Welcome to all my health enthusiasts, wellness warriors and food lovers! From now on, you will also be addressed as my ‘nutrients‘ or ‘nutri-entities‘ (as we grow) specifically on this blog, At The Chopping Block, where we dissect blocks of information into bite-sized pieces! Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Roylan Zuriel, founder of NUTRITECHT, a passionate advocate for nutrition and holistic wellness. My journey into the world of nutrition was purposefully accidental, in the sense that I somehow chose to do a degree in nutrition despite living a very unhealthy lifestyle.
Time-skipping to the present, I came to the realisation of how much of an impact having knowledge about nutrition as well as knowing how to apply it was and how it resulted in the transformation of my diet, lifestyle and my overall well-being. Resolved to use this realisation as a catalyst for positive changes, I embarked on this mission to establish NUTRITECHT as a way to empower individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices through the education of nutritional foundations. Hence the name NUTRITECHT – nutri short for nutrition, meaning to feed and techt meaning messenger.
THE ENDLESS WAR BETWEEN DIET VS DIET
Have you ever asked yourself something along the lines of:
- Will this actually help me with my weight goals?
- Is this healthy? What’s the benefit of eating this?
- Why is it so hard to diet?
- Can I put myself through that diet or workout again?
- How can I keep up with healthy eating when I don’t have the time?
I’ve been there before and every so often I enter that space again, therefore I definitely know the struggle of having to eat healthy by dieting. To quote Meghan Quinn,
“Life isn’t some walk in the park where you can make wishes on dandelions. Life is work”
To which I 100% agree BUT I personally would like to sit down and have a picnic feast here and there while blowing on some dandelions and to make my wishes. In essence, I had the mindset of ‘I’ll just make up for it (healthy eating) later on’. I had this sort of stubborn mindset when I was young; refusing to accept the creeping reality before me. If I don’t start another trendy diet, I won’t have to fail yet again. That constant mental warfare at such a young age really left scars that are taking a long TIME to heal and longer when the wounds keep getting attacked. Was it the fat comments from uncles and aunties (iykyk) that got me here? Was it the yo-yo dieting or was it simply due to my love of food?
The amalgamation of these questions is what led me to suffer from low self-esteem, anxieties and other damaging behaviours. Around the age of 12, I was on weight loss programs and meal replacements which led me to the times where I skipped breakfast or lunch from year 6 onward. Back then I thought that was the best way to tackle my problems with weight loss. However in all of that craze, I would end up crashing and burning by eating everything that I missed out on during dinner. [You may be asking where my parents were in all of this, you may not, however, I just wanted to add a disclaimer that they did put effort and supported me during all my weight loss attempts; the unhealthy habits of skipping breakfast and lunch was all on my sneaky behaviour].
Be that as it may, the end of M. Quinn’s quote says,
“Life is a journey of triumphs and sorrows”
Would you believe me if I said that the unexpected path of doing a degree in nutrition ended up being a triumph in the sorrow? I took this course for granted; it was just a course that let me go into university and if it’s anything food related, SIGN ME UP! Little did I know it was the kick that unknowingly initiated the transformation of my stubborn and naive mindset.
THE WINNING SIDE – The Fiery Arrow
To be succinct, I believe it is through applied knowledge. In simpler terms, wisdom. I was able to take my expanding knowledge in nutrition and apply it to my self-proclaimed-michelin-star skills in cooking which created surprisingly tasty recipes, which I will share in due time. My mind was opened, my palette enriched and although gradual, my weight was reduced. FINALLY! The knowledge I gained about what I was and wasn’t consuming catalysed the changes I had to make to live a healthier lifestyle. What did those changes look like?
Those changes came in different forms such as; meal prepping, incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet and watching what & how much I ate, just to name a few..
Meal preps – To be completely honest, I was not a personal fan of this. I got bored of eating the same thing days on end and because I always prepped more than necessary, I would not hesitate in having another cheeky box. However, I must say that the biggest benefit of meal prepping was being able to measure macronutrient and micronutrient intake beforehand so that when it came to eating, I did not have to worry about my nutrient and calorie intake.
Incorporating more fruits and vegetables to my diet – This change for me was the least difficult. Prior to this, I was mainly on a diet consisting of rice and meat so adding vegetables to the plate was not strenuous. Like with all good habits that you would like to develop, you have to start incorporating changes slowly and ease yourself into it to prevent any possible withdrawal symptoms.
Even though I did not mind eating vegetables, it was not a staple in my regular dinner plate so I had to start introducing vegetables a little at a time and in ways that were easy to do. For example, whenever I would make one of my soy-braised chicken recipes, I would add vegetables that paired well such as cabbage or runner beans. If I had stir-fried beef, I would pair it with broccoli or peppers and so on. That whole experimental aspect of cheffing it up made healthy eating more enjoyable.
Watching what and how much I ate – This was the most challenging because the food is life. If it tasted good I would not hesitate in grabbing a second plate. It did not help that growing up I grew accustomed to the tastes of processed foods and instant noodles; it was easy to prepare, quick to whip up and tasted delicious.
With this preference that I accustomed for myself, trying to diet outside of it was difficult. Growing up as an Asian in the UK eating Filipino cuisine, it was hard to be told to diet by eating cuisines outside my culture. The whole craze of avocado on toast had no appeal to me when I was young. I was sure that Filipino food had healthy food too but the societal diet trends took control and made me think that I can achieve my health goals through a diet suited for the populace of the UK.
Hypocritically speaking, I do enjoy the avocado on toast every so often however, what comes to mind for me are for those who grow up eating one type of cuisine the majority of the time; using my dad as an example, he grew up to eating Filipino food for decades so whenever I make pasta, it is not just his taste. So we’ve had to modify our cuisine’s recipes to be healthier by incorporating more vegetables or changing the way it is prepared. It’s only recently that he’s started to like pasta but he would still prefer having his soup over anything else.
A PEACE TREATY – Taking a Bite Out of the Healthy Apple
At NUTRITECHT, we believe that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. From my experiences and where I am now, you can sort of guess how many years it has taken for me to get to the stage of being comfortable in what I am eating and enjoying it too. Even though your own goals may differ to mine, we are both on this journey together. You may want to achieve yours at a faster rate or at your own pace like me. Our vision is to spread nutrition across the map – to help individuals develop a healthy relationship with food and nutrition by keeping it realistic, relatable and doable.
Aside from writing research-based blog posts that are informative yet simplified, we also offer the service of personalised nutrition consultations where we closely work with each individual to develop customised meal plans and lifestyle strategies tailored to their unique needs and goals, specifically suited for their culture.
Are you ready to take a bite out of the health apple? Join me on this journey towards wellness. Together, let’s embrace the transformative power of nutrition and pave the way to a brighter and healthier future whether it be for yourself, your loved ones or even for the generations to come!
Keep your eyes peeled for the next post! Let’s start building our nutritional foundations brick by brick, block by block. Be sure to subscribe to our emailing list and follow us on social media all platforms [here] . Let’s stay connected as we continue to support each other and keep each other accountable in achieving our health and wellness goals!
