HOW TO BE A HEALTHY YOUNG PROFESSIONAL?

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Natchitoches Young Professionals about balancing a healthy lifestyle and healthy choices with a busy work schedule. I’ll share some practical tips I covered at the event in this article.

It’s no secret that eating healthy and working out in and of itself requires a well-thought-out plan and, at times, may be challenging. Then, adding in a full-time job, kids, house cleaning, travel, and making time for friends/family, make living a healthy lifestyle seem next to impossible. The good news is that living healthy doesn’t require you to be perfect all day, every day. The most important part of being healthy is being consistent.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF [MOST] YOUNG, BUSY PROFESSIONALS

From my experience as a dietitian, a common schedule I see from my clients (who are mostly young, busy working professionals) looks a little like this:

You wake up after snoozing your alarm several times, get dressed quickly, skip breakfast, and grab coffee on the way out the door. You arrive at the office, where you spend most of your time sitting and looking at a screen emitting blue light. You grab another cup of coffee and get to work. It’s now lunchtime, and you’re ravenous. You get up from your desk for the first time that day and grab lunch from the drive-thru across the street from your office. After lunch, you resume sitting at your desk in front of your computer screen. A couple of hours later, you hit the infamous afternoon slump. You either reach for another cup of coffee or something sweet to give you a pick-me-up. It helps a little, but nothing will help you power through the last hour and a half before you can leave to go home. On the way home, you’re starving again, and nothing has been prepared for dinner. You grab a meal through the drive-thru again. As you pass the gym you have a membership to on your way home, you vow to start over again tomorrow by resuming high-intensity cardio at the gym and eating perfectly or “clean” (which most of the time means cutting out carbs or all foods that you love). Your bedtime routine consists of scrolling on your phone until you get sleepy, around 12 or 1 am, and you have to be up by 6 am for work the next morning.

Does this sound familiar at all? If it does, you are not alone. So many individuals I’ve worked with struggle with an “all or nothing” approach with their health. But, what if it doesn't have to be so complicated? What if you can find a way to not only enjoy the foods you love, while also learning to enjoy foods that are really nourishing to the body (plants, anti-inflammatory fats, lean proteins). My philosophy with nutrition focuses on small, sustainable changes that will ultimately reap big leaps and bounds to help you live longer, feel better, and increase your body confidence.

PRACTICAL TIPS

Create a Balanced, Filling Plate

FIBER

Designate 50% to 75% of your plate to colorful plants and grains. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains all contain fiber, the portion of plants that the human body cannot completely break down for absorption. This is great because fiber helps regulate blood sugar levels and appetite and even lowers total cholesterol. One easy tip to start with in your health journey is to focus on adding plant-based foods to your plate. Having hamburgers for dinner? Add a side of sauteed green beans. This will not only help you decrease overeating but also help you feel full more quickly.

PROTEIN

Designate a quarter or 25% of your plate to lean protein sources. Protein helps regulate appetite because it takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, even carbohydrates with fiber. Protein comprises amino acid chains, so for your body to digest and absorb the amino acids, it takes a pretty long time for everything to be broken down. So, protein acts a lot like fiber in that it helps regulate blood sugar levels, slowing down the digestion/absorption of simple carbs/sugars, and helps regulate appetite. Lean protein sources from an animal supply all of your essential amino acids. Eating a primarily plant-based diet may require supplementing protein since plant-based sources are incomplete proteins. If you can, focus on adding both fiber (which also contains plant-based proteins) and lean animal proteins (less fat, high protein) to your plate. Fiber makes you feel full quickly, and protein helps you feel full for longer.

FAT

Lastly, ensure you are “sprinkling” in anti-inflammatory fats throughout the day. This may look like cooking your vegetables in olive oil, making dressings and marinades with grapeseed oil, or topping meals with avocados or sauces. Fat helps satisfy you after a meal, and if a diet lacks essential fatty acids, hormone health may also take a hit. Essential fatty acids include Omega-3s and Omega-6s, the fats you must consume throughout your diet. Sources are olives/oil, avocado/oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish (salmon, cod, tuna). Fiber makes you feel full quickly, protein helps you feel full for longer, and fat makes you feel satisfied.

