Sometimes, especially after your third plate of birthday cake or fourth round of all-you-can-eat sushi, a healthy lifestyle can seem like a distant dream you once had. Luckily, it only really seems this way, and it never really is. Here’s five pretty simply things you can do that slowly but surely move you towards more healthy food, and an overall healthier diet.
It’s easier to fill a day with good (and delicious) healthy food than it is to tell yourself “no junkfood today!” and “do not eat crap today!” Remember what I told you about the word no? You accidentally start focusing on whatever is in the sentence, and not the word ‘no’ or ‘not’. So by saying ‘no junkfood!’, you focus on junkfood!
Instead, if you keep yourself focused on (and filled up on) yummy nutritious foods, you will definitely find it easier to keep the bad snacks in the cabinet. And there are endless possibilities when it comes to healthy, great tasting food. In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more possibile in the Realm of Healthy&Delicious than in Chemical, Processed & Packaged Food Universe.
It’s super-easy. You chop a tomato, slice off a piece of cucumber, throw in a handful of lettuce (or spinach), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on pepper&salt…and you’re done. Not only does it give you the (raw!) enzymes and nutrients you need (that will help you digest your following meal), it also fills you up so you’ll consume less later during the day!
Just the fact you’re conscious of wanting to be healthier and making any kind of effort is great, so you don’t have to do anything perfectly, as long as you keep trying to improve. So, what will you strive for in your diet in terms of healthy-unhealthy food ratio? 60% f healthy food to start, with the remaining 40% of your food intake less ideal and more liberal. The more ambitious 70%-30%? Or my personal favorite 80%-20%?
If you can strive for a 100%-0% ratio, that’s awesome, but don’t set yourself up for a perfectionistic fatal attitude. IF you lose 5% of your 100% healthy diet by eating a brownie, you still deserve applause (and that brownie!)
For me personally, this works great. Most days I drink green juice and eat raw until lunch time, which for me is around 12:30-13:00. And no, this does not mean that the moment the clock strikes one, I start pouring lard down my throat or eating everything in sight that contains crap. Because I’ve already done pretty great in the health department that morning, I have gained momentum to keep going, as well as a relaxed idea about the rest of the day.
If you believe healthy eating entails trying to plough your way through lentils and asparagus, while you hate lentils and asparagus, you’ve lost the (imaginary) battle with a healthy diet before you even begin. Nobody is forcing you to eat lentils and asparagus, except yourself.
Do you love carrots? Eat carrots. Juice them, bring them with you as a snack, grate them on sandwiches, etc! Do you like soup? Make your own healthy versions of tomato, zuchini, pumpkin or brocolli soup? Do you love brown rice? Eat brown rice? You’re bananas for bananas? Eat those damn bananas!
It makes no sense to eat healthy things you can’t stand when you could be eating other healthy food that you love. That makes a healthy diet so much more appealing and easy to maintain.
Okay? Okay. Also, Dean Winchester approves of this message.
Thanks for sharing! My biggest mistake is thinking I can’t change while still living with my parents who either
1. don’t care
2. are a worried I lose weight
I guess I need to get over myself… 🙂
Slow but steady, you’ll get there, I’m sure of it. We change bit by bit, despite anything.
Maybe we can put thisin a 30 days-trial :p?