When you’re a “beginner” or new to something, no matter what it is, starting is intimidating (even when you really want to do it)! Why? Because there is a lot of newness at the beginning. Where to start, what to do, how to begin, and usually a good dose of self-doubt can make healthy eating feel overwhelming. Then what happens? You either decide to climb the mountain or walk away, because you feel alone or like it’s an unachievable feat. 

That’s where I come in – eating healthy is not always easy, but it doesn’t have to be impossible and I am here for you!  If you’re a beginner and are looking to start eating healthy but don’t know where to begin, I got you!

Eating healthy is all about making changes gradually and working on new habits that will last. Everyone has different tastes and lifestyles, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for eating healthy. That’s why I’ve compiled 10 tips for beginners that can help you make healthier choices without feeling overwhelmed or deprived!

Why Clean Eating Is Perfect For Beginners Who Are Looking To Start Healthy Eating Habits

When it comes to diet, there are many schools of thought. Some people believe in cutting out carbs completely, while others swear by intermittent fasting. The truth is that almost any change you make to your current diet will help improve your health and wellbeing.

Clean eating, by definition, is simply eating whole or unprocessed foods. It’s really not complicated, but it does require some effort and planning. It doesn’t require you to count carbs, sugar, calories, or macros. It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle change (If you’re rolling your eyes at that thinking about how many times you’ve heard that before, stick with me!).

Clean eating, in my opinion, is the perfect “starting point” for getting into the habit of eating healthy. It’s simple and really an attainable lifestyle change. The problem with trendy diets is they are almost impossible to keep up long-term (or they ask for too much, too fast). Who wants to count macros for the rest of their life, or net carbs, or be denied an apple? Who wants to feel guilt for eating a crusty piece of freshly baked sourdough bread? No one! 

Clean eating allows you to enjoy the foods you love, with, I admit, a little more effort on the cooking front without feeling any sort of way. How great is that? When you’re trying to figure out how to start eating healthy as a beginner, there’s really not much to figure out. If it is processed, it comes in a box or package laced with preservatives and chemicals, look for an alternative, and you’re on your way.

Why We Crave Junk Food Over Healthy Food

Junk food is easily accessible and affordable. It’s easy to go through a drive-thru or pick up something unhealthy at the grocery store because it’s everywhere. The convenience factor is real. Compare that to trying to find some fresh fruits or vegetables, and you’ll see what I mean. 

Not only is junk food more accessible, but it’s also engineered to be addictive. Foods like chips, cookies, and candy are designed to hit all the right buttons in our brains, they’re salty, sweet, crunchy, and creamy! Companies add in chemicals and other ingredients to keep you wanting more (i.e., lining their pockets!). When you eat junk food, your brain releases dopamine which is why we tend to crave it over healthier options. 

Other factors, like candida (yeast), can take over your gut health, sending signals to your brain that then tells you to feed it sugar. Many people discount the idea of gut health and a candida overgrowth as nonsense, but it is one of the most controlling bacterias and may be to blame for your sugar cravings. 

Many people scoff at the idea that your gut can control your emotions and even mental health. If you tend to suffer from depression, anxiety, or the like, it may all be linked back to the brain-gut axis. Many studies have begun to pop up in recent years, proving this to be true, even though it may be hard to stomach the idea (no pun intended!)

It can be tough to break bad habits and cravings, but it’s definitely not impossible. With a little bit of effort, you can retrain your brain and heal your gut to desire healthy foods over junky ones!

10 Healthy Eating Tips On How to start eating healthy for beginners

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.

You’ll see that many of these tips overlap and play off of each other! Play with those that resonate and leave the rest. Ultimately, healthy eating looks slightly different for everyone, and the key to finding a sustainable change is to find the approach that works for you, your body, and your lifestyle.

YOU CAN LISTEN TO ALL TEN HEALTHY EATING TIPS IN THIS VIDEO!

Healthy Eating Tip #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.

Healthy Eating Tip #2 Focus on Real Whole Foods (aka 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.

Healthy Eating Tip #3: Avoid Highly Processed Foods

Coming off of the heels of focusing on real whole foods, we really want to avoid or minimize highly processed foods. Highly processed foods are food-like substances that are made in factories and created to excite your tastebuds but not to nourish your body. Cutting out processed foods is, without a doubt, one of the hardest things to do when you’re starting out on your healthy eating journey.

There are different types of processed foods. For example, oatmeal is a lightly processed food, as is sprouted bread or frozen veggie veggies. BUT these are not the processed foods I would worry about. The processed foods I am referring to are the HIGHLY processed foods, they aren’t actually food at all and somehow manage to fill the majority of the shelves at the grocery store.  

These are food-like substances that are nutritionally void, meaning they offer no nutritional value and are very unsatisfying when it comes to feeling nourished and satisfied by your meal. These are foods that come in packages and last on shelves for years. 

Some could argue that these food-like products taste good (because they are loaded with salt, sugar, and low-quality oils and are designed to excite your taste buds), but beyond flavor – they bring nothing to the table and are notorious for messing with hormones, blood sugar, and gut health. So simply looking for less processed to more whole food options can take your healthy eating game to a whole new level. If you can’t read or understand ingredients on a label, shelf it!

