Personalized Nutrition: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Personalized Nutrition: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All
By Shane Sauer
When it comes to nutrition, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of one-size-fits-all diet advice. You’ve probably heard things like “carbs are bad” or “intermittent fasting is the answer.” But the truth is, nutrition is a deeply personal journey—what works for one person might not work for another. Our bodies are unique, and so are our nutritional needs. In this blog, we’ll explore three key topics—carbohydrates, intermittent fasting, and food logging—that often get oversimplified. We’ll break down their strengths, weaknesses, and surprising facts that might change the way you think about your diet.
Carbohydrates: The Villain or a Necessity?
Carbs often get unfairly labeled as the villain of modern diets. With low-carb trends like keto gaining popularity, it's no wonder many people believe that cutting out carbs is the key to health and fitness. But here's the truth: carbohydrates are essential, especially for brain function and high-intensity activities. Your nervous system runs primarily on glucose, which comes from carbs, meaning your brain and body need them to think, move, and perform at their best.
The real problem with carbs often lies in their processed forms. Processed foods are engineered to be hyper-palatable—meaning they are designed to be so tasty that they override your brain’s natural satiety signals. These foods are loaded with refined sugars and simple carbs, which quickly spike blood sugar levels but fail to keep you full. This is why you might find yourself mindlessly munching on chips or cookies without ever feeling satisfied. The lack of fiber, protein, and fat in these foods means your body doesn’t get the signals it needs to tell you, “Hey, that’s enough.”
In contrast, whole food forms of carbohydrates, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, digest more slowly and come packaged with fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients that promote fullness and sustained energy. These foods allow your body to absorb glucose gradually, avoiding the blood sugar roller coaster. They also activate the body’s natural satiety mechanisms, helping you avoid overeating.
This leads us to the concept of the Glycemic Index (GI), which measures how quickly carbohydrates in foods raise blood sugar levels. Foods with a high GI, like sugary snacks and processed carbs, cause rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar, leading to energy slumps and more cravings. However, what’s often overlooked is that everyone’s response to carbohydrates is different. Two people can eat the same food and have completely different blood sugar reactions due to factors like their gut microbiome, metabolic health, or even how they combined foods in the meal.
While the GI is a useful guideline, it's important to remember that it’s not one-size-fits-all. Tracking how your body responds to different foods can help you fine-tune your diet to what works best for you. For some, reducing high-GI foods can improve energy levels and prevent overeating, but personalization is key.
Intermittent Fasting: A Tool for Health or a Fad?
Intermittent fasting (IF) has become one of the most talked-about approaches to dieting and health. From improved insulin sensitivity to promoting cellular repair, it’s easy to see why so many people swear by it. But while fasting has clear health benefits, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.
The key idea behind intermittent fasting is giving your body periods of rest from digestion, which can help regulate blood sugar, improve metabolism, and even kick-start processes like autophagy (your body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells). Some people use it as a way to control calorie intake without having to meticulously count calories all day.
However, one of the most interesting benefits of intermittent fasting is how it helps you distinguish between true hunger and situational hunger. Have you ever felt hungry just because it was “lunchtime” or because you were at a social gathering where food was available? Fasting teaches you to recognize the difference between these habitual, environmental triggers and genuine hunger. When practiced thoughtfully, intermittent fasting can be a powerful tool for learning about your body’s natural hunger signals.
But it’s important to remember that intermittent fasting isn’t for everyone. While some thrive on a fasting schedule, others may find it leads to unhealthy eating behaviors, like binging after a fasting window ends. If fasting feels restrictive or causes you to overeat later, it can be counterproductive to your goals. Additionally, the effects of fasting can change over time. Your body is incredibly adaptive, and while fasting might help you lose weight or feel more energized initially, those changes may taper off as your body adjusts to a routine.
This is where a randomized approach to fasting can come in handy. Rather than sticking to a strict fasting schedule, you can switch it up—fasting some days and eating regularly on others. This variation keeps your body from adapting too quickly and helps you maintain the benefits without the metabolic slowdown that can come with routine fasting. However, it’s worth noting that while this randomized approach can help maintain health benefits like insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control, it may not be as effective for sustained body composition changes, since your metabolism tends to adjust to one-off fasting periods.
