and the food you fuel with on an individual level. How your best friend trains, your siblings or your spouse, are altogether different experiences and different outcomes.

-Be patient. Recovery from injuries typically takes longer as we age. Listen to the signals your body is giving you. If possible, utilize the help of a coach, a physical therapist, a masso-therapist, etc. to help you recover from chronic aches and pains.

-Respectfully, move the goalposts. Where you are today, what your body is capable of today, may be vastly different from what you could do two, five, or twelve years ago. Work with what you have now, and make progress from there.

Pictured below: Coach Nick, Pete, Mitch, Ashleigh, Faith, Laura, Jen, Lisa, Ted and Bill. A wide range of ages, experience levels, injury history and success across a broad spectrum. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

My client, Judy (not her real name), was scheduled to have surgery.

In the prep for the procedure, her doctor informed her that she would need to discontinue the use of her GLP-1 receptor agonist medication two weeks prior to the surgery and could resume taking it two weeks after.

She was concerned about her fat loss progress (which had been significant) during those four weeks without the medication.

One bit of advice I try and stay very consistent in giving to the clients I work with who are either considering going on GLP-1s or are currently on them, is to keep a food journal to have greater awareness around intake.

To clarify, when I ask for a food journal, I’m not looking for calories or measurements, I only want a detailed breakdown of what food choices are made.

It can be helpful if there is a correlation to what time of day the client is eating as well so that we can see the distinction between meals and snacks.

Fortunately for Judy, she had been maintaining consistent food journals since we started working together and we had weeks upon weeks of data to show what her diet looked like as it correlated to when the scale was showing a downward trend.

As the days were getting closer to the surgery, Judy was becoming anxious about the outcomes.

So, we spoke for a bit just to keep a frame of reference and have an action plan:

-Repeat meals and snacks as close as possible to what the food journals had demonstrated.

-Try not to get caught up in all-or-nothing thinking that if an unpredictable meal or portion size came up, it doesn’t mean that it’s a pass-fail scenario.

-Being mindful not to keep intake too low, as she may need a greater balance of macronutrients, micronutrients and overall portion sizes to help with recovery from the surgery.

-Aim for a goal roughly around 100g of protein per day (specific to her body’s needs)

-Be mentally okay with the reality that weight may not go down during the four weeks off the medication.

Once she discontinued the use of the meds, Judy did notice that food noise and hunger levels were starting to increase.

She focused on keeping stress levels as manageable as possible, getting in appropriate hydration, keeping protein intake high and keeping herself busy.

And by time she was ready to resume the medications, she had continued a downward trajectory of fat loss.

No matter where you are on your GLP-1 journey, food journals can be tremendously helpful. Yes, you may need an outsider’s perspective to see if there are any slippery spots (especially if fat loss has stalled.)

For some, the GLP-1s are merely a kickstart to help with momentum towards a goal. For others, they are a medication that could be utilized for a lifetime.

Every person has a different story, a different response to the medication, and a unique path to where they want their body to be.

As always, talk to your doctor about whether or not the medication is appropriate for you. However, whether you use the medications or not, food journals can be incredibly insightful.

Judy has used them with great success and it’s helped detach from many of the all-or-nothing scenarios that calorie counting influenced once upon a time.

If you need help along the way, drop me a line.

(Photo courtesy of Jan Kahanek)

About a year or so ago, I started to take some of my reading choices into areas of society, history, and culture.

And along the way, I started delving into books about our prison system and how difficult it can be for people to stay out of that system once they’ve been incarcerated.

While I’ve built a business in “service to others”, that is a for-profit business and it’s not quite the same as doing volunteer work in service to others.

I was trying to figure out: where can I put my time to give something back to the community in a way that can be fulfilling to my life as much as it could be to someone else?

Initially, I thought I might look into the prison system to see where I could volunteer my time but there was no convenient way for me to do so with consideration to both work and family schedules.

So then, I thought maybe a homeless shelter would be a better place for me.

But, it turned out that Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) became an option worth looking into.

I knew of the organization and I had come across someone who had been involved with positive feedback and that felt like a good place to start.

And so, several months ago, I started that process to do the background checks and interviews to become a “Big.”

Two weeks ago, a match was found and I got to connect with (and meet) my BBBS representative, my match, and his mother.

