Before I post another Recipe Thursday, I have to write this post. We hear it all the time. We're bombarded with the buzzwords of the day whether it's "low fat", "organic", "gluten free" or "GMO free"...You get the idea. Every other week, there seems to be a
revolutionary article stating that a balanced, clean diet reduces your risk of obesity, cancer, heart disease, or turning into a newt.
Ok... Maybe not the newt part but I had to make sure you're paying attention.
That said, we can't say any of this is news, right? So why do so many of us struggle so hard to eat clean and healthy? Don't say taste - there are so many recipes, seasonings, and options to make healthy choices into delicious choices. That's crap. Why is it that even though we know we truly are what we eat, we eat such toxic things for ourselves on a regular basis?
As I got to thinking about this in relation to how most of us relate to other health topics (like exercise), I realized that while we see the news stories and research, few of us know about nutrition transformation stories. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that a single one of the Biggest Loser or Beachbody challenge winners have made their transformations without taking nutrition related steps. Let's face it - "diet" is a dirty word and the gym is a more exciting conversation than what we made for dinner last night or how we spent 2 hours last Sunday afternoon prepping healthy choices for the week.
So let's start talking about it. Let's make it personal. Today, I'm going to share with you the little steps I've taken to change my nutrition habits and WHY I was motivated to make a change.
Many of you know that I started working out a few years ago when I realized that most all of my family health issues could be minimized by maintaining a healthy weight. Simple enough, right? Not when your family genetics also call for a tendency to gain weight (my dad calls it the "polar bear gene"), high cholesterol, and a tendency to live off a good ole potatoes and pasta and red meat farmer's diet. Looooove my steak and potatoes.
Now my mouth is watering.
Anyway.
So I started working out with intention. As a runner, that meant hitting the trails and racking up the miles. Then I added weights. I started making some progress and while I wasn't the worst eater in the world, I certainly wasn't doing myself any favors. I quickly realized I had to make a nutrition change.
This was before my days of Beachbody and Shakeology so I was overwhelmed and didn't have a good support system or resources to determine what I needed to do. I wandered into the grocery store with a very short list.
Healthy stuff.
Yup. I was super prepared. I got a fair share of veggies and fruits but I got distracted by the processed and packaged foods that promised to be healthy. Yes. I did start losing weight. Yes. Those were some important first steps. But I got soooooo stressed and overwhelmed.
I want to make it easier for you. I want to help KISS (keep it simple, silly) this for you. I want you to be able to make the mindset shift and truly use your nutrition for good instead of evil.
Even when emotional eating is threatening to take over. (Believe me - peanut butter is good... Eating too much of it, especially because of emotion, isn't).
Before I go into the simple changes you can use to focus or refocus, I want to tell you two things.
1. I still eat pizza, ice cream, wine, chocolate, and fries on occasion. The key is to eat healthy more often than you don't. Curt and I are trying to stick to the 90/10 rule. Eat clean 90% of the time and the other 10% is "whatever". I believe this is important to keep from getting into an "all or nothing" mentality that can lead to harmful binge eating. We can talk about that another time.
2. Let's make this more real. I was inspired to write this by my own blood results. Just 2 weeks before my 29th birthday, I got lab results that pointed to elevated cholesterol. WHAT?!?!? To make matters worse, the caller didn't bother to check facts and instead made the assumption that I need to eat better. And then told me so. Uh huh. No check of family history. No checking my weight or health. Nothing. I just obviously need to eat better. Now I'm no clean eating saint but come ON. So I got a little heated. And then started doing some research and planning changes. My first change is to add fiber to my morning Shakeology as that has been shown to reduce cholesterol. I refuse to be on drugs immediately for something I can at least try to resolve with food changes. As I integrate other changes, I'll share those too!
So... Now to the list you actually want to see.
KISS nutrition changes that you can implement the next time you go to the grocery store!
1. Organic is an obvious choice but fresh and frozen veggies and some fruit should be your staples. Spend some time in your produce section. Try something new. Veggies can be a good base and very filling so give them a good shot!!
2. Limit the dairy. I know, I know.... Cheese is wonderful. Milk is tasty. But you don't really need multiple servings of dairy everyday. I won't go into details but more often than not, your digestive system will thank you for this change.
3. Carbs aren't evil.... But you don't need them in every dish. Especially when you're talking about process or "enhanced" carbs. You've heard it before but I'll say it anyway... Whole grain is your friend.
4. Choose lean meats. Red or white, your focus should be on lean. Easy enough.
5. Pick real. If the nutrition list reads like your high school chemistry test, it's not real. Often "low fat", "fat free", or "reduced calorie" is code for "processed and chemical s*** storm". Sorry. But it's true. Your body will handle real and work better with real. Feed it wisely.
Of course there's more you could do and your preferences and research will take you to your path. But I don't want "I don't know" to turn into "I'll never be able to do this". Find a set of building blocks to make a foundation you can live with on a consistent basis. Build from there but you need a realistic, liveable foundation.
What blocks will you use to build your foundation? Would the 5 I listed above work for you? Have you found something different that works instead? Please share it in the comments here! I'd love to learn what works for you!
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