Making Your Health a Priority: Chatting Nutrition with Julia Menhart
I’ve had this post written for over a week now and it’s just such a touchy subject for me. My relationship with food has never been the best and I know a lot of people struggle with this too. If my experience can help anyone, then it’s worth it to me to share it with you. So let’s dive in…
You all know I started this site to basically document my health and wellness journey and that doesn’t necessarily only mean weight/nutrition. But today, we are going to talk about nutrition because that is such a huge chunk of it and it affects so many other facets of health and wellness.
After graduating college and basically quitting competitive tennis, I gained literally 50 pounds!!!! I was the heaviest I had ever been and felt not so great about myself. It was hard for me to meet people and even allow myself to get involved with guys because I just did not feel confident in my own skin. Yeah, everyone is beautiful and I am a big supporter of not having to fit the skinny stereotype, and I’ve never been the skinniest or the strongest or the fittest, but I felt good about myself when I was younger and I just wanted to get back to that. I wasn’t necessarily looking to be the skinniest bitch at the beach but I just wanted my clothes to fit without digging into my stomach.
I never really had the best relationship with food and it’s still something I’m working on each and every day. I really look up to people that can eat well most of the time and that dedicate time to understand nutrition and experiment with what works for their body. So I’m pleased to introduce you all to my friend, Julia Menhart. Julia and I met when we were student-athletes at Chicago State University. She was there for volleyball and I played tennis, obviously. Now, she is living in and working remotely from Switzerland while taking an online nutrition course from Stanford.
Competing in competitive sports started when I was young. I played in the 2nd highest volleyball league when I was 16 and got paid to play soccer when I was 17. In 2011 I received a scholarship to play volleyball in the USA, so when I was 19, I moved to Houston, TX to play for a junior college called San Jacinto College - at the time, it was one of the top 3 junior colleges for volleyball. From 2013-2015 I moved to Chicago, where I transferred to Chicago State University and continued my “Collegiate” Volleyball Career. After finishing my Bachelor’s degree I received a scholarship to play beach volleyball for San Jose University in California, where I earned my Masters Degree from 2015-2017.
After my Masters Degree, I was lucky enough to get an admin position to the Director of Engineering & Technology for a German Biotech company in the San Francisco area. After working there for a couple of months, I quickly transitioned into the Project Management department as a Project Controller.
I chose to feature Julia for this particular topic because she has always taken really good care of her body and more recently started an account to share workouts and nutrition tips. I was the type of person that would eat really well for some meals and then like shit for other meals, and because of that I wasn’t really consistent with my results. I played tennis a lot so imagine how bad I must have been eating to not lose or even gain weight.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that there was a certain timeframe where I “shifted” into the “healthy” lifestyle as I have always been very cautious of what kind of food I’m feeding my body with, especially as an athlete. However, what I have changed about a year ago was the way I looked at food. I started questioning some of the ingredients that were listed on the back of “whatever” it was I was eating. After doing tons of reading and researching I decided to really be cautious of that and try to eat as clean as possible - oh boy did my body start to change after I made a small change in my diet.
So what makes some a “healthy” individual? I’ve mentioned that health and wellness is made up of many different components.
They say “Abs are made in the kitchen” - adding on to that I’m a believer of the saying “you are what you eat.” For so many of us, the hard part about “looking in shape” is not the working out part - it’s the eating part. Even I struggle almost on a daily basis to make the right decisions on food. I’m such a foodie, therefore I don’t restrict my diet to anything. I eat protein, fats and carbs. In my opinion a healthy individual is someone that can make the right decisions without regretting it later. For example, if we eat a burger with fries we shouldn’t feel guilty about it - we should enjoy every bit of it. Many times that’s not the case. How do I overcome this guilt? I simply make sure I get my workout/physical activity in to compensate for it and that is what works for me.
I love that everyone’s definition of healthy is so different and I 100% agree that making the right choices with food is SO hard. There’s no one-size-fits-all nutrition plan that is going to work for everyone because we are all so different. Also, I hate the idea of cutting out things that we like. I hear people say they are going to cut carbs to hit their goal weight. WE NEED CARBS. CARBS ARE YOUR FRIEND. ALMOST EVERYTHING HAS CARBS. Vegetables are carbs. Fruits are carbs. Ok? Ok. But really, when you quit something cold turkey, you will only crave it more and borderline become obsessed with that. The trick to eat as balanced as possible and finding what works for you. No matter what “diet” (hate that word) you are trying, the trick is to cook at home. You will have so much more control of what goes into your body and you can tailor your meals to fit whatever restrictions you are setting for yourself.
I would say that I cook about 90% of my meals. I barely go out to buy “ready-to-eat” meals. Although I frequently check all kinds of grocery chains for ready-to-go-meals with “clean” ingredients as they are a time-saver, sadly I haven’t come across any who I would recommend to eat.
I try to meal prep on Sundays to save time cooking during the week. Prepped meals don’t have to be boring. I try to use colorful veggies and spices, which helps a lot to avoid the “omg-not-again-the-same-meal” effect.
