A lot of people get triggered and feel negativity begin to swell in response to the word diet or dieting. I hope to reframe the concept of diet and dieting, and create an opportunity for you to reset your response pattern by renewing your perception of your diet into a direction.
Your diet consists of what you are eating a lot more than if you are restricting yourself from eating. Consciously choosing to eat or not to eat a certain food (potato, beef, nuts), a food-product (chips, candy, meals in a box) or a certain type of cooked food (fried, refined, processed) is at the foundation of constructing a healthy diet. The modernization of food engineering practices, manufacturing, packaging and preserving have changed the nutrient profile of foods so incredibly that no one eating in America should feel they should remain unaware of how they are choosing to compose their diet. Making conscious food choices and educating yourself about what foods and drinks actually make you feel good versus which ones don’t is a healthy and highly beneficial process. And, we should be celebrating that we are making choices to eliminate foods that make us feel fatigued, moody, starving and craving more food. Saying no to imitation food products, which unfortunately are no longer labeled as such, is something to boast about with family and friends. Addressing your health goals and practicing actions that move you in the direction of your goals transcends beyond your diet and into a direction for transformation.
So how can you reset and redirect the filters and feelings you have about your daily diet so that eating with discrimination, moderation, consciousness and purpose become a direction that complement your lifestyle?
Strategies:
#1: When you wake up in the morning and before you get out of bed set an intention for how you are going to direct your food choices for the day.
#2: If you have a smart phone set an alert on your phone that will continually go off every hour to remind you of your intention.
#3Wear a piece of jewelry that you will continually see throughout the day, a ring or a bracelet, to remind you of your intention. A therapist recommended for me to wear a rubber band on my wrist, and each time I forgot to trust and feel love, and instead felt fear and stress, I had to change the rubber band to the opposite hand. This simple and short action was life changing for me after sticking with it for 3 weeks.
5 Wise Way daily intentions to change your diet into a direction:
- I am going to eat whole foods all day today. I will not consume anything from a box, bag, package, carton or can, other than herbs, spices and extra-virgin olive oil.
- I am going to breathe deeply and feel gratitude before everything I eat and drink today. I will enjoy meals, conversations during meals, and I will chew my food well.
- I am going to create a meal plan for all of my meals, snacks and drinks for today and tomorrow. I will center my food choices around eating seasonal, organic, unprocessed and local. (SOUL Food) I will check labels to see where produce is from, and I will make choices to eat things from as close to home as I can. This is an exciting day…it is FINALLY avocado season in California!
- I will avoid the seduction of sugar today. I feel a sense of renewal about my decision to steer clear of sweet food and sweet drinks. Adding fresh lemon and mint to water will be refreshing. Anxiety will wane about how much sugar is “ok”, because I am not having any. I feel grateful for one less thing to think about today.
- I will measure my portions today. I will drink 64 ounces of filtered water. I will drink 2 cups of herbal tea. I will have a 2-4 palm size portions of protein. I will eat healthy fat from whole foods only: avocado, olives, raw cheese, nuts and seeds in 1/4 cup size portions 3 times today. I will eat 4-6 cups of leafy greens and 2 cups of crunchy vegetables.
How to implement strategy #1? Last week I recommended waiting 10 seconds before each choice for food and drink to reflect on the quality of the choice you are considering. The quality of the food choice is dependent and structured on the direction you are trying to move. During the 10 seconds ask yourself or remember what are you trying to carve out of yourself? A new behavior, a new response, a slimmer waistline? Are you trying to rid yourself of a bad habit? Are you trying to nurture and mature your relationship to food? Taking 10 seconds every time to consider the quality of your food and beverage choices is a powerful method to ground yourself in your goals and to release the behaviors, thoughts and self-talk that have you staying stuck and continuing to make choices for food and drinks that are sabotaging your goals.
We make so many decisions about what to eat and drink in a day that before you know it minutes per day will be spent considering what is good for you. This simple and short consideration will retrain you to be more present with your health goals, and the habitual choices and unconscious responses you used to have will diminish.
Schedule a Free Consultation today to discuss your motivation for improving health, dietary choices and meal planning for your yourself and/or your family, and to determine whether or not my programs and consulting services are right for you.