The first real step to eating healthy is realizing that it’s not about depriving yourself of all the foods you love. It’s about finding a balance between eating what you enjoy and leveling up some habits so that your diet becomes more balanced in a way that works for you ☝🏼
1: BE easy, gentle, and curious with yourself
I know many of you want me to jump right into the action steps, and I get it, BUT we have to remember that in order for us to create positive change in our lives, we have to come from a positive emotional state 🙌🏼
This is essential for beginners to really take in as it’s the foundation for your relationship with food moving forward. SO many of us have learned from the media and the diet industry that eating better or losing weight has to be hard, and we have to push and restrict and deprive our way to the finish line, BUT as we all know, that does not work 🙈
When you are constantly pushing and criticizing yourself – you create a lot of negative emotion, and it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to create positive change from a negative emotional state.
SO commit to a kinder way. Remind yourself that step one is to be, easy kind, and curious with yourself so you can make changes that will work for you and your lifestyle in a realistic and sustainable way!
- Focus on Real Whole Foods (Clean Eating)
The single most important shift anyone can make with their eating is to begin to focus on eating REAL, whole foods as close to their natural state as possible, most of the time.
These are foods that come from the earth and or animals if you eat animal products.
These are the foods that your grandmother would eat – they are simple foods and they are delicious. Think veggies, fruits, healthy natural fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, quality proteins like fish, pastured meats, lentils, and good quality whole grains; like wild rice, oatmeal and quinoa. While this is a simple shift, it is an important shift! I would argue that is the single most important shift you can make when it comes to healthy eating as a beginner.