This past weekend, my match and I had our first outing and, I have to say, it was worth the time and effort to be involved.

BBBS encourages Bigs not to replace a parent, but to be a positive role model in the lives of their “Little.”

When we got to meet for the first time, the BBBS rep gave my little and I a few minutes to talk on our own and get to know each other.

I asked him what he liked doing, what he might want to see and do in the short term, and I gave him some options of events, scenarios, and outings, we could check out in no specific order.

He was agreeable to basically everything I suggested and it gave us something of a blueprint to follow for the next several months and beyond.

I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of wonderful things in my life: a great family, a prosperous business, two healthy, happy boys of my own and a bit of schedule flexibility to give something back to the world that may only be a small ripple in a big pond.

That being said: world I’d like to introduce you to my Little: T.J.

When I was finishing up the interview process, one of the staff members told me there was a shortage of male Bigs in the program and they’d love the opportunity to interview more so that more male Littles could be matched up.

I’d like to offer the encouragement to check out the program if you’re local to see if you can be a positive light in the life of someone who might need it.

As for me and T.J., there’s a whole world around us to explore and with the time commitment of just about two visits per month, I hope for a few things:

-To open T.J. up to experiences he might not otherwise get to enjoy.

-To be a safe place for him to turn if he needs a kind ear.

-And to share some of those experiences with all of you, whether through social media or my writings to hopefully inspire others to consider a program like BBBS if you want to be involved as well.

Over the last several years, I’ve published the list of books I’ve consumed by year’s end. 

I love to read, and I’ve been reading since I was a child. 

I used to read many more physical books but, lately, it’s disproportionately audiobooks for my consumption. 

I rarely ever highlight my favorite books because I know that taste is subjective. 

However, this year I listened to a book and I was so impressed with it, I had to write something about it with as few spoilers as possible. 

Before I go much further into that particular book, I wanted to give you some other options if you’re looking for something to read. 

Typically, when I recommend novels, I try to pick titles I believe would be enjoyed by most. 

Some titles that stuck out over the last few years: 

Theo Of Golden

The Correspondent 

All The Colors Of The Dark

Demon Copperhead 

The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store 

James 

The Friend

A River Is Waiting

Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk 

A Gentleman In Moscow 

Mad Mabel

The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell

And to give you some insight into the book that I’m basing this article on, I have to explain how I heard about it.

Social media algorithms being what they are, my Facebook feed has several suggested groups for me to join, all with fans of fiction, psychological thrillers, fantasy, and more.

I’m not actually a member of any of them but the site can tell when I’ve taken a screenshot of a cover so that I can track it down later.

And the book “A Little Life” has come up more than once.

Typically, whoever is writing about will describe it with words like: unforgettable, heart-wrenching, devastating, etc.

So, when I first decided to tackle it, I had no idea what it was about and if there were to be a suggestion I would give you, I would encourage you to not look up summaries about the book.

That being said, I know we live in a day and age where it’s fair to give someone a trigger warning ahead of time.

The fact is, there are a lot of unsettling and disturbing parts of the story.

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that A Little Life isn’t a book you read, it’s a book you experience.

What little I will tell you is that the book is very lengthy, it’s about four friends but with a primary focus on one of the friends.

It spans decades; from the time they meet in college to the lives they lead afterwards.

And, of course, you have to learn more about the main character to see what life was like before all of the friends get to know each other.

A Little Life is a lot of things. It covers a tremendous amount of ground. There will be parts that fill you with so much hope and there will be parts that absolutely crush you.

I listened to the audiobook first and then I couldn’t stop talking about it. The more I talked about it, the more I wanted to read it again.

So, I bought the anniversary edition which collected artwork chosen by the author to illustrate the main characters and then I bought the hardcover so that I could just take my time and read it for the second time.

I was telling one of my clients/friends about it and she’s a retired English professor. She bought the book the day I told her about it.

And the day she finished it, she told me: I was completely worthless the rest of the day.

I’ve read a lot of great books in my lifetime.

A Little Life might be one of the best I’ve ever read.

With one slight caveat, it’s not for everyone.

If you want something I would recommend to everyone, feel free to go back through the list at the top.

But if you want to read something that takes a piece of your soul with it, well…I’ve already said too much.

30 Years Ago

In 1996, my life was quickly falling apart. I was wrapping up my sophomore year in college, I was struggling with a lot of personal turmoil and I was identifying with some degree of depression.

