Have you decided that food has become more of a problem than a source of nurturance? Then perhaps it’s time to change the way you eat!
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Get your mind right!
We all need a reason that will make a big behavioral change stick and it needs to be something more deep/impactful than, “I want to look better in these jeans.” Has your eating created shame? Does it reflect a lack of self-care, support and love for yourself? Are you ready and able to make changes that put your health first? What is the deeper reason for making change?
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Move your buns!
Support your healthy, deep goal (see #1) by moving around. Keep in mind that each exercise/activity may not cause you to drip with sweat and collapse at the end. Even a walk with the dogs after dinner is a support to what you are trying to do with your nutrition and as and added bonus also really good for your brain.
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Meditations and Mindfulness
If you have read any of my other blogs you may be sick of hearing me suggest mediation but it is so good for you! There have been several studies that support that meditation is a really powerful aid to sustained abstinence in both chemical and food additions.
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I HATE hearing “Just Do It”
Ok, maybe I don’t hate it. I like that when I hear people say it to themselves I hear motivation and urgency. What I really don’t like about it is that it is not a plan and without a plan it is so easy to fail and give yourself a hard time for “just doing it.” So what’s the plan?! I encourage people to start small here. If you eat most of your meals from a drive through, start with just going to the grocery store, even if you are eating the same/similar things. When going to the grocery store is easy/normal/routine, start cooking the food you’re eating, even if it’s the same stuff. Take small, incremental steps in the direction you want to go as these are soooooo much more sustainable long term.
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Be kind, rewind
(*For those of you who never rented a VHS from Blockbuster, they had a sticker on all of their videos that said, “Be kind, rewind” requesting that you rewind the VHS before returning it.)
If you had a bad day and fell off of your goal/routine for the day, be nice to yourself!! It was one day. Tomorrow can be different. If you can compassionately look at what took you off of your path. Was it that someone who was well meaning showed up with your favorite cookies in the office and in a moment of weakness you caved? Was it that you had a bad day and the drive thru on the way home felt easy or comforting? It isn’t helpful or necessary to shame yourself for it but it can be helpful to know when you are most vulnerable to falling off the wagon.
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Respect the process!
Please know that nothing happens overnight. Research shows, that small incremental changes, rooted in a deep, meaningful purpose are those that are most likely to change your life for good. If I wake up tomorrow and create a new diet/meal plan, it will take more than 48 hours to see results. I will have good days and bad days. I will have set backs and triumphs. The only way to FAIL is to not try.