I am pretty sure you had to take a second look at which blog you were on once you saw the topic “You May Not Be Eating Enough!” Lol. Yes I understand. Keep reading. It’s Coachkay’s weekly blog. If you follow my blog weekly, you know I always talk about portion control, watch what you eat, eat only when you have to, etc. 

Remember that whenever you overeat any healthy or unhealthy food, it would have one or a few adverse effects on your body function. In the same light, we need to be careful when we decide to cut calories for weight loss or healthy living. We have to make sure we are eating enough to promote proper health and wellness. You cannot consistently starve yourself and expect your body systems/organs to continue functioning at optimal levels. No way.  That is why it is extremely crucial to be aware of what kind of food you are providing your body. Not just quantity but quality.  Is the quality adequate for proper body function? Is it enough to fuel actions that move you progressively toward your health and wellness goals? These are very important questions to have as you plan your healthy meals. In this blog, I intend to share three crucial signs that may alert you that your food intake may be inadequate. Please note that this list is by no means conclusive. There are other signs which I can discuss in detail in future blogs. 

 

#1 You are Always Thinking about Food

It is a great healthy habit to plan your meals weekly or even monthly. Inorder to do that, you have to think about what to eat next. Right? It only becomes a problem when you eat your small portion healthy meal, feel kind of full and start thinking about what to eat again. You find yourself almost constantly thinking of food and craving all kinds of comfort foods even though you just ate a healthy meal. This pattern is a strong message your body is communicating. Yes! Your body is telling you that regardless of how much healthy food you have just eaten,  how much you continue to lightly snack on healthy foods for fear of taking in too many calories, you have still yet to give it the nutrients it needs. The meal may be healthy, but it doesn’t contain enough nutrients needed at this time by your body. So you may just need to increase your portion size of that particular meal in order to feel full. It may be more than your daily required calories, but it keeps you satisfied longer. 

 

#2 Lack Of Energy

Food is supposed to be fuel for the body. That is simply what food is. Your body is the car and food is the girl needed to move smoothly. The purpose of food is to provide your body with adequate nutrients to give you energy to complete basic tasks like standing up, walking in your house from one room to another and even energy to think clearly and make small and big decisions. We need enough food to function at our best. Without enough food, we tend to drag ourselves around from the time get up from bed in the morning, until the time we get back to bed at night. You exhibit low energy to from when you begin your workout right up to the end. We become aware for example that exercise is important, but because of lack of energy probably from constantly eating foods that lack proper nutrients, we skip one workout session after the other or we simply never begin. No energy to get motivated. 

Also in this state of low energy, we tend to grab unhealthy snacks to give us a quick “pick me up”. The snack picks you up, but you quickly experience a crash. This eventually completely drains all your energy. This may be the result of not eating enough. 

 

#3 Hair Loss

Without going into the science behind this, we need to be aware that, hair loss is another strategy  your body uses to communicate to you that something is not going so well with one or many of your body systems. Your hair needs certain nutrients to grow healthy and appear healthy and shining. When you are not feeding your body the necessary nutrients, it will have to take the nutrients intended for hair growth and use them to promote smooth functioning of essential organs like the liver, brain or digestive system. This causes your hair to constantly break and fall off. So you tend to see chunks of hair accumulate in the comb you use or the bathroom sink. Please make sure you alert your doctor if you are experiencing any amount of hair loss. 

 

CONCLUSION

When trying to lose weight, it is very important that you reduce your daily caloric intake. Cutting calories will definitely help you lose weight. But when you go to extremes of cutting calories so low such that your body is not getting enough nutrients to power essential functions like proper heartbeat or clear brain function, you shift into a dangerous zone. Be sure to check with your doctor and make sure your meals are nutrient dense and sufficient for your body at any given time. Good luck on your health and wellness journey. 

 

Coachkay

WLS, FNS

#MashFire