In short, intermittent fasting can be a valuable tool for health and learning more about your hunger cues, but it’s important to approach it with flexibility and self-awareness. If it works for you, great! But if it leads to unhealthy habits, it might not be the right fit.
Food Logging: Awareness or Obsession?
Food logging can be one of the most eye-opening practices for anyone looking to improve their health or change their body composition. The simple act of writing down what you eat can create awareness around your habits that you may not even know existed. But, like everything in nutrition, it’s a tool—one that can work wonders for some and feel overwhelming for others.
At its core, food logging is about gathering data. When you track what you eat, you get a clear picture of your dietary intake. This can be especially useful for identifying hidden calories or nutrient deficiencies that could be affecting your health. For instance, while many people focus on their macronutrient intake (carbs, protein, fat), they often overlook micronutrients, like vitamins and minerals. A good logging app, like Cronometer, not only tracks your calories and macros but also provides insight into your intake of important micronutrients, which can be a game-changer if you’re struggling with low energy or other health issues.
That said, the numbers aren’t always precise. Food labels can have a margin of error of up to 20%, and portion sizes are often estimated, meaning the calorie count you see might not be entirely accurate. But the real power in food logging doesn’t come from exact numbers; it comes from the awareness you build over time. By logging for a few days or weeks, you can start to see patterns—maybe you’re consistently low on certain nutrients like magnesium, or you tend to eat more carbs on certain days. These insights can help you make small, meaningful adjustments to your diet, like increasing your vegetable intake or incorporating more protein to help with satiety.
Over time, the goal is to transition from meticulous tracking to mindful eating. The purpose of logging is not to become obsessed with every calorie but to develop a better understanding of your food choices. By logging for just a few days, you can gather enough data to make educated changes, and then return to logging periodically as a check-in. For some, this practice can keep them honest about what they’re eating, while for others, it can turn into a stressful obsession. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or overly focused on the numbers, it might be time to take a break and shift toward a more intuitive approach.
Ultimately, food logging is a tool for self-discovery—one that can help you see where small tweaks in your diet might lead to big improvements in your health. And like any tool, it works best when used in moderation.
The Bottom Line: Nutrition is a Lifestyle, Not a Diet
If there’s one takeaway from all this, it’s that nutrition isn’t about following a set of rigid rules or adopting the latest diet trend—it’s about personalization. Your body’s needs are unique, and what works for someone else may not work for you. Whether it’s how your body responds to carbohydrates, your experience with intermittent fasting, or how you use food logging as a tool for awareness, the key is to experiment and listen to your body.
To make nutrition a lifestyle, not a diet, here are three simple steps you can start with:
Collect Data and Cover the Foundations: Start by focusing on the basics—improve your food quality by incorporating whole foods, ensure you’re getting all necessary nutrients, and prioritize your sleep. These foundational steps will set the stage for long-term success. To help you get started, try food logging for a few days to see where you might be missing key nutrients or eating more than you realize. This data will give you a clear picture of your current habits, making it easier to spot opportunities for improvement.
Individualization: Once your foundation is set, create a plan for small, sustainable changes based on your data. Track how your body responds to adjustments like balancing carbs or experimenting with fasting. Remember, your results will be unique to you—so don’t rely on someone else’s plan. Individual responses to foods, exercise, and routine changes are key to lasting progress. The focus here is on building habits that work for your lifestyle and are easy to maintain over time.
Get Curious: After laying the groundwork and making gradual changes, you can take things a step further by exploring more advanced metrics like pulse, temperature, and blood sugar. This will help you better understand how your body reacts to different foods and strategies. This is where neurology comes into play—your nervous system plays a critical role in regulating hunger and satiety. If you're curious about diving deeper into these tools, expert guidance can help you make sense of this data and fine-tune your nutrition plan.
By approaching your nutrition with flexibility and self-awareness, you can develop habits that support your health for the long term. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about finding what works best for you and sticking with it in a way that feels sustainable.
If you're curious about tracking methods like temperature, pulse, and blood sugar, or if you need help personalizing your nutrition plan, we’re here to support you. Check out our Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching to learn how we can help you create a strategy tailored to your unique needs.