A lot to chew on: In this week’s Life Hacks, a dietary audit with Charles Assisi
I wouldn’t have thought it, but apps and charts are helping me eat better. An audit yielded surprising insights. Do you know what's missing from your pie chart?
A friend suggested some time ago that I photograph everything I eat, for a month. It would give me a new level of awareness, he said. I heard him out and decided to try it, with the help of some apps that scan calories and offer the nutritional values of foods.
Over time, the value of this exercise made itself apparent. It turned out to be more than a dietary audit. It was a post-mortem of sorts that revealed not just what I ate, but what I wasn’t eating. Patterns emerged. Gaps that had been invisible started to make their presence felt.
One of the first revelations was the inconsistency in how much I ate. Conventional wisdom has it that an adult male my age needs about 2,200 calories a day. Yet I could see days on which, despite engaging in strenuous exercise and not consuming as much, I felt satiated and stayed energised. And then there were days when my hunger seemed insatiable, leading me to consume far more than that standard.
These observations led me to question the idea of rigid adherence to standardised dietary recommendations.
The prescribed calorific guideline, while a useful benchmark, does not account for the dynamic and individualised nature of our bodies’ needs. Our daily calorific requirements can fluctuate based on numerous factors, including physical activity, metabolic rate and even psychological state. Listening to our bodies and adapting intake accordingly may be more beneficial than rigidly adhering to set norms.
On the other hand, the experiment did uncover bits of proven wisdom that I was ignoring at my peril. Despite all that was available to me, the colour palette of my meals was dominated by hues of yellow, orange, and a little red. There was almost no green. And the yellow came as much from scrambled eggs and curries as from bananas. The slim presence of raw produce, and the lack of green vegetables, hinted at potential nutritional imbalances.
The dominance of orange indicated that I was likely getting enough beta-carotene and Vitamins C and E. The red suggested I was getting vital antioxidants. The lack of green meant I was missing out on Vitamins A and K, and folate.
Eat the rainbow, they say. And I only had a few stripes.
Looking at the charts, I began to re-learn what many of us were taught as children: it is not the number of calories alone, it’s the nutrient quality and diversity of the meal that counts. A diet rich in colourful fruits and vegetables ensures a broader spectrum of nutrients and enhances the sensory experience of eating, making meals more enjoyable and satisfying. This approach aligns with holistic health principles that prioritise well-being over mere numerical targets.
Reflecting on this experiment, I also realised that my eating habits were influenced by convenience and routine as much as by actual hunger or nutritional needs. The app revealed a tendency to reach for the same foods out of habit rather than necessity. Breaking these patterns and introducing more variety into meals should be the goal, said my friend Dr Rajat Chauhan, who practices sports medicine (and writes a column for the Hindustan Times). He makes it a point to fast for one day a week as well, forgoing even water, to give his body a chance to detox and reset.
Inspired by the insight gained from this experiment, I am now considering a broader project: Could I capture significant moments in my life and uncover patterns there too, to gain a deeper understanding of my time use and cultivate a deeper appreciation for the experiences that truly matter?
That’s what Instagram is for, I suppose? Thank you, but I’ll pass. There are some things I simply will not add to my diet.
(Charles Assisi is co-founder of Founding Fuel. He can be reached on assisi@foundingfuel.com)
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