I don’t really have favorites as I eat a variety of everything and I also change my meals weekly so it doesn’t get boring. I’d probably pick fish over meat though.
In addition to cooking your own meals, variety is definitely key. I tried that meal prep thing but I felt so much pressure to make it good because if I didn’t like it, I would be stuck eating it for multiple days. Something I have incorporated into my routine was getting this produce box from Farm to People, a local farm to table delivery service. They send me all kinds of vegetables, some that I love and others that I have never even heard of. This has pushed me to learn about new ingredients and has added a lot of variety into my meals. (You can get $20 off your first box using my link).
I’ve always been interested in nutrition, but got really into it when I started analyzing nutrition/ingredient labels on the back of various snacks. I’m a huge huge snacker. My mind was blown away after I found out how many synonyms sugar has that can be found on a looooot of snacks - dextrose, fructose, maltose - etc. Yeah, it’s pretty sad.
When you know so much about nutrition, it is super hard to dine out. Again, I get my workout in and try not to think about it too much when I eat out. I don’t count calories. I never really have and I never will. It’s the most time consuming, frustrating, and annoying thing to do, BUT it seriously helps in terms of weight loss/gain if someone doesn’t know a lot about macros/micronutrients and how they work.
I’ve tried many diets and counted calories and macros. Ultimately, I’ve been intuitive eating for some time now after spending several months loosely counting calories and macros. I did this for a while so now I’m comfortable eyeballing what I eat/should be eating each day. If I slip and let myself go for a meal, I just try to reset with the very next meal. So for example say I have a great breakfast and then for lunch I have like cheese fries and a hot dog. For dinner, I try to bounce back right away with a balanced “PFF” meal. This simply stands for protein, fibrous carbs and fat, but the good kind of fat, like an avocado. I love something simple like grilled fish and sautéed spinach or asparagus, where the fish is the protein, the spinach is the fibrous carb and the oil it’s cooked in can be the healthy fat, like olive oil or something. In the words of my fave peoloton instructor, Cody Rigsby, “If you mess up, it is not that deep!”
Ok, so what about people that just want to be healthier but don’t necessarily play a sport (recreationally or competitively)? Not everyone has to have some crazy and strict diet. Nutrition is half the battle but what about workouts?
One thing I want to recommend: Unless you really know what you are doing - Do not workout without a workout plan. I see so many people going to the gym without a workout plan. It drives me nuts. It's pretty much working out without a goal.
I plan my workout schedule based on my job schedule and Volleyball practices, which changes weekly at the moment. The way I construct my workouts really depend on what are my current and long term goals as well as being in Volleyball season/off-season.
YES!!! Set a goal and have a plan. Contrary to popular belief, doing a ton of cardio is not gonna make you skinny. One of my favorite pages for this info is Smalletics. April Whitney talks at length about prioritizing strength workouts over cardio and that’s what I have implemented into my life, and honestly what has driven the most dramatic changes. There is so much free content online, especially right now, that you can easily find workout plans for free or reduced costs. If you have the budget for it, hire someone to work with. Think of it as an investment in yourself!
At the end of the day, there is no secret ingredient that is going to give you your goal body. It takes a lot of time and effort and most importantly, it takes a ton of discipline. I think most of us have a good idea of what we should each and what we should avoid, but it’s hard! Companies do a great job advertising and making shitty food easily accessible, while making healthier options more expensive or less appealing. I think you have to make a decision and then make a plan and stick to it as much as possible. I’m not talking about doing one of those fad diets or cutting out entire food groups. You need to modify your eating habits so that it becomes easy to sustain and almost automatic. I know, so much easier said than done! That’s why there are people that are nutritionists and registered dietitians that can advise you and create a plan that is specifically designed for you. I know that can get pricey, so you can experiment with different foods and quantities to find what is best for you. Your body is very smart and it will tell you if it likes what you’re doing. Luckily for you, social media is full of health and fitness influencers, you just have to weed out the ones that care more about making money vs the ones that genuinely want to help you — like Julia. She just created her own account on instagram to share how she eats and trains.
After receiving tons of requests from friends/family and followers on my personal account I thought to myself “maybe it’s time to share my story and help others”. Then COVID-19 hit. For a couple of weeks in April/May my work load free-ed up a bit, so I finally had time to create a new account @ju_me23.
To feel more comfortable and backed up with actual facts and proven methods when helping others with their nutrition journey I decided to do an 8-week nutrition course with Stanford Science and Nutrition. Once I’m done with the certification I’ll start welcoming individuals who need help with finding a personalized nutrition plan.
So I’ll leave you with this. Make a list of your priorities — where does fitness and nutrition fall on there? Unhappy with how you look or feel? You’re really the only one that can change it because no one is going to do it for you. The toughest part is getting started, but once you start seeing results, you’ll become addicted to what you’re seeing and how you are feeling.
Make yourself a priority.
xx Marn
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