When planning out meals, it’s important to make note of the macronutrients you eat to make sure you’re getting all the nutrition you need to survive, like carbohydrates, fats, calories, sugars, fiber and more. However, if you only focus on macronutrients, it can become difficult to find a balance between eating healthy and eating foods you enjoy. Enjoyment is important when planning meals because it’s easier to eat well-balanced meals when you have a favorite food of every essential food group. This also means that as long as you are hitting your macros, it’s okay to have snacks you eat just because you like them or food that isn’t just about hitting macros and more about empty carbs that make you happy.
When thinking about nourishing your body, the most important thing to remember is that being fed is what matters the most. So if you’re really hungry and all you have are empty carbs, it’s okay to just eat that to stave off hunger until you can eat something more nutritious. It’s also okay if you have mostly empty carbs and one nutritious thing. Eating those two together doesn’t detract from the nutritious thing, it just means you have food in your stomach that gives you nutrients as well as food that just fills you up, and that’s okay.
It’s important to think about food and nutrition as positive all around. There’s no food that’s horrible to eat and eating one “unhealthy” thing doesn’t negate the positive effects of the healthy thing, it’s just food, and food is good for you.