My doctor put me on a medication to help and it only made things worse.

I was hospitalized 3 times that summer for circumstances relating to suicide attempts and suicidal ideation.

I tried going back to school for my junior year, but I was so heavily medicated, it was hard to stay focused on coursework.

And around that same time, I started to venture into street drugs.

I dropped out of college midway through my first semester of my junior year and by year’s end, I would be back in the hospital again, my fourth time in less than a year.

We finally found a doctor who could test me again for everything previous doctors had diagnosed me with and he pushed back on the results.

He told my parents: Jason doesn’t need any of these medications and he doesn’t have any of the diagnoses you were told that he has. He just needs a sounding board to help him deal with his challenges.

Slowly, he weaned me off of all the medications.

However, the illegal substances were starting to pick up steam and they wouldn’t stop until much later.

I’d be hospitalized again in 1998 but that would be the final stint.

In 1999, I “accidentally” fell into fitness.

I saw my body one night in the mirror, riddled with drugs, and knew I needed to change something.

So, I bought a weight bench and some dumbbells and started working out on my own in my apartment.

It wasn’t long after that I realized I’d need access to more equipment if I wanted to make the most of what I could do with my body, so I joined a local gym.

Little did I know, these seeds of fitness would grow into something more prominent later on.

A few years passed, and I started to focus more on how I was eating, and then the time came when I’d put the drugs down for good.

However, before I’d quit drugs indefinitely, I finally got enough of my head straight to get back to school and get a degree.

20 Years Ago

The drug use, for me, began in the fall of 1996. What started very simply as weed use, grew into taking anything and everything I could get my hands on.

At one point, I estimated that in 10 years of steady, chronic drug use, I may have managed a total of 2 weeks where I wasn’t under the influence of an illegal substance.

And by 2006, I’d done enough damage to my body, my relationships and my finances, that it was time to put it down for good.

While I didn’t know it then, it helped that we were transferred from one state to another and I’d be leaving a lot of my friendships and drug alliances behind me.

Late in 2007, while I was heading into my last semester of college, I had an opportunity to get certified as a personal trainer. I’d go on to pick up three certifications in quick succession: personal training, fitness therapy and sports nutrition.

In 2008, my son, Jackson, was born and having a child was the first true glimpse I had of continuing to turn my life around post-drugs.

17 Years Ago

In the spring of 2009, I had some unique opportunities in front of me: newly graduated from college with a degree in business management, three certifications related to fitness/nutrition and the goal and dream of opening up a fitness studio of my own.

The mission?

To embrace what life is like when you succeed at making a dramatic positive change; a personal “revolution.”

It was an opportunity to clean my slate, in a manner of speaking, and take all of the dark, muddy parts of my life and turn them into something good.

Revolution Fitness & Therapy wasn’t just about having a gym.

It was about having hope.

Hope to succeed.

Hope to improve.

Hope to do better not just for myself but for others.

I’d still make a TON of mistakes as a business owner.

But I got a lot right, too.

And when I think back along the last 30 years, it’s mostly in awe.

How did I get here?

How did I survive enough of the muck to be where I am today?

And with an immense amount of gratitude to my parents who stood by my side from 1996-2006 when I was arguably at my worst and most chaotic.

To my sons, Jackson and Sebastian, for inspiring me to be the best Dad I could be.

To my wife, Marissa, who’s watched every peak and valley of my life over the last 16 years and has been there to lend a hand through the deepest valleys.

And to the clients, both current and former, who have catapulted RevFit to the place it is now.

The milestones are significant but the milestones mean very little if you don’t have people to share them with, celebrate them with, and allow the space for everyone to come together and say:

Look at what WE made.

I was fortunate to be raised by the greatest father I’ve ever known.

He modeled humility, kindness, compassion, affection, intelligence, loyalty, and fairness to me.

I was not always his best student.

I did not appreciate many of those lessons in his lifetime.

But as the years have passed, since my father left this world, the lessons he did teach have had a greater and greater impact on me.

Some 15 years later, after cancer took him from this world, my mother and I still talk about how he would approach all of the things that happen in our lives, both personal and professional.

In whatever form his spirit resides, I hope that he knows what kind of impression he left on me and how much I miss him.

I look back on the life he gave to both my mother and myself.

