What is the key to eating healthy? Is it eating everything and anything in moderation, is it eating a vegan, vegetarian or keto diet? Is it having enough will power or won't power? I am going to share with you the steps you can take to eating healthy!
Embrace Health. I can hear you saying, "no kidding", I wouldn't be reading a blog about healthy eating if I didn't want to embrace health. The truth of the matter however is, we like the idea of being healthy, but we do not like what it takes to become healthy. Here are some thoughts to chew on:
Am I serious about wanting to eat healthy?
Do I tell myself "I will start on Monday, or after this next holiday, or after my birthday, or after......? Why not this minute, why not think about what food is currently in your cupboards and refrigerator you want to "finish up" before you start? This mind set has us on a feel good high for a little bit, setting the goal feels great, but the truth is, this mindset will never work. There is always going to be some Holiday, someone's birthday, a work luncheon, etc. You know what I am saying. We have to make a commitment to embrace healthy eating and let go of the "I'll start after __________".
Do you tell yourself I will eat healthy but...... I am not giving up my glass of wine in the evening or I am not giving up my sugar and cream in my coffee, or I am not giving up, insert your favorite unhealthy food you eat regularly here ______. More often than not, these are the unhealthy eating habits we have that are holding us back from reaching our health goals. So again, I ask you "are you serious about wanting to eat healthy?"
How often have you started to eat healthy to then say you are going to "treat yourself" to an ice-cream, or "I deserve_______I had a rough day"? We are not treating ourselves to anything if we don't really look at this a little closer. Do some food journaling and be honest with yourself. Look back over a month at how many times you "treated" yourself. We are treating ourselves right into illness.
Ok, I was a bit hard on you above. The point I want to make is we have to go into healthy eating with a different mindset. Below are some guidelines to help you transition into healthy eating.
How to stop craving sugar and unhealthy carbohydrates? First some education on why we crave sugar and carbohydrates; our fat cells actually crave sugar and unhealthy carbohydrates. Bear with me here as I explain, we develop fat cells for many reasons, but most of the reasons are to protect us. Our cells need sugar to function, but our cells can only hold so much, so if we are eating diets high in sugars and unhealthy carbohydrates (that breakdown into sugar) or alcohol, that is sugar, our cells fill with sugar and cannot accept anymore. The excess sugar circulating in our blood stream has to be taken care of so we don't go into a coma (too high blood sugar), so our bodies will store it in fat cells. Fat cells crave sugar. An example of how fat cells are created to help us would be someone who has had a toxic exposure, you will see them gain weight, often a significant amount, depending on the body's ability to detox the toxin. This is why if someone is significantly overweight and begins to lose weight, they often feel sick. The fat cells they are losing hold toxins and when released if we are not pooping, will just recirculate that toxin in our bodies. Guess what happens next, you got it, we develop more fat cells to store the released toxins.
When we eat a healthy fat, healthy protein and healthy fiber in every meal and snack we keep our blood sugars stable, feel full and have less cravings. An example of a snack that has all three would be an apple with a handful of walnuts or cashews.
I am not unrealistic that we will want something sweet and that we are not going to deny ourselves these tasty foods for the rest of our lives. So, how can we do this in as healthy a way as possible? First, let's start to swap unhealthy sweets for healthier options. There truly are so many. I often swap traditional recipes I love with healthy ingredients. Example muffins - I make a flax seed muffin using no flours, coconut sugar and olive or coconut oil. I love pecan pie and found a fabulous recipe that has an almond flour crust and uses pure maple syrup for the sugar. This is a much healthier option to refined sugars and our bleached refined gluten filled flours. Try a small piece of organic dark chocolate, a healthier option for a sweet.
Next tips, if you are going to have a glass of wine, or coffee with sugar and cream (try healthy sugar and cream options), or dessert it is best to have these with the meal. Do not have any of these all on their own, between meals. Also, limit how often you do this. If you have wine daily, go to 3 x week, etc.
Meal Planning. It is rare we can make changes to our diet without embracing meal planning. We have to back this up a bit first. If you do not like to cook, are stressed by cooking, and plain hate cooking......let's chat about this a bit. This is another mindset change that you will need to embrace. First, I suggest you embrace your kitchen. Declutter it, clean it, and organize it. Nobody wants to cook in an unorganized, cluttered and dirty kitchen. If you have a friend or family member that loves to cook and is organized, ask them to come over and do a makeover on your kitchen for you or with you. I love to do this.
Next step, start with dinners and start with one meal a week, more if you already cook at home. Let's say you start with Sunday dinners. Meal plan, get groceries for this meal Friday or Saturday and look forward to it. Make it special. Put a tablecloth on the table. Important to not say all day " I hate cooking, I hate cooking"; instead, when you find you are dreading this, change your mindset, say "I am looking forward to doing this for myself, my family, my health, our health, etc.
Friday night is pizza night! Great! Find a cauliflower crust pizza to make or healthy gluten free option to buy. Aldi has a pretty tasty one both in cauliflower and almond flour crust. I like to get the plain cheese and add my own toppings. Let's make this healthy, add a homemade guacamole with fresh veggies to munch on. Avocados are a healthy fat; add the veggies and you have some healthy protein and fiber. Add a salad full of veggies with a healthy olive oil dressing. Last but not least, have 1 or 2 slices.
Begin to add a weeknight meal, perhaps Wednesdays. Find recipes you love; I find so many healthy recipes on Pinterest.
We tend to meal plan and all of a sudden, we are trying to come up with 30 different meals, when in reality we often eat the same things week in and week out, so we don't have to do that to ourselves. I have 2 weeks' worth of different meals and often search for new recipes to try and add to the options.
Last but not least, use a meal planning tool. Write down your meals, gather your recipes, check for all ingredients and shop in a way that works for you. I usually get 2 or 3 meals at a time.
I also like to take about 20 minutes a week to wash and cut up all my veggies. I store them in glass mason jars/canning jars and pop in the frig. Makes eating veggies so much easier.
Our goal is to have each meal contain 75% of our plate filled with veggies and 25% a healthy fat. Healthy fats would include grass fed to finish beef or chicken, Avocado, Fatty fishes (wild caught), flax seeds, chia seeds, etc.
I wish you all the success in embracing healthy eating it is truly key to our overall health and well-being. If you would like to work with me, please feel free to contact me via my website contact page. I also provide my pricing on my website, while you are here feel free to check out my site and see what functional nutrition is all about.
All the best!
Jocelyn Moglia
Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor
True North Functional Nutrition, L.L.C.
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