As we are half way through the final week of January, I am going to ask you 'Have you stuck to your Nutrition goals or have your goals vanished as you have climbed back on the hamster wheel of life?'
If you haven't stuck to all the restriction such as no chocolate, no carbs, no alcohol (no life??) then this post may just be for you.
You see dieting is hard ESPECIALLY when we only set up to restrict some of the things we enjoy and take some pleasure from.
We all know that good quality nutrition is important for us to feel and perform at our best.
We need this good quality nutrition consistently.
Regardless of your stress levels.
Regardless of what you have going on in your life, how many children you have or time available because if you want to show up everyday at your best for not only those that depend on you but for yourself that has to start with you looking after yourself.
Yet people will often fall into the trap of trying to cut out all of their favourite foods at once. A difficult and time consuming practice that will often lead to overwhelm or decision fatigue causing the F*ck it button to be pressed and returning to old habits.
We are the sum of our habits up to this point. So if you have spent the last year Yo-Yo dieting and are 1 stone heavier that is a result of your habits. So changing your habits and more importantly your identity is key to the long term success of becoming the person you want to be.
With that in mind I want to focus on what you can do to improve your nutrition with small daily habits that will help change how you see yourself, so that when you hit a low in motivation or just a tougher time in life you are more likely to stick with these habits.
Maybe you already going through something such as:
Lacking motivation
Super stressed with deadlines at work
Mourning the loss of a loved one
The last thing you need in these situations is putting more pressure on yourself trying to make your nutrition “perfect”, which can also be known as setting yourself up to fail.
Yet, you keep saying you are going to stop eating/drinking all your favourite foods such as:
Bread
Chocolate
Alcohol
Fizzy drinks
Crisps
Only to be drawn back to them when you have had another stressful/bad day.
Followed up with the feelings of guilt, shame, self criticism and feeling like a failure.
This ends up being a vicious loop/cycle that sees you:
Feeling and performing WORSE on a day to day basis further adding to your stress.
Read that last section again!!
Is this you?
If so I may have an idea you can use and adapt to improve your nutrition on a consistent basis, that will support your health (both physical and mental) that won’t take as much mental energy and will see you getting much better results long term.
The idea is simple.
Focus on what you can ADD to your diet.
Yes ADD.
Things that will improve the quality of your nutrition and focus on improving your health rather than setting yourself up to fail trying to remove all your favourite foods.
Below is a list of health promoting nutrition habits that you can look to ADD to your day.
Now before we get to them there are a couple of things you need to understand.
Pick only 1-3 to focus on for 2 weeks. Don’t try implementing them all, it will be too overwhelming.
There is no “best” one to start with. Focus on what you feel can offer you the most benefit currently (Not sure what that is? Use the links below to drop me a message)
Don’t pick one that you already do! The goal is to create a change so picking the ones you already do won’t serve that purpose.
Health Promoting nutrition habits
1. Hydration - Ensure you are staying hydrated throughout the day. I shouldn’t need to say much more than this to an adult. As a guide aim for 2l per day but this will change based on activity levels, climate, weight etc
2. Protein - Protein is an essential nutrient. Involved in a lot of processes in the body including muscle growth and repair, hair, cells etc. Aim for a Palm size portion with each meal. Struggle to get enough protein in? Try adding a protein shake.
A palm size portion may be a chicken breast/ small - medium steak / 2-3 eggs etc.
3. Fruit and veg - Your grandma said it, your mum said it now I am saying it. Now just ensure you listen and apply. Over the day aim for 7-10 portions of fruit and veg, swaying to more veg. Look to add 1-2 portions per meal. Make it easier by always having veg in the house that takes little prep time.
4. Snack swaps - Don’t just try cutting out your favourite snacks instead look for swaps. Something lower calories, something with more nutrition in. Yes this task will take a little thought on your behalf BUT being involved in the decision making is key. Don't just follow what others do.
5. Fish oil - If you don’t eat much oily fish you could be low on Omega 3, adding a fish oil supplement is an easy to implement health promoting daily habit.
6. Multivitamins - Multivitamins and minerals are not essential but are an easy way to cover your basis. THEY WILL NOT make up for poor nutrition but can help to avoid deficiencies. Whilst the goal would be to always aim to get your nutrition from whole foods we do live in a world of convenience. As such these can come in very handy.
7. Swap calorie laden drinks for 0/low calorie drinks - Don’t drink your calories. Why take in 20-40g of sugar and a few hundred calories if you can get the same sweet flavour for 0 calories? Better yet swap to water.
8. Don’t buy in what you don’t want to eat (not strictly adding in but a great tool to use) - If it is in your house you will eat it at some point. Improving nutrition may be as simple as not buying in your trigger foods so you are never actually faced with the temptation. Make it difficult or hidden and you are less likely to consume.
Improve all of the above and purely by focussing on inclusion you will improve your nutrition without the overwhelm.
This will make it easier to continue your health promoting nutrition habits during times of high stress and lack of time.
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