I look back on what he sacrificed, where he compromised, where we grew as a family because of the gifts (both material and emotional) that he gave us.

And learning a lot about what kind of man to be didn’t guarantee I would easily become that man.

I had a lot of missteps along the way.

During his lifetime, my father would remind me about the path he was forging for me to follow; one I feel I’ve done a lot better with the older I’ve become.

Becoming a husband was a role I thought I could magically adapt to: just get married and the pieces would fall into place.

That’s not exactly how that went for me.

But becoming a father set me on a trajectory where, little by little, I started to understand just how challenging and rewarding it would all become.

I have two sons: Jackson, from my first marriage, and Sebastian, with my wife Marissa.

And they both add more joy to my life than I have ever or will ever be able to express.

Having a child who is neurodivergent and a child who is neurotypical, inspires me to pivot and adapt to each of their needs.

I can still be a loving and attentive father, but the skills required to do so look a little bit different for each of them.

I can watch as my boys grow in age and see a type of bonding between them I can be proud of.

Father’s Day for me, since 2011, has remained bittersweet: difficult because of the man I lost and beautiful because of the boys I have the privilege of being a father to.

The words that ring from the page my father wrote to me many years ago ask a simple question: How do I write to inspire?

Here’s to the many fathers out there who continue to inspire the children (or stepchildren) they walk through this world with.

Do amazing things.

Be extraordinary people.

And if we’re lucky, those same children will teach us lessons we might have never learned without them.

To my boys, Dad loves you. Opa does, too.

Our son, Sebastian, has grown up in a home where topics around exercise, health, food, etc. are common conversations.

He’ll be present for conversations between Marissa and myself where I might be discussing things that happen at work.

And within those conversations, he has historically asked questions:

-What are calories?

-Does candy have calories?

-Does seafood give you energy?

-How do I do a push-up?

-Where does that food come from?

-What’s fiber?

And we’ve tried to explain all of these things not only in a language he can understand, but from a place where food is neither good nor bad, where exercise is a gift to our bodies, where it’s okay to be challenged by the way we move our bodies, and how we might develop confidence in our bodies.

We ask him to be open-minded about food experiences, we ask him to try new exercises, we let him enjoy tasty treats, we give him space to play and explore how his body moves.

And behind closed doors, Marissa and I have further conversations about what we do and don’t want Sebastian to experience (if we can help it).

We don’t want him to feel self-conscious about his body shape or size.

We don’t want him to feel forced to move his body in ways that don’t feel right to him.

We don’t want to surround him with negative messages around our own bodies or someone else’s body.

I write all of this not because we’re perfect parents.

We’re not.

Like every other set of parents I know, we’re figuring it out as we go along.

Some approaches work better than others. Some approaches change as he ages and understands more.

We do what we can to speak about bodies from a place of respect.

Respect for our own.

Respect for others.

We look at food as fuel and fun and pleasure and exploration.

We have conversations about the origins of food: land and sea, animal or plant.

We talk about what foods help you poop…because what little boy doesn’t find the whole topic about poop hilarious?

We talk about the energy that food can give you and how carbs, fats and proteins provide energy but in these neat and unique ways.

He has also learned, by default, that Marissa can’t eat certain foods because they’ll make her sick. In understanding that, he can see that those same foods have different responses in his body.

I also need to share space with fact that my oldest son, Jackson, has autism and all of these topics come up in vastly different ways for him.

Also, I know that many people have a troublesome history with these subjects due to their own upbringing. I’m not parent-shaming.

As generations pass, as I’ve spent the last nearly two decades coaching individuals both before my generation and after, I continue to find it fascinating the messages we’ve all grown up hearing and being exposed to.

But many of the same foundational concepts keep coming up:

-Nourish yourself and your family with the foods you can afford and keep you feeling good.

-Hold positive conversations within your family about what our bodies are capable of.

-Celebrate movement of all kinds: for leisure, for sport, for competition, for strength, for flexibility, and for longevity.

-Stay proactive with doctor’s visits to make sure that everything “under the hood” is as it should be.

-Refrain from demonizing foods and refrain from body shaming.

-Acknowledge that bodies of all shapes, sizes, heights, and weights are capable of brilliant, miraculous, and inspiring feats.

