target.fitness • December 16, 2022

Striking The Right Balance

“I love my salad dressing but it’s got lots of artificial stuff added to it, and a couple of grams of sugar. Is it okay to use or should I avoid it?”


I COULD SEE the anxious look on her face as she awaited my response.


Giving her some spiel about additives, hidden sugar and nasty ingredients would have been a great way to confirm her worst fears about her beloved salad dressing. But that would have been unhelpful, incorrect and probably an exercise in scaremongering.


What I actually said to that woman, was what I truly believe:

“Remember what we said about the big picture versus the small insignificant details earlier?” I asked her.

“Well, this is exactly the application of it now:

Is that salad dressing the most “healthful” or nutritious of foods? No. But does it enable a secondary healthful behaviour?


If you are eating more vegetables, more salads, more good quality food now because you are enjoying the taste because of adding a tablespoon or two of dressing then doesn’t that count as a net win?

If you cut it out completely because you read some article about the nasty “chemicals” in it that will “destroy your health”, would you still eat all those spinach leaves you’re having now?


All those nutrient-dense, fibre rich veggies that provide both nutrition and satiety. Probably not right?


I think we really underestimate how much impact consistent big picture habits can have (in this case eating a lot of vegetables/salad) and we really overestimate how much effect a small drizzle of salad dressing can have. Focusing on the *potential* downside of some salad dressing whilst ignoring your overall dietary intake is simply missing the forest for the trees.


So how do you apply this to you? Is there anywhere that you may have worried about but looking back you can now see as a “net win”? For example, you’re trying to drink more water. A good habit to adopt, everyone will agree. But you find it difficult to make yourself drink enough. Perhaps you’ve still not got over that sweet tooth ingrained from years of poor nutrition.


What’s better: drinking pure water or drinking water with some artificially sweetened flavours? You know, that sugar-free, calorie-free flavoured water. We’d probably say pure water, right?


Well, what if when you try to drink pure water you only drink 750ml a day. But if you were to make up some of your fluid intake with a bottle of the artificially sweetened one, you end up drinking two litres plus a day easily?


Is that a net win? Yep.


Conversely, questions like “is peanut butter good or bad?” need to be viewed from the wider perspective…

Can you still eat peanut butter? Sure. Nut butters can of course be included in a healthy diet. But if you’ve found yourself on more than one occasion staring into the bottom of an empty jar, in possession of the suspected murder weapon (a licked-clean spoon), having shoveled 1,000 calories of PB down your neck, then that’s obviously not good.


So take a step back, think of the bigger picture and remember everything is a trade-off. So it’s not about either good or bad. It’s about the NET effect when you balance them out.

We all like our Food...

By target.fitness • April 14, 2023
Food is not “just food.” Food is part of culture. Food is part of family. Food is part of celebrations. Food is part of religion. Food is part of tradition. Food is part of so many aspects of life far outside of simply being “fuel.” The goal isn’t to eliminate your “emotional relationship” with food, the goal is to not allow your emotions to dictate your actions. The goal is to be consciously aware of the decisions you make rather than justifying actions you aren’t proud of because of your emotions. So stop looking for a way to suppress or eliminate your emotions. And, instead, hold yourself to your own highest standard. Quit breaking promises to yourself. Recognize your emotions and, simultaneously, don’t allow your emotions to control you. Easier said than done, I know... So is everything in life. But just because it’s easier said than done doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

Struggles with Self Control

By target.fitness • April 1, 2023
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Some people struggle with self control. They want to lose fat but have difficulty saying “no.” They mentally justify it in saying they’re “flexible dieting.” But flexible dieting doesn’t mean “eat junk and lose fat.” It means “don’t feel guilty for having a treat - but you still have to be wicked consistent to make significant, lasting changes.” For them, practicing self control and saying “no” more often might help them achieve their goal. Other people struggle with food anxiety. They get anxious at the thought of going out to eat at a restaurant because they don’t want to “ruin their progress.” They feel bad for having a slice of cake at their own birthday party. They know it sounds silly and they often give their friends/family/clients amazing nutrition advice that promotes a more flexible approach... but they struggle with it themselves. For them, saying “yes” more often and having a treat might help them achieve their goals. Progress is not only measured in weight loss or fat loss or measurements or numbers or quantifiable data. Progress is also measured in mental, emotional, and behavioral changes. And, candidly, if you don’t improve your mindset first, any physical changes/improvements are going to be short-lived. Because sustainable results only happen with a sustainable mindset.

It's all a bit Fruity

By target.fitness • March 25, 2023
It’s wild to me that this is even a thing. Often, people message me asking if it’s “ok” to eat fruit because “it has so much sugar 😱.” I get bombarded with messages from “coaches” and “professionals” telling me I’m basically sentencing people to death by encouraging them to eat fruit. What is going on. It’s fruit... Apples and grapes and bananas and oranges and watermelon and strawberries and raspberries and blackberries and blueberries. We’re talking about fruit, people. You’re worried about the “damage” caused by eating FRUIT!? What is going on? No one ever got fat from eating fruit. No one ever became unhealthy from eating fruit. No one ever looked back on their life in their death bed and said “you know...I really should of had less fruit.” No one ever got massively overweight and said, “man...I really think it was the grapes that did it.” Let’s use some common sense. Fruit. Eat it. It’s good for you.