If any of you there are thinking about making some dietary changes to improve your wellbeing this New Year, here’s some food for thought! Don’t get fooled by diet gimmicks this January. It is not OK to cut out food groups or skip meals, it is in fact counterproductive peeps – we humans are designed to be able to fast. That’s the hunter gatherer in us! I feel the best advice is to make little changes. I find myself saying to people that the ‘effort’ of making changes fades pretty rapidly when you feel the results. Feeling well and maintaining that feeling is the best motivator in the world. Looking well is a mere bonus.
Here a few easy to follow tips to help to clean up your diet:
- Don’t count calories if you are trying to lose weight. Different calories sources have different effects on hunger and hormones. You want to support your body to work well not restrict its fuel source. You won’t get very far if you did this to your car. Choose whole, single ingredient foods as much as possible. These foods are naturally filling and it is difficult to put on weight if the majority of your diet is based on them.
- Read food labels. Whole foods will of course only have one ingredient and often won’t have a label, just a shell or skin for peeling, so that bit is easy! The possibilities of ingredients in processed foods are endless; a good rule of thumb is to avoid ingredients you can’t pronounce. Quinoa is the exception to the rule here; you should definitely eat quinoa, how about apple quinoa porridge
- Limit low fat foods (they are loaded with sugar and artificial sweeteners) – do eat the full fat counterparts, they taste better and have higher satiety due to the presence of the fatty acids so you won’t feel the need to eat as much as the low fat alternative.
- Avoid too much beige or white food, this is a red flag for refined flour and processed foods – aim for a plate of rainbows people. One of my personal daily goals is to eat at least one ‘green’ food by lunch time; green smoothie, smashed avocado on toast, spinach omelette, the possibilities are endless.
- Eat mindfully – when you think about your next meal, definitely think about how it will taste, of course that goes without saying, also think about what it will do for your body for good health - sort of like ‘eating for life’, not just for the next 15 minutes.
- When you are trying to make some changes to your eating habits don’t wing it, it will not work. Plan your meals and grocery shopping. Embrace making lists. Prep and pack snacks in the fridge ready to go where ever you do. Carry water everywhere. It doesn’t have to be hard but does require a little bit of organisation!
Here’s to a healthy 2015 – be kind yourself when you are trying something new, aim for improvement not perfection. X
Mary. x