-Most importantly, lift each other up. We only have one body to course through this world with. Be it’s number one fan. We are the first role models to our children. Our words, our actions, and our responses to them set a foundation they’ll carry for the rest of their lives.

Early on in my career, I thought of exercise from a very simple perspective: you can use it to help with fat loss (somewhat inefficiently) and you can use it to get stronger or faster.

Obviously, it’s much more than that, but I didn’t have as much appreciation for how much more back then.

I didn’t appreciate the benefits on the heart and the lungs.

I didn’t appreciate the benefits on the brain.

I didn’t appreciate the benefits on mental health.

And I definitely did not appreciate how much it could impact the older/senior generation.

I credit the quotes from clients of ours over the years for reminding me just how much that matters:

“I want to be as strong as I can for as long as I can so that I’m not as dependent on my children to take care of me.”

“I want to be able to hold my hair dryer up for extended periods of time so I can do my hair without needing others to do it for me.”

“I want to be able to go up and down a flight of stairs without feeling winded.”

“I want to be able to get out of a chair without using my hands to help me.”

“I need to be able to get up and down from the floor.”

For these clients and many more, exercise has become far less about aesthetics and more about function.

Beyond those activities, I’m hearing more and more women branch out from walking, yoga, Pilates, etc. (all great forms of movements, by the way) to embrace strength training not only because the word is getting out that muscle matters but that bone mineral density matters as well.

And I know what some of you might be saying: I’m not near the age of the senior population yet. Why does that pertain to me?

To which I’d ask: Should you have the luxury of making it to your 60s, 70s and beyond, what do you want the quality of that life to look like and how do you want to influence it?

Granted, exercise is not a cure-all.

Yes, you can still become very ill whether you exercise or not.

But if we were working towards stacking the deck as much IN our favor as possible, what are you willing to do now?

Here comes the tried and true, and scandalously boring list to work through as you find you are able:

-Strength train at least 2x/week.

-Have a cardiovascular movement practice.

-Nourish your body with foods that give you ample protein, fiber and healthy fats to fuel your active lifestyle.

-Surround yourself with people who build you up.

-Have a consistent wake/sleep cycle. This will be more challenging for women in the menopause transition, new parents and those of you working through the obstacles of sleep apnea.

-Improve your self talk. How you speak about yourself, your body, your reflection in the mirror, and the progress you believe you are capable of and deserve, matter.

-Be willing to challenge the capacity and ability of where you are now.

-Where and when it’s necessary, have someone you can work with to improve your mental health.

I will admit to having a certain bias in this conversation. Not only do I own a fitness facility, but due to a recently diagnosed autoimmune condition, I am now working through osteopenia.

And that’s a hell of a thing to think about when I also consider that I’ve been lifting weights for over 27 years.

To which my doctor said: Imagine how much worse it could have been if you hadn’t been lifting weights all those years.

She’s right.

The effort now is in staying active, staying as strong as possible, slowing down the loss of bone mineral density, and doing what I can to take care of the only body I have.

Regardless of your age, start lifting if you’re not doing so already.

Preserve your muscle.

Preserve your bones.

Respect the process.

(Pictured below, our resident 86-year young rockstar, Richard, who’s been training with us since he was 75.)

Here’s a little something you don’t often hear about for the folks on GLP-1 receptor agonist medications.

It is 100% possible to consume food in a surplus when you’re on them.

Let’s start with one aspect: response rate.

Some people can start the medication at the lowest dose and start seeing positive benefits.

You might hear the term “hyper” or “super” responders and this can signify not only people who lose a considerable amount of weight on the medications but those who can do so at lower dosages.

So, on the flipside, you have slow responders, people who either lose slowly or need higher doses to be able to get the intended effects of the medication.

There is some data to support that roughly 20% of people on the medications do not lose 5% of their starting weight within the first several months of treatment being categorized as non-responders. However, this could change as new medications come down the pipeline to the public.

But one thing to note, and it’s frustrating when it happens is that the medication does not guarantee you’ll be in an energy deficit, which is how fat loss will ultimately occur.

I’ve written at lengths about considerations for those on the medications on this site but the same slippery areas that can affect people who aren’t on the medication are essentially the same as those who are currently taking them.

So, let’s take inventory:

-Be mindful of condiments like mayonnaise, dressings and bottled sauces.

