The Four Agreements Of Nutrition: The Third Agreement
Don’t Make Assumptions
For the last two weeks, I’ve been exploring how Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements could be applied to nutrition. The first agreement, “Be impeccable with your word,” relates to self-honesty as well as self-love. “Don’t take anything personally,” the second agreement, teaches us to not internalize the projections of others, which Ruiz calls a “dream.”
This week, we’re going to take a look at the third agreement: “Don’t make assumptions.”
Because duh, that makes you an ass. We all know this.
But in the realm of fitness, it also means you miss the results you work so hard for.
There is perhaps no field of information that has more conflicting information, misinformation, and assumed information than nutrition. It's the wild west out there. These days even previously respected fitness info establishments are lowering their content standards.
So, how do we tangle apart what’s true and what’s not, when we’ve been barraged with other people’s beliefs and social mores about food since we were kids?
The solution, according to Ruiz, is simple. Don’t make assumptions.
The opposite of making an assumption is having the courage to ask questions and having the open-mindedness to accept new information.
Courage
We may think we know how our body works and what it needs. And we very well may have. But sometimes a shift in lifestyle occurs, and we realize that we don’t have all the information. Having a baby, getting a new job, moving, getting injured, or developing an illness can all be incredibly challenging milestones for people.
Shifts can be less dramatic, as well – you may wake up one day, see a picture of yourself, and think, how the fuck did this happen?
Either way, these are times when fitness assumptions are shattered and you know in your heart that your old solutions and band-aids don’t work anymore.
These are the moments when it’s very important to ask questions and get the support that you need.
And that does not mean asking Google.
Think of it this way. If you don't know what the answer to a question looks like, do you think you'll be able to spot it in a pile of different answers that's a mile high?
This is doubtful.
Instead, it's a real life fitness professional that can give you solid answers to your new questions, and help guide you to a lifestyle that works for you.
To do this, you need courage. It takes bravery to say, “What I’m doing isn’t working anymore. Please help.”
Much like a new relationship, you have to step off the ledge and make a brand new meaningful commitment. And that can be terrifying. To be really vulnerable. It's so much easier to hide behind the keyboard and our preconceived notions.
Especially when you've spent time trolling through all these cheap and unsuccessful meal plan solutions on your late night quests for nutritional enlightenment. They're everywhere. And they require very little real investment.
But much like your Tinder hook-up, the nominally priced cookie-cutter meal plans allow us to hold on to our ambivalence. The entry price is low both financially and emotionally. And because they often don't work very well in the long run, they only further fuel our fear of commitment.
You need real courage to connect with a Fitness Professional and commit to learning the truth. It's money and time, and effort that you put on the table. Those are all big deals.
Open-Mindedness
And so on top of that courage, you will need the flexibility and teach-ability to accept good information when it's truly in front of you.
It's increasingly common for new training and nutrition clients to come into my studio (or into my inbox), saying, “I need help,” only to reject the solution that I give them, because it doesn’t fit their pre-existing assumptions.
My question back to them is always the same. If that advice worked so well for you, what the hell are you doing here? I say it with a lot more love, of course. But that's basically the gist of it.
Don’t make assumptions. Stay open to new ideas. Be ready for transformation.
If you think you are ready to ditch your old assumptions about food, nutrition, and health, you may be ready to start the transformation. Along with training, my one-on-one coaching program will literally teach you how to eat. It will give you an opportunity for three months to build your nutritional house from the ground up, developing new habits that will allow you to easily and naturally eat for your best body.
Be impeccable with your word.
Don’t take anything personally.
Don’t make assumptions.
Get ready for next week’s fourth and last agreement!