GOAL: Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants. Eliminate refined carbohydrates processed foods and sugar.

Our modern American diets are carb and sugar filled. Combined with our sedentary lifestyles, as a nation – we are heavier and unhealthier than ever. Trendy diets may give us the satisfaction of losing weight quickly, but they don’t fix our bad habits and food addictions or help us maintain those results for the long haul.

Eat real food

Answer these questions

  • How would you like your weight and/or body composition to be different in the new year?
  • Why is this important to you?

Make a list of habits

Make note of the following list of habits of healthy eaters you already do and ones that you need to work on…

  • Plan food menu for the week
  • Cook and prepare for for the week on the weekends
  • Eat until 80% full
  • Eat without distractions ( screens, etc.)
  • Awareness of real hunger vs. an emotionally driven desire to eat Majority of diet consists of real, whole, nutrient dense foods
  • Low to no sugar and limited or no refined carbohydrates 
  • Moderate alcohol consumption (2-4 drinks a week)
  • Vegetables at every meal
  • Protein source at every meal
  • Healthy fats at every meal
  • Limited starch and carbohydrates and real food sources of those 
  • Regular daily water intake
  • No sugar or sugar substitutes

Eliminating Excuses

Every reason you can come up with about why you make poor choices around food can be transformed into a way to stop letting that excuse sabotage you. Let’s dig a little deeper into your excuses and see what habits you could work on to dial in your nutrition.

  • Do you prepare food to bring with you during the day to eat?If no, why not? What habits do you need to create or change so that you can start doing this?
  • Do you rely on takeout, frozen or pre-made foods, ready to eat snacks, and other food that is convenient, but often full of ingredients that are hard to pronounce? What one small step could you take to improve the quality of the food you eat on a daily basis? 
  • Are you willing to plan your meals for the week and prepare food ahead of time? What day of the week can you commit to making time for this?

One Small Step at a Time

If you try to make too many changes at once with what you eat, or overhwhelm yourself with a bunch of new habits you have to create to eat better, you will likely fail. Behavior change requires us to make small steps, be consistent with them, and these turn into habits which are no longer difficult to sustain.

Here are some examples of small changes you can make to your nutrition. Write down the ones you are willing to try:

  • Add some veggies to at least 2 meals a day
  • Start your day by drinking a glass of water
  • Reduce the amount of seeetener in your daily coffee
  • Aim to have 20-25 grams of protein per meal 
  • Limit take out to 1 or 2 nights/days a week
  • Cook yourself dinner one night a week

You. Can. Do. This. One step at a time.

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Published by John Stammerman