Journal · Gut · Heart · Brain
Doing My Best: What Changed When I Started Nourishing My Body Properly
Nourishing your body properly, rather than just filling it, changes more than you might expect. The cravings quietened down. And underneath that, something I didn’t expect happened: I stopped worrying about where my next meal was coming from.
Not in a practical sense. I’ve always had food in the house. It was more that low-level background feeling of thinking about food, wanting something, wondering what I was going to eat next.
There’s a kind of security that comes from knowing your body is genuinely fed, not just full.
I hadn’t realised how much difference that would make
For years there were plenty of days when I was overtired, stressed and low on resilience. I could overeat and probably still be under-nourished at the same time, which sounds like a contradiction, but it isn’t.
Now, when I’ve eaten properly, I don’t spend the day fighting cravings in the same way. I have better energy. I think more clearly. I cope better with stress and I generally sleep better.
I wouldn’t expect any of this to be perfect. Nothing is. But I know when I’m giving my body roughly what it needs because I can feel the difference. And perhaps more importantly, I know when I’m doing my best.
My relationship with food changed too
These days, even when my eating goes a bit off course, it’s usually because I’ve eaten mindlessly rather than because I’ve deliberately chosen something I know won’t make me feel good. I’ve learned what a good meal looks like for me. Protein, fibre, plants, enough actual food to sustain me. That doesn’t mean I never eat cake or chips or something simply because I fancy it. Of course I do.
The difference is that those things aren’t carrying the same weight any more. Food doesn’t feel like something I’m constantly negotiating with myself.
The bit I didn’t expect
I went into all of this because I wanted better gut health, more energy and to look after myself as I got older. What I didn’t expect was what it would do for my confidence.
There’s something reassuring about knowing I’m looking after myself properly. Not perfectly, but properly. I’m making considered choices. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes life gets in the way.
But most of the time, I know I’m giving my body a pretty good chance. And after years when food, weight and health could all feel far more complicated than that, there’s something rather lovely about it becoming simpler.
I’m doing my best. And actually, that feels like enough.
Why nourishing your body matters for other people too
Once you’ve experienced that difference, it’s difficult not to wonder how many other people are going through life exhausted, hungry, craving things and blaming themselves, without ever really understanding what their body needs.
I certainly didn’t always know. That’s one of the reasons Gut & Grain matters to me.
Not because I think everybody should eat like me, or because I’ve somehow got it all right. I haven’t. It’s because learning more changed things for me. And I think people deserve the opportunity to work out what makes a difference for them too.
This is personal experience, not medical or nutritional advice. Everyone’s circumstances and nutritional needs are different. If you have specific health or dietary concerns, please speak with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.