YES!
That’s the quick answer.
But please keep reading for more of an explanation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Keeping a food journal, keeping track of your calories as you make nutritional changes is a very important task. It helps you bring awareness to what you eat, it helps you monitor exactly what you’re consuming each day and connect the dots between it all. It’s important work that should not be skipped.
But I’ll also say I don’t think it needs to be a lifelong habit once you build in awareness and focus almost completely on nutrient-dense food. And I’m not talking calorically dense food like cheese cake or a cheeseburger.
Our bodies have elaborate and sophisticated monitoring systems. The problem is that most of the time we’re working AGAINST that, not with it.
If you’re eating a lot of processed, low-nutrition food, it’s both difficult and confusing to the body. You’re consuming MORE overall calories than you really need and yet your body has detected it’s not taken in ENOUGH nutrients. So you’re still hungry (for more nutrients) even if you’ve exceeded a reasonable number of calories for the day.
I personally don’t count my calories each day. I have a pretty good sense for how many calories are in my foundation, nutrient-dense food choices. I’m very consistent and yet can easily have some indulgent meals here & there and not worry about it. I’ve built awareness over time, so I can sense from my body if I need to eat more healthy calories that day or not without having to always whip out a food calculator to “check” first.
Have you signed up for my FREE 7-Day Vegan Quick Start Guide yet? If not, CLICK HERE or head over to tinyurl.com/seano7day and sign up. Let’s eat vegan, nutrient-dense together even if only a week to help show others what’s possible!