We’re entering the fourth month of the year, and New Year’s resolutions are in full effect. Learning new skills, progressing toward new professional goals, and refining one’s overall sense of psychological and emotional well-being are among the areas people most often seek to improve in New Year’s resolutions. Let’s not forget one of the top New Year’s goals, arguably the most common: losing “x” amount of weight.
Thanks to screaming-fast internet connections, optimized electronic payments, and the geniuses who made smartphones, the logistics of living in a world where food is available at our fingertips on a moment’s notice have granted us the ability to get any food we desire. Mobile food-ordering applications like Uber Eats and DoorDash have made it increasingly easy to get food at a moment’s notice. After sitting at a desk for four hours without food, it’s easy to understand how someone would get hungry. A quick tap on the phone in the DoorDash app can solve that problem. Within seconds, a list of restaurants appears in the phone app interface, and the user can tap an item that looks tasty with one finger without even reading the menu description. One or two clicks later, the magic happens. The order is finalized, and “poof,” your food is at your doorstep.
This feature of mobile food-ordering automation is an invaluable asset that helps us be more productive in our day-to-day activities. For example, if a car mechanic has been wrenching on an automobile maintenance project for hours and is making tremendous progress, breaking the workflow might not be the most beneficial. With the convenience of mobile food ordering, a person can stay productive and maintain concentration by ordering a burrito from one of Napa’s local Mexican restaurants without driving across town, parking in a busy lot, and waiting for food to be served. Mobile food ordering helps people work more efficiently when time is their most valuable commodity. However, the overabundance of convenient food options can lead a person to become dependent on choices that may not support weight-loss goals.
Reducing calories, monitoring alcohol consumption, and achieving a set number of steps per day strongly support weight-loss efforts. However, one commonly overlooked theme in weight loss is decision-making. Choosing which foods are optimal for specific physical activity contexts throughout the day is a commonly overlooked tactic that can’t be overstated when the goals are to lose subcutaneous fat mass, increase lean muscle mass, and mitigate the risk of metabolic disease.
During our nutritional consultations with our personal training clients, we focus on simple, effective tactics that require situational awareness in making optimal dietary decisions. The themes of “rest and digest” and “fight or flight” are invaluable lessons that link the body’s current physical activity status to how it utilizes substrates from the food a person eats. An example of “rest and digest” can be compared to sedentary states of movement, which are periods throughout the day that require little to no energy usage and movement, such as sitting at a desk, commuting in a car, or having multiple meetings throughout the day that require sitting in a chair and talking on the phone. The opposite state of movement is “fight or flight.” This is when the body is in a state where the heart rate is increased, the blood is pumping, and the body is enduring exertion that requires more caloric expenditure to produce energy and muscular engagement.
A valuable weight management tactic that has been successful in our personal training clients’ nutritional consultations is to pair the type of physical activity with foods that suit each activity. Carbohydrates are used for energy during “fight or flight” activity. Consuming carbohydrates during exercise or rigorous physical activities, such as mountain biking, hiking, or recreational sports like golf, tennis, or pickleball, is optimal for physically demanding activities. However, if carbohydrates are consumed during “rest and digest” situations, they can be converted and stored as fat mass because there is no need to break them down for energy. Proteins are used to repair muscle and are optimal for “rest and digest” activities. Feeding the body foods high in protein, water, and fiber during sedentary periods supports the development of lean muscle mass.
Our society has been granted the gift of mobile food ordering that previous generations and other communities around the world haven’t had the privilege of enjoying. These features of acquiring food are a tremendous asset to our productivity. However, it’s far too easy to acquire calorie-dense foods that may not support our weight management and the prevention of metabolic disease. Dietary decision-making is a challenging aspect of weight management because it requires people to practice autonomy and self-governance amid the multitude of food options available to them. Perhaps we can still leverage these revolutions in food delivery services to further support our goals by ordering food that aligns with our current physical activity levels.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.