I am sure many of us have struggled with our weight. Either to lose it, gain it, or just control it. We blame our food or our ‘body type’ for not allowing us to reach our goals. What if I told you your body type isn’t the reason you are struggling with your weight, and that you CAN reach your weight goals?
The steps I am going to provide are the fundamentals to building a better you. Just like a house, you can’t build a good home without the crucial solid foundation. In this article, I delve into the how and why of building that foundation to propel you toward your goals for better health, happiness, and longevity.
Step 1: Plan, Prioritize and Prepare
You cannot plan to eat better and have a better diet if you do not know where to start. This is a crucial element to getting the hypothetical ball rolling on your way to a better you. The key in Step 1 is to first prioritize your time for preparing and planning your meals.
This can take form in:
Planning time to go grocery shopping
Making a list for the grocery store, and sticking to it
Creating a dinner menu for the week
Preparing lunches for your work week
Looking at a menu before going to a restaurant
This list can be ever growing, and you may already be doing some of these. The goal is to continue to do these skills consistently. Once you have mastered your planning and are able to prioritize your goals, you are ready to move on to Step 2.
Step 2: Regulate Eating Behaviors
Sounds simple enough, right? Just eat the good stuff, and forget the bad. If I may ask, how many times have you tried that before? Most of us know what we should do, but sometimes have trouble doing it. Regulating eating behaviors can be a catalyst to getting you moving in the right direction. In this step, you don’t even have to change the type of food you are eating, if you are not ready for that yet. So keep the chips and cheeseburger (for now)!
Some actions you can practice to understand and help regulate your eating behavior before moving to the next step:
Eat slowly and mindfully at every meal (this goes back to prioritizing time as mentioned in Step 1!)
Learn to recognize your psychological hunger and fullness cues
Normalize and routinize eating habits
If you can plan your time to eat, and use that time during a meal to listen to how hungry you are, and when you are starting to feel full, you may realize that you only eat a half or three-quarters of what you initially needed. The cool thing is you do not need to change your diet or the foods you eat, but you may realize that you only need half of a cheeseburger rather than the whole thing. We will talk more about making better quality food choices in Step 4.
Step 3: Match Energy Intake to Needs and Goals
Although we are trained to turn to RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) and BMI (Body Mass Index) calculators, we need to understand these types of measuring tools can be incorrect by over 300 kcals. This means that calorie counting and following a rigorous plan based on “the numbers” can thwart any of our chances for making real, serious changes. It is more important to listen to your body cues and use the portions below as a guideline to get you started.
To get you started, a general rule of thumb at each meal is:
1-2 palms of protein dense foods
1-2 fists of non-starchy vegetables
1-2 cupped handfuls of carb-dense foods
1-2 thumbs of fat-dense foods
This becomes helpful and meaningful when you can utilize Step 2’s eating behavior regulation. If you can start to listen to your body for fullness and hunger cues, aiming for the foods that have the right kinds of energy and in the right balance will get you to your goals that much quicker!
Step 4: Choose Higher Quality Foods More Often
I hope by now, you are starting to see a pattern with these steps. Each one continues to build off the next. I encourage you to read, and re-read each step and ONLY move to the next step when you are sure you have mastered the one before it. This process takes time, and commitment, but it will help you create the best habits you can – which means more consistency, which ultimately means better results.
Only after you have completed Steps 1-3 do we actually start talking about the quality of our food. This is because most times, changing quality may mean changing flavor, price of food, and what types of food we are maybe not so used to eating.
The core to Step 4 is the following:
Start to limit processed foods and try to opt for more whole foods (think apple instead of applesauce, or even moreso, apple pie)
Change your fatty protein to lean protein
Change your simple carbohydrates (white bread, sugar) to complex carbohydrates (whole grain, sweet potatoes)
Eat the rainbow, meaning try to find vegetables of all colors to incorporate into your weekly meals
Choose healthy fats (opt for olive oil instead of butter)
Hydration is key, drink plenty of water
These tips can be a lot to handle at once, so choose the ones you feel most comfortable with. You can even create a template of “Bad, Better, Best” food choices. An example would be:
Bad: Apple Pie
Better: Apple sauce
Best: Whole, Fresh Apple
You would then limit any “bad” foods to less than 1x/wk, “better” foods to no more than 3x/wk and “best” foods would be unlimited.
Step 5: Provide Adequate Nutrients
Generally speaking, when we start to eat more whole, minimally processed foods, the nutrient density of these foods are at their maximum. When foods are processed, many of those nutrients are removed. Those nutrients then need to be re-added to the food in a fragmented, incomplete way. This can inhibit our body’s ability to absorb and utilize those key nutrients completely.
Some ways to ensure our nutrients are well-balanced:
Eat lean protein at most meals
Eat colorful vegetables and fruits at most meals
Introduce slow-digesting, high-fiber carbohydrates
Choose healthy fats
Hydrate properly
Use supplements, if needed
Proper nutrient balance helps our bodies at a cellular level to function at its most optimal potential. This on the outside provides us with more energy, better functioning metabolism, and improved mental and physical outcomes.
Once you have all of the food basics covered in Steps 1 through 5, your next focus can turn to some additional factors that can make a huge impact on your overall health and well-being. This includes regular exercise as well as active rest and recovery. In addition to supporting your physical well-being through appropriate exercise and recovery, you should also touch base with your emotional well-being. This may include checking in with your current environment – does it support healthy choices? And lastly, are you using food to help cope with emotion? If so, you may need help finding healthy outlets, and trying to decipher between behavior and urges.
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