A while back, I wrote about the cycles of training, explaining how our workouts go through seasons of peaks and valleys. These “seasons” are influenced by our ever-changing needs, lifestyle, internal health, and circumstances. And the same can be said with our diet, which is what I’ll be going over in today’s post. If you’re someone who can’t ever “stick” to a way of eating or wants to learn how to get in touch with their body, then stick with me here as I’ll explain how you can eat with the different seasons or cycles that your body may require. Are you ready? Let’s get started!

Mimicking Nature

We all know about the seasons- summer, winter, spring, fall- and the qualities that define each of them. With our body, a similar pattern can occur. There will be times when we are on top of our food intake and making sure we’re eating as clean or perfect as we can. But there will be others when we’re more relaxed or less diligent. These periods will come in waves. And sometimes they can reach extremes, like the freezing winter storms and the blazing summer heat. We can be very strict with zero reservations for error. We can also become apathetic and neglectful of whatever morsel of food we choose to put in our body. As such, we often mimic nature with our eating patterns.

Honoring Our Inner Nature

Rather than be a victim to nature, we can learn how to work with it. Doing so asks us to honor our inner nature or needs. And the way we do that is by understanding what those needs are. You could call it cultivating a sense of body awareness. Cut out all of the noise of social media, outside pressure, and even your ego and start noticing all of the hints that your body is dropping as means to be heard.

Here’s a list of cues to take note of:

• Mood: Is your diet giving you stress or satisfaction? Do you look forward to your meals or are you dreading them? Does your diet leave you feeling crabby or tortured? Or does it make you feel like a superhero and, well, free?
• Commitment: Are you having to play a game of mental hopscotch to maintain your current way of eating? Or are you able to stay consistent without having to parent yourself?
• Fitness: Check in with your level of fitness. Are you able to maintain or improve your endurance, strength, mobility, and flexibility? Do your joints frequently ache? Are your muscles always sore? How capable are you at recovering from exercise? Is it hard or easy for you to work out?
• Physical Signs: Keep track of your physical health, including your energy, sleep, outer appearance (i.e., hair, skin, nails, etc.), etc. Is your immune system in good shape or do you find yourself getting sick on a regular basis? Are you able to concentrate and have a good memory or do you experience frequent bouts of brain fog or forgetfulness? What about your hormones? Ladies, is your PMS always the bane of your existence or do you have very little to complain about? Don’t forget about the gut, too! How’s your digestion? Does your gut feel out of whack with frequent bloating, cramps, irregular bowels, and indigestion?
• Appetite: How is your appetite? Does your diet leave you wanting more or are you otherwise satisfied? Is it causing intense cravings for sweets or particular types of foods? Are you constantly looking for a bite to eat or can you stay full for hours between meals?

You see, I believe that food is a double-edged sword. It can be, as Hippocrates famously implied, our greatest form of medicine, and also be one of the strongest poisons we can take in. Your diet has a HUGE role in your health, and if you’re slowly building up a laundry list of complaints then don’t ignore what goes onto your plate!

Align with Your Goals

Once you’ve tapped into your internal needs (physically, mentally, and emotionally), you can now couple them with your goals. After all, I am first and foremost all about fitness. So, for me, I always take into consideration the current goals I may be pursuing with my fitness.

For instance, when bikini season comes around the corner and everyone is hanging out by the pool, I choose to amp things up with more intense training, doing workouts like the Summer Shred series. As for my diet, I know my body well enough that whenever I lower my carbs my body really starts to lean out and my muscles become more defined. Hence why I’d follow something like the Bikini Body meal plan to help support my training.

On the other hand, if I’m going through a time when my sugar cravings and mood are getting hard to manage, I then reduce my carbs even more and re-program my mind to crave things like healthy fats and veggies by following my Keto Diet meal plan.

And even then, there will be times when I want to eat more carbs, and fewer amounts of dairy and meat. During those instances, I’ll switch over to diet like my Shred and Glow meal plan.

Outside of all of these, I may simply be mindful of my food intake. I’ll enjoy treating myself to some wine or dessert. And I’ll mostly consume my carbs based on my activity for the day. My Z-Shred meal plan is more or less like this, staying mostly low carb while upholding the basic eating habits that to this day enable me to continue training and maintaining the body I have.

What does this look like? While I’d love it if you gave one of those meal plans a shot, you don’t have to embark on any of them to find what works best for you. I’m simply using those as an example of how I eat in a seasonal, cyclic manner.

For you, it once again depends on your internal needs and goals. If your goal is to, say, drop a certain amount of weight, then the quantity and types of foods you’ll eat will have to align with that very goal. You won’t be able to get away with frequent instances of overindulging and will have to be more mindful of your daily intake. However, if you’re looking to build muscle or add a healthy amount of weight to your frame, then your diet is going to be completely different. You can have a treat here and there and will need to include more food to meet this goal. What the two have in common is their time frames. I assume that you don’t always want to be eating in a surplus or deficit forever. Hence why each diet has its own “season”.

All in all, when it comes to finding your dietary cycles, you need to learn how to tap into your intuition. Pay attention and listen to the subtle (or not so subtle) cues that your body is leaving. Perhaps it doesn’t want to be low carb for a long period of time; maybe it can only handle a couple of months. Maybe it enjoys being plant-based when it’s summer and a variety of fruits and veggies are in season. The only way for you to  what your body needs is by taking note of your physical, mental, and emotional states. When combined, you’ll be able to transition a variety of cycles without having to run your body into the ground. That way, instead of being locked into any dietary extremes, you’ll be free to decide for yourself what’s best for you and your body.