Change. A necessary, but disconcerting concept. As humans we crave the opposite. We seek predictability & habituation primarily because, when we can count on things to be a certain way, we don’t have to put as much effort into them. Instead we can coast…we can take the easy route…we can be efficient.

Although “taking the easy route” may not sound ideal, it is important to remember that efficiency is essential to our successful day-to-day existence. Think about the simple act of getting up in the morning & brushing your teeth. I’m guessing that you brush your teeth EXACTLY the same way every time. You use the same hand, you start at the same spot in your mouth, you brush in a set pattern. You’ve made it a habit…you’ve made it easy…and, as a result, it takes you a couple of minutes to complete.

But consider how this simple act would unravel if you never developed that habitual, methodical way of brushing your teeth. If you had to make a new decision about every part of brushing, how much time would it take? What if you had to decide every morning which hand to use, how to hold the toothbrush, how much toothpaste to put on, where to start in your mouth, what sequence to use to brush your whole mouth, how long to brush each tooth, etc, etc.? Instead of taking a few minutes, this now-complex skill could potentially take hours!

We often think about habituation in skill sets and/or actions. But what about our thoughts? Can those be habitual? Yep, they absolutely can…and very often are. And here’s the tricky part: Our habitual thoughts are harder to change than our habitual actions. But…they really do need to change. The world changes, the science changes, our understanding changes…and therefore our thought processes need to change as well.

And so it is for my thoughts on what defines “good” nutrition. In the last few years, I’ve started to realize that what I’ve always considered to be “good” nutrition is quickly becoming outdated. In other words, my habitual thought process needs to change, morph, shift, adjust, update.

During my formative years, the nutrition gold standard being preached was low fat, high carb (LFHC). Unfortunately, at this same time, my grandfather died of a massive heart attack at 62 yrs old. Lowering cholesterol became the focus & my family bought into the LFHC nutrition concept hook, line & sinker.

For 20 yrs I refined habits of eating low- to non-fat – no eggs, no butter, minimal meat. Then, in the last 10 yrs or so, as we started to understand that not all fats are created equal, I began to incorporate plant fats (olive oil, avocados) & even eggs!

Fast forward to today where the idea of “good” nutrition is moving quickly toward low carb (and therefore higher in fat & protein). There’s even a push toward high fat, low carb (HFLC) as it helps regulate insulin & hormone levels.

Could HFLC simply be a knee-jerk reaction to what came before? Sure. Is HFLC 100% correct? Absolutely not. But it is important to realize that we know more now that we did 30 yrs ago. It’s also important to recognize that, at any given time, we don’t know what we don’t know. This is the process of progress – we make a change, observe what happens, make another change, observe, etc. It’s slow. It’s never perfect. We make mistakes. But, in my opinion, this one-step-forward-two-steps-back approach is the only way to go because it gives us time to allow our thought process to adjust. And that, my friends, is what our brains need – time to adjust.