Eating Differently Can Change Your Life
Eating clean (or improving your food choices) is not about changing WHAT you eat, but it is ALL about changing HOW you eat. It’s true! So many people wait to eat something after they are all ready hungry or they eat by the clock. But eating encompasses far more than just grabbing something on the go to get you through to the next meal time.
What do you mean to change HOW I eat?
By changing HOW you eat, you should consider these five things. I would suggest that you pick on of them and try it for a week or two. Why? Because in the process, you are re-training your brain to think differently from what you learned growing up. This re-wiring won’t be all that easy because you’ve been eating a certain way for years and it’s become second nature to you. But if you’re experiencing more than your share of stress, pain in your joints, fatigue, stomach aches, digestive problems, inflammation, constant skin problems or sickness, lack of sleep or anxiety, then these five tips will wipe out most of those problems, if not all of them. Don’t believe me? Just try it for yourself.
Hundreds of people have said that they will never go back to their old way of eating upon realizing how good they began to feel after just a few days of changing how they ate! People who have been eating the Standard American Diet (appropriately given the acronym SAD) have accumulated so many toxins in their bodies since birth. Over time those food-related and environmental toxins and have accumulated and can play havoc in your body causing inflammation, stress, pain and a variety of chronic diseases. You can stop this cycle today.
How do I easily change my eating habits?
The trick here is to choose just one of the suggestions below and give it all you’ve got for one week, preferably two weeks minimum. An hour after you eat a meal, ask yourself how you’re feeling mentally and physically and write it down. After 3 hours do the same. Pay attention to how your mental alertness and physical stamina changes each day. After a few weeks, and after you’ve created a habit with the first tip, add in another one of the tips below, until you are doing them all consistently. If you don’t create a consistent habit, you will naturally fall back into your old negative habits. So here you go…
5 tips to help you think differently about how you eat
1. Ditch the old philosophy that suggests you consume foods based on the USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid. In the 1980’s the first dietary guidelines came out, designed specifically to combat heart disease. They assumed that heart was a result of Americans consuming too much sodium, cholesterol, saturated fats and trans fats. We were told to consume a low-fat diet, rich in “healthy whole grains” as shown in the Food Pyramid. But no one identified what was actually healthy and what was not within the food groups. Suddenly, people began to put pounds, thinking that the food they’re eating was good for them. Today, it’s no coincidence that diabetes and obesity rates shot up when we were told to focus so intensely on removing fat from our diets.
2. Stop building your meals around animal protein and build them around vegetable protein instead. This is hard for most men to accept because a good thick steak, hot off the grill, is soooo good. I can appreciate a good steak too. But I want you to consider how the animal was raised, what it ate, what it was injected with (antibiotics, hormones, steroids and even carbon monoxide to preserve color), how it’s processed and how it affects our environment. Make your vegetable dishes be the highlight of your meal and add in some organically raised animal protein on the side. Your body will thank you!
3. Drastically lessen fat-promoting simple carbohydrates–this includes ANYTHING made with wheat. As you know, we have a problem in America that is of growing concern; people are gaining far more weight than they should. As a result, healthcare costs have risen to nearly $210 billion a year! The problem is wheat. If you eat genetically modified, pesticide laden, processed wheat products, your body is naturally converting the wheat to sugar that is stored as visceral fat. But you’re also ingesting toxins from pesticides. The more “healthy whole grains” you eat, the more you gain weight and overload your body with toxins. In time the USDA may catch up with current research and make changes. But for now, start by lessening your intake of processed wheat products and focus your attention on consuming more organic vegetables, fruits.
4. Eat smaller proportions of healthy foods more often throughout the day. This may sound impossible, but it actually can be easier than you think. Once you focus your attention on your body’s signals, it will tell you when and what it needs. That’s the easy part. Preparing your food each day, however, is where most people struggle. This is why I’m working hard at finding easy solutions for meal prep, especially for busy working people.
5. Try hard to buy only REAL food that is organic, non-GMO, with no antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, added colors or preservatives. This means purchasing less pre-packaged processed items. I know organic food choices can be more expensive, but isn’t the health of your body worth it? Start off one degree at a time and pay close attention to the quality of the food you purchase rather than price. Read all labels and notice how much crap is hidden in processed foods. If your third grader can’t pronounce the ingredients, put it back on the shelf. Shop the parameter of the store and notice how packaged products try to capture your attention with lots of color (especially with kid foods!) and fancy words like, “all natural,” “improved,” “whole grain,” “low-fat,” etc. Realize that these marketing ploys are simply scams.
Once you give each of these tips a try, I would love to hear how you feel. I love to hear how people begin to think more clearly and feel more energized when they start eating a diet of real foods while crowding out the processed garbage. Always remember, food manufacturers aren’t concerned about your health, they only want to sell their product in any way they can so you’ll buy and eat more.
Get even healthier today!
Would you like to learn more about how to choose the best foods for you and your family? Are you curious about how health coaching can help you live a longer, happier life? Then let’s talk! All you have to do to begin is click here to schedule an initial complimentary consultation with me today—or share this offer with someone you care about! Isn’t it time to live your healthiest life possible today?
