10 Nutrition Philosophies That Have Helped Me Live a Healthy Life
Food it is a necessary part of life. It is the center of celebrations and tragedies; it can represent love and remind us of special moments. It is what allows us to function as human beings. Because it is so deeply wrapped up in necessity and emotion it can be the most difficult aspect of a healthy lifestyle to control. It took me about 30 years to finally begin to understand what my body needed and what it didn’t. To understand that I could not use food as comfort because that would lead to a series of other issues that were not comforting at all.
I am by no means an expert. I have however successfully lost a significant amount of weight and managed to maintain that loss for eight years now. In addition to that I have spent a great deal of time studying nutrition as well as earning a NASM nutrition certification. Here are some of the guidelines, tips and rules that I have found help lead people to a healthy life and body.
1Mindfulness is the most important key to success- You have to decide that pretending you didn’t eat the entire platter of brownies doesn’t mean you didn’t eat it. Being checked out, living in denial and just ignoring the reality of what you are doing is not going to help you. You need to be present when you eat and acknowledge what you are putting in your mouth.
The best way to start instituting mindfulness is simply to keep track of what you eat. You don’t have to write calories or measure anything, but you do need to write about what you ate, and this is important, the time you ate it. It is also helpful if you feel like emotional eating is a problem to write down how you were feeling when you ate it and after. This is research into your own life. After keeping track for at least two weeks you can examine your patterns and start developing a plan that will help you break the negative ones.
Deprivation is not necessary, but sacrifice is. Hunger is a good thing and for many of us it is not something we ever allow ourselves to experience. I know for me it was a new experience to allow myself to feel hunger and to examine if that was actual hunger, boredom, or sadness. I have learned I don’t have to eat every two hours, I don’t have to have dessert, or that I can eat at home rather then eating out. I have learned that there is beauty, wisdom, and growth in sacrifice. It is in that space that we learn what our body truly needs.
Vegetables are king! Roasted, steamed, raw, and all the other ways they are made, make vegetables a key to a healthy body and a healthy weight. Saying you hate vegetables but want to have a healthy body is not going to work. You MUST work to find vegetables that are made in a healthy way (hint: not fried) and make them part of every meal if possible. They should take up most of your plate and you can even have just vegetables for a meal (gasp)!
Your home is ground zero for a healthy life. If you keep it pretty clean, stocked with vegetables, fruit, healthy, carbs, and fat then that will make those moments when you are craving junk food more difficult to follow through with. If you keep the food that isn’t as healthy in your house, then it will call to you at 8pm (I’m not kidding) and that is hard to resist.
Food is neither bad nor good. Think about it, the cookies your Grandma lovingly makes you every year at Christmas, couldn’t possibly be bad. It is her way of showing her love. Are those cookies the best thing for your body, no, but they aren’t bad. And more importantly, neither are you. What you consume does not dictate who you are as a person. Read that sentence again and start to believe it.
Balance is necessary. Life is meant to be enjoyed. I promise you the enjoyment of living a healthy life in a healthy body is amazing, but that doesn’t mean that you become rigid and unable to enjoy food in pursuit of that. That means occasionally we will eat so healthy that our friends will wonder what has gotten into us and other times we will eat an entire box of Ritz crackers and a block of cheese and our family will wonder what had gotten into us. Balance, find yours.
Plan for everything! Food prep on Sundays. It doesn’t have to be insane, but roast some veggies, make some homemade hummus, buy some carrots, peel and cut them. Plan a menu for the first three days, think about your lunches. If you are going out to dinner look at the menu online so socialization won’t get in the way of making a healthy decision. Take control of your life and how you fuel your body.
If you have a sweet tooth stock your fridge with grapes, all the berries, apples and oranges. The sweetness of fruit can help satiate that sweet tooth and provide your body with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that will help you become healthiest version of you.
Learn to read labels. Understand serving size, ingredients, and what is good for your body versus what isn’t. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is illness, inflammation, and weight issues. You must be your own advocate, educate yourself!
When I began my weight loss journey and started to change the way I ate, there was a great deal of anger, frustration, and quite honestly tantrum throwing. I just wanted to eat whatever I wanted but no longer weigh 300 lbs. Obviously that was a ridiculous notion. Changing how you eat whether it is for weight loss, illness, or overall health can at first feel unfair. I wish that I could somehow show you the future. When you are fueling your body in a positive way it becomes a vehicle for whatever you want it to be. It makes moving easier, illness less overwhelming, workouts more rewarding, inflammation less, and strung together for a long period can help you live a longer life. Those may not be immediate rewards, but they are profound. You are worth the effort, the time, and the energy that living a healthy life takes. Believe that and begin your journey now. Want help along your journey? I am here to guide you! Check out my Nutrition Coaching Here!