We’ve been talking with our Know Yourself Ambassadors about the importance of getting to know what your body needs to thrive. So far, Cherise Daly, Ilan Cumberbirch and Joëlle Beauchamp have all shared why they think knowing yourself is central to living a happy and fulfilling life.
Another individual in the Cronometer community who understands a thing or two about knowing yourself is Dr. Matt Nagra—a naturopathic doctor from Vancouver, BC, who specializes in plant-based care. We asked Dr. Matt for a few pointers on how you can more easily tune into your own body—this is what he said.
What gets you up in the morning?
Several things get me up in the morning, but most important is the fact I feel so fortunate to be able to spend my day doing what I love—helping people improve their health.
What excited you to be a part of Cronometer’s Know Yourself campaign?
When I first became vegan, I used Cronometer to ensure I was hitting my nutrient targets. The app made it apparent that it’s actually far easier than I used to believe. In fact, compared to my omnivorous diet, I was actually consuming a far more nutritionally complete diet as a vegan.
It also helped me ensure I was consuming enough calories to maintain my weight and level of activity, at the same time as checking I wasn’t lacking in any “nutrients of focus,” like calcium. The reason I’m excited to get involved with the Know Yourself campaign is because I want to help inform others of this great resource that can help them the same way it has helped me.
Why is it important for you and your community to track your nutrition? What have you gained as a result?
Tracking nutrition is important, especially when making dietary changes. Oftentimes a deficiency can be very easily avoided by understanding which nutrients you are consistently consuming too little of.
In addition, if you’re concerned about your nutrition, it also provides peace of mind on how nutritionally complete your diet is. For myself, it certainly helped with the latter in the early stages of my transition to veganism.
What do you tell your community is the greatest benefit of knowing yourself and your nutrition?
Knowing yourself helps uncover healthy lifestyle behaviours that you enjoy. It’s much easier to stay active when you’re doing something you love. Not everyone enjoys weightlifting or running, but perhaps you enjoy playing soccer or volleyball, or dancing, or walking your dog—all of these count!
Similarly for nutrition, there are various dietary patterns that fit into the framework of a healthy and complete diet. Understanding the nutritional value, health benefits and risks, and your personal preferences around foods can help you sustain a good diet in the long-term.
Do you have any health tips or tricks to share that you’ve adopted along the way?
Start one meal at a time. You don’t have to revamp your entire diet overnight to experience the benefits. Start with breakfast, try out a few different meal ideas, and create a new habit before moving on to lunch, then eventually on to dinner. It’s all about playing the long game.
Are you ready to Know Yourself like Matt? The first step is to download the Cronometer app. It’s free to all users with an option to upgrade to Cronometer Gold, unlocking 13 personalized features like custom Diary Groups, Nutrition Reports, Nutrition Scores, Fasting Timer and more.
Upgrade to Cronometer Gold in your account settings.