Identify and Prioritize FUN

What is a FUN food?

While prioritizing protein, fiber, and filling fats are important, leaving room for fun is also important. Fun foods typically lack nutritional value, like protein, fiber, or nutrients. They tend to taste more decadent and palatable and may be easy to overindulge. However, if you were to remove these foods from your diet, you may feel feelings of intense desire and cravings, you may feel restricted, and you may feel extremely overwhelmed when in a social setting around your fun foods.

For example, let’s say at the beginning of 2024, you decided to give up sweets for your New Year resolution. While at a Mardi Gras party or Super Bowl party, you were around lots of tempting sweets. You’ve felt so deprived that you couldn’t focus on the people at the party. All you could focus on was the fact that there was a brownie tray and how much you wanted one. One turned into four, and you leave the party feeling worse than when you walked in. You then vow to start over tomorrow and swear off sweets again by justifying your “slip up” as a “cheat meal.”

FUN Acronym

Here is an acronym to help you figure out what you FUN foods are.

First ask yourself, “do I actually want ___, or do I even like ___? Or do I want it because it is there/in front of me?”

Understand which foods are your WORTH IT foods. Which foods are worth the calories, which foods do you want to make sure you save room for, or which foods would you feel deprived if they were taken away?

kNow your portion/limit. An easy place to start is with the serving size on the label or with pre-packaged/portioned items.

Now that you know your FUN foods, I want you to give yourself permission to eat them. That’s right. The dietitian is telling you to incorporate them into your diet intentionally. I coach clients through doing this all the time. It's funny how as soon as you say you can have a specific food whenever you want, it doesn't seem to have as much control over you, and when say you can't have a specific food whenever you want, it tends to take up space in your mind and it’s all you think about.

Disclaimer: it is also important to note that if you have a complicated and toxic relationship with food, implementing the concept of FUN foods may be harmful if you do not have a healed relationship with food. You may need additional help from a nutrition professional to help you work through these emotions through one-on-one nutrition counseling.

A [BALANCED] DAY IN THE LIFE OF A YOUNG, BUSY PROFESSIONAL

After incorporating these practical tips, you may feel more energized and balanced. Instead of beginning the day on an empty stomach with coffee, you begin with a large glass of water, vitamins, a balanced filling breakfast, and morning sunlight. By mid-morning, your energy levels are great, you have a productive morning at work, and you even leave your desk to get some steps or to stretch. At lunchtime, you are just now hungry because you ate a balanced breakfast, so you heat up last night's dinner leftovers that include a combination of lean protein, fiber, and fat. You’re energized for the rest of the afternoon and don't need any more caffeine. You prioritize water, and you feel great. You pack workout clothes, and on the way home, you go by the gym to do low-intensity strength training to help increase your metabolism and maintain lean muscle mass. You have food prepped from earlier in the week and a balanced dinner. Afterward, you spend time with loved ones and implement a bedtime routine an hour and a half before your designated sleep time. This will help ensure that you get eight full hours of rest to help you feel even more energized for the next day.

It’s important to remember that these changes do not happen overnight. Consistently making small, sustainable changes that are realistic and achievable for you is the best and less overwhelming way to reach your health goals. I help clients every day create these achievable goals and coach them through behavior change to help them attain it.

If you’d like me to speak at your next event, fill out this form

Courtney is a local dietitian and nutritionist in Shreveport/Bossier. With her private practice, Courtney Butts Nutrition LLC, she helps individuals through one-on-one nutrition counseling with her insurance-accepted and self-pay services. She enjoys helping with individuals with Medical Nutrition Therapy that helps improve lab values, chronic disease outcomes, and decreasing medications through implementing changes to diet. To learn more about how you can work with Courtney, please visit www.courtneybuttsnutrition.com/services.