Unhappy meals
📪 The Optimal Agent Newsletter #042
Take Action:
Create a personal framework for eating and nutrition.
Why It Matters:
Having a set of Rules as to what you’ll eat AND what compromises you’ll make when absolutely necessary arms you for the inevitable — travel, busy schedules, holidays, and nights out — those times when perfect just isn’t possible.
How To Do It:
Hierarchy. Whether you consider yourself omnivore, carnivore, vegan, pescatarian (or another permutation du jour) consider what nutritional qualities are most important in your meals by rank order.
We suggest demanding unprocessed food first, then considering macronutrient balance, with caloric content last.
Note: This is an inversion of the processed food industry’s preferred hierarchy of consideration. Not a mistake.
Frequency. Often overlooked, how many times a day will you eat? More frequently can be helpful in keeping you on the straight and narrow — if you’re going long periods of time without adequate nutrition, you’ll be more likely to make poor choices when you finally do eat.
Fallback. Be ready for things to go sideways. Work runs late, the plane is delayed, the kids are sick. What will you eat when you need quick-and-easy? Preparing and freezing nutritionally-dense meals is a good option, as is carrying minimally-processed long-lasting foodstuffs like nuts, dried fruit, greens powder, and protein powder.
Hard Stop. There are things you just shouldn’t eat. Ever. Decide what they are — and when they’re the only option, try your hand at a brief fast.
Explore More:
Listen: O.A. Podcast Episode #42, where Patrick and I go deep on eating for health when you’re simply too damn busy (YouTube / Audio)
Read: Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan (Thanks for the subject line, Mr. Pollan. His article is better than this one, and well worth a read.)
P.S. Patrick, Annie, and I are just getting the YouTube channel off the ground and will be offering exclusive O.A. content (in a form you’ve never seen before) there shortly. If you'd please jump over and subscribe, it would mean the world to us.
