I believe in healthy eating, obviously. 🙂 But I also believe that enjoying foods once in a while that you wouldn’t eat every day is the way to go.
Here are my kids helping with my free birthday dessert the other day. I should’ve had a picture of me eating it, but of course I didn’t think of it!
In my mind, that’s how you choose healthy as a lifestyle and don’t get stuck in the diet mentality (and ‘fail’ over and over again). I like to use the term diet to explain what I eat on a regular basis, not to describe a short-term fix that I plan to ditch once I achieve x, y, or z.
It’s all about striking a balance. Yes, you need to get over the physical hold that sugar has on you before you can indulge without diving face-first into the whole cake, but indulging is a part of life that I believe is essential to finding your healthy balance.
My lifestyle is pretty 90/10, but 80/20 is great too. It’s mostly awesome choices, with some indulgences mixed in.
How do you know when you’re on the lifestyle track and not another diet?
6 differences in a healthy eating lifestyle vs. a temporary diet:
- You choose healthy foods because you crave them and you want to feel good.
- You aren’t controlled by your cravings for sugar or salt.
- You don’t have cheat days or cheat meals. There is no cheating when you have balance.
- You don’t feel guilty about indulging once in a while (see #3).
- You don’t plan for the day when you won’t ‘have’ to eat this way anymore.
- You don’t feel deprived.
#6 is a big one. I honestly do not feel deprived when I choose not to eat the doughnut. I have found so many amazing foods that I love, and I know that if I really want the doughnut, I can have it.
That’s the mindset shift, there are no off-limits foods. There are foods I choose not to eat, and some I choose to only eat once in a while, but it’s truly a choice. I choose feeling good and I eat accordingly.
Cravings do not rule me like they used to. (As in my 30th birthday when I ate frosting for breakfast. And then proceeded to eat it all day long.)
You can get there too, I promise. No matter where you are starting from.
Will you feel deprived at first when you are transitioning to a healthier diet? You might. Some foods (like sugar) have a tight grip on you physically and emotionally. But once you get over that hump, it’s pretty smooth sailing.
If you’re ready to get over that hump, contact me for a free consultation and we’ll talk.
