Tiny computers and food

I love technology. Ok, maybe love is a little strong. I am the type of person that would trade in smartphones for a pay phone and an answering machine any day. On the other hand I love the convenience and easy access to information. However, at times we just become over reliant on these tiny computers and forget about the ones that reside in our bodies.

Chronometer and My Fitness Pal are tools that almost everyone I work with will utilize at some point. These tools help to create “cognitive oversight”; an understanding of what the nutritional aspects of different foods actually are. This data is important to help us to make decisions around food that are well informed and intentional. Many of us have no idea what constitutes a high fat or high carb meal and the majority of my clients come to me woefully underfed on protein. But my mission is to combine this cognitive oversight with emotional and physical oversight as well.

When we put all of our faith in plugging numbers into a machine we start to look at our bodies the same. As Dr Ben House says, “humans do not like being math equations”. At some point we need to remember what hunger cues and emotional responses look and feel like. And an app can’t do that.

At some point you want to be able to maintain fat loss in a way that relies less on quantitative data and more on qualitative. We want to be able to have a vacation or work trip and not fall apart when we can’t scan a barcode or weigh a chicken breast.

For now, our method of eating might not be all that intuitive. That doesn’t mean it can’t be. Use technology as a tool, not just to count carbs but also to see how well your own body’s signaling lines up with the data. Connect the dots. Knock down pins. And get closer to your personal truth. Just don’t let this little computer in your hand override the one in your brain.