-Keep an eye on liquid calories and that could be juices, milk variations, energy drinks, carbonated beverages, coffee and tea that have any additives (creams, sugars, syrups) and alcohol.

-Look out for candies, chips, crackers, and even organic, whole food snacks.

-Be cognizant of nuts, nut butters, trail mix, and granola. All of which are easy to overconsume and can pack in more calories than you may recognize.

-Have a strategy for meals out, from fast food to luxury restaurants. Chains might have calories posted but many restaurants do not. The average entree can be upwards of 1200 calories not including appetizers, drinks or a dessert.

Yes, the medications, when at the appropriate dosages, can truly help work wonders. They can reduce food noise, they can dampen dopamine receptors and they can delay gastric emptying. All of which can work together to help you consume less and to do so consistently.

But there are still myriad ways to sneak in extra calories which might not be considered or factored in to your tracking methods (if you’re tracking).

There is the chance that at some point, you may choose to get off of the medications. If so, having more awareness of total food intake can be helpful. A smaller body requires fewer calories and that can make maintenance a challenge if you’re not in the right headspace to live there.

I remain an advocate of the medications for many people. They can be life-changing and tremendously effective. But they’re not for everyone and, sadly, they are being abused.

Talk to your doctor if you have questions about the right medication and dosage appropriate for you.

It’s now estimated that 1 in 8 people are currently taking them.

And if you need support on the nutrition side or the training side, the number of clients I currently work with on the medications continues to grow.

I’m happy to help along the way.

(Photo courtesy of Joshua Hoehne)

You’ve probably heard the sentiment around food intake (and I’ve been guilty as well of its use): If you can moderate (said food), keep it in the diet.

And there’s good reason for it.

But why do so many people feel misled by it?

Let me give you a personal example.

I love chips.

I don’t eat them every day but give me a family size bag of a chip I really like and I may very well struggle to keep portion sizes small.

Why is that?

Well, chips, offer a few benefits: they’re crunchy, they’re salty, they’re kind of fatty (which can contribute to a certain type of “mouthfeel”) and that combination makes them pretty easy to overeat.

That being said, I don’t like all chips. I don’t care for sour cream & onion varieties. I’m not crazy about salt & vinegar, although our son, Sebastian, loves them and they aren’t necessarily the kind of thing I randomly crave.

But if you have them in front of me, in a flavor I enjoy, easily accessible, I’m going to want some.

Also, if I had some specific physique goals for myself, I would probably need to keep chips at a certain, temporary distance.

That doesn’t mean I can’t ever have them, but it could mean that easy access could make it harder for me to reach my goals as quickly as I might like.

We know that ultra-processed foods can be a minefield for many people. That can include: candies, ice cream, cakes, chips, crackers, etc.

Now, the good news, is that, depending on the person, depending on the goal, it’s now easier than ever to have portions that are still practical so that you can “have your chips and eat them too”.

It’s easy to find snack size options that may only be 150-200 calories per serving and that’s a lot simpler to work with to give you a little bit of what you’re craving without setting you back against your goals.

It also bears mention that every individual has a different food or food sensation they seek out. For instance, donuts aren’t my kind of sweet treat but cookies are my all-time favorite. Another person could go months without eating a cookie but feel the need for a donut on a daily basis.

This comes down again to personal preference, the mouthfeel of certain foods, and even a personal history around certain foods.

If you grew up in a household where donuts were a reward for a job well done, or something that gives you an emotional pull towards the morning trek to school, donuts may be a difficult food for you to part with. Not because donuts are bad, by any means, but because donuts resemble more than just a sweet treat.

My kind suggestion is that you take stock on the foods you feel you can successfully moderate in the diet, that either give you pleasure or keep you satisfied and energetic throughout your day.

Be honest with yourself about foods that you can genuinely keep in portions that work in relation to the goals you set yourself.

Remember that food environment can be a “make or break” when it comes to success. What you have easy access to may be the first thing you grab when you’re happy, bored, sad, or perhaps trying to numb out a feeling.

Your awareness of that environment and those food choices is key.

So, when we hear “everything in moderation”, that means something different to me, than it does to you. And that’s one of the beauties of being individuals with our own unique tastes and relationships to food.

Here’s a great research piece with more info around ultra-processed foods that you might enjoy diving into.

And if you need my help, drop me a line.

(Photo courtesy of Jeff Siepman)