Eating healthy is a lifestyle, it is not a diet. I am not here to give you some quick fix food recipes and you are going to magically lose 50 pounds. I am here to tell you, you don’t have to starve yourself to be healthy. You do not have to eat only fruits and veggies. You do not have to eat “bland” food for the rest of your life and be miserable. That is not what eating healthy and making wiser choices is about. It is about creating healthier habits and let’s be honest, in order to change your health, you do have to change the way you eat. Fast food every day for lunch is not helping you, it is a roadblock in your life, and you are killing yourself faster than you think. I am not saying never eat fast food again, let’s be realistic. When I am in a rush or haven’t been to the grocery store in a while, I do sometimes make poor choices. But overall, I have created healthier habits and stick to my new lifestyle 85% of the time. And I am damn proud of that 85% because it is way better than I was doing and I feel a difference in my body.
Let’s start with this, eating healthy does not have to be boring or hard. You need to shift your mindset. You are setting yourself up for failure if you go to those negative thoughts, first thing. Eating healthy can be very delicious, satisfying and rewarding. I am going to give you some helpful tips to encourage you to shift your mindset and start making some real changes in the way you fuel your body.
- It is going to take time to get use to your new lifestyle change. Do not think you have to do everything at once. Set a goal of only eating out 3 times a week (instead of every day for lunch) and each week lower that number. I am not here to tell you it is going to be easy, but you must set goals, and be realistic about those goals. Take your time, don’t feel rushed by everyone else. Remember, those moments of failure or defeat do not define you. Make the decision to keep going and try again.
- Once, you get to a place where you have made a change in your food choices, it is time for the next step. Start planning out your meals for the week. I am not saying meal prep and eat the same thing for 7 days straight. It is good to have variety so give it to yourself. I find people failing at eating because they think they have to eat the same thing all the time, you do not have to do that. For example, I like switching up my breakfast. Some mornings I will have oatmeal and fruit, and other days I will have cereal and yogurt -whatever I am feeling like that morning (and how late I am running, let’s be honest). But every meal, I have options and those options are healthy, simple and often perfect for whatever mood I am in.
- Next, when planning your meals start simple. You do not need some 5-star, 30 step recipes in order to eat healthy and it be delicious. There are so many things you can cook, in 5 to 6 steps, that take 15 minutes max. Take the time to research simple recipes, that do not overwhelm you. When you feel overwhelmed that is when your mind starts to shut down. Do not do that to yourself. But do understand, you have to take the time to research (and keep following my journey because you might find some of those simple recipes on this blog).
Lastly, stop telling yourself this step is impossible or you just weren’t meant to eat “grass” (when people go on a diet and think they have to eat salads for every meal *currently eye rolling*) the rest of your life. Nobody is telling you that or at least I am not; you don’t have to eat like a rabbit in order to lead a healthy, productive lifestyle. You can eat delicious, healthy, simple foods that are satisfying and drastically change your health. Understand this, you have to stop being lazy. You have to take the 15 minutes (max) to prep and cook a meal. You have the 15 minutes because you had the 15 minutes to scroll through Facebook and judge everyone else and yourself (you know it’s true). You are important, so start telling yourself that and start showing yourself that.
LISTEN UP: this is not going to be easy and I am not saying that. It took me 3 years to finally break old habits of eating McDonald’s for lunch every day and supersizing it. But once I started setting realistic goals and stopped giving myself excuses, I saw the changes. I saw the progress that I was making, and it made me want to keep going, and never look back. That is not to say I don’t ever eat unhealthy, that is not realistic. I do still have moments of weakness but that is okay. I am not going to beat myself up over it. I accept that moment and I keep going and you can too. So, start now and start for yourself, and nobody else. This is about your health and what works best for you. Keep putting yourself first and the changes will come, in due time.
