Numbers. They don’t lie. But man if they don’t just absolutely drive me crazy. We have a love-hate relationship you see.

This morning I woke up feeling refreshed. Then I looked at the time and saw it was 4:08 am. Doh! But my mind was reeling. As I tossed and turned and tried to get those last couple hours of sleep in, I was thinking about my clients. This is a downside to having your own business… it’s always there, 24/7. I decided that I would take a new approach when working with them. “To hell with the numbers,” I thought. “Numbers get confusing.” Here’s what I mean:

I don’t think that I have ever had someone come up to me (or probably anyone else for that matter) and tell me that they have the problem of eating too much spinach. Nor have I ever been asked how many oranges one should have at a meal. Portion control all of a sudden, miraculously, doesn’t seem to be an issue when talking about beans and celery. And I almost certainly have not had anyone say “I can’t believe I ate the whole tub of green beans!”

Why don’t we ditch the whole how many grams of carbs, proteins, and fats we should have?

Sound crazy?

I don’t really think it is. In fact, as a dietitian, I’m often asked the question “What do you eat?” or “How many calories do you eat in a day?” To the latter, my response is: “I have no idea.”

I simply eat the right foods and let my body tell me when it wants them and in what amount. Period.

Now the hard part is getting my clients to buy into the idea.