Healthy Eating Tip #4 Connect To Your Hunger

Often times when we are trying to eat better, we look to external information to tell us what and when to eat. This is what ends up deterring and ultimately leading to the demise of most beginners’ attempts at starting and maintaining healthy eating habits.  The problem with this is that it creates the false belief that you are unable to trust your body and automatically disconnects us from our natural hunger signals. So the simple practice here is to drop out of your mind, leave the food rules and mental agendas on the table, and drop back into your body. 

A great way to practice dropping back into the body and out of the brain is to ask yourself two simple questions. Before eating – ask yourself, “Am I hungry?” And when halfway through your meal, pause and ask your body, “Have I had enough?”. 

This can take some practice if you have been eating according to the clock or the external food rules – BUT – anytime we learn something new, we need to grace ourselves the space to practice. So let it feel bumpy as you begin to reconnect to your body and trust that your body is wise enough to know.

Healthy Eating Tip #5: Experiment with your Macronutrient Balance

We all hear a lot about macronutrients these days, and while I am not suggesting that you count and calculate your macronutrients, I do think it’s important to consider the balance of carbs, proteins, and fats you have with each meal. 

If you tend to have a carbohydrate-heavy diet, simply adding in proteins and healthy fats with your meals can really help you feel satisfied and satiated after you’re done eating, which can also determine when and what you want to eat next. 

Does this mean you can never eat a plate of pancakes or a bowl of pasta? Not necessarily – BUT if you are someone who struggles with weight, overeating, or you simply find that you aren’t satisfied after a meal, or that you are hungry shortly after eating a meal – playing with your macronutrient balance can be a really great place to experiment. 

Try starting your day with a meal rich in protein and healthy fats, and just notice to see how this feels for you and your body. This could be a veggie omelet with some cheese, a bowl of organic full-fat greek yogurt with nuts seeds and berries, or some almond flour pancakes. The name of the game is to play and observe! See what feels best for you and your body.

Healthy Eating Tip #6: Quality Over Calories

Some people teach that a calorie is a calorie, and it doesn’t matter what you eat as long as you don’t eat more calories than you need. I personally think this is a shallow and grossly oversimplified approach to food and nutrition, which often leads beginners in the wrong direction. While a calorie is a calorie, what those calories are made of and how your body responds to different calories is a gigantic part of the equation and super important when it comes to eating well. 

For example, let’s look at 400 calories from a store-bought low-fat blueberry muffin versus 400 calories from a plate of salmon, vegetables, and brown rice. The muffin is made up of mostly carbohydrates, it has no fiber, no protein, and it’s made mostly of white flour, refined sugar, and low-quality refined fats. 

This is the type of food that requires very little work from the body to break down. It enters your body quickly and will cause a spike in blood sugar levels and a spike in insulin. Now, when your blood sugar spikes quickly, it also comes down quickly, and this often will leave you feeling very unsatisfied, not satiated, and that feeling that we like to call hangry; when you’re hungry, and you’re starting to get a little annoyed at the same time, hungry and angry. 

Now, when our blood sugar levels fall quickly, we often end up craving more sugar because our body knows that this is an easy way to bring those blood sugar levels back up. And then a result of that is that we are craving more flour and more sugar and our hunger signals get thrown off. 

If you were to take that same 400 calories in the form of salmon, vegetables, and rice, this meal is made up of lots of quality protein, healthy fats, and good quality carbohydrates. So, this is the type of meal that’s going to take some time for your body to process and break down. It’s going to slowly elevate blood sugar levels, which means that they are also going to come down at a slower rate. 

And the result of that is that you get to feel more satiated and more satisfied from the meal. This is exactly the kind of meal that keeps your hormones balanced and happy, which means that you get to feel good. And feeling good is the name of the game here. 

So, while both meals have 400 calories, I want you to notice how those calories react in your body and then how those reactions drive other behaviors, like what we want to eat next, right, because it’s a very different story. 

One of these meals will keep you feeling very satisfied and energized, while the other may have you feeling hungry in a very short period of time with cravings for more sugar and more processed carbohydrates. And, you know, doing this every once in a while, that’s not a big deal. 

But if it’s done consistently, now you end up with a negative spin cycle with your food. And this is when we start to feel like we’re out of control.

Healthy Eating Tip #7: Move In The Direction of a Plant-Based Diet

The number one dietary question I get from people about diet is whether or not they should be vegan, and my answer is always the same. I believe we should all strive to have a plant-based diet – meaning the base of our diets should be rooted in plant-based foods, with a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and quality grains (when they work) BUT does this mean you should or need to be vegan? Nope. Unless of course, you want to be!

There are many different dietary approaches out in the world and different things will work for different people – but if you step back and look at ANY of these approaches from paleo to vegan – at the base, they all encourage lots of plant-based foods. I like to think about it like this – ultimately, food is energy, and the more vitality and life energy in the food you eat, the more vitality and life energy you revive from that.

Healthy Eating Tip #8: Cook as often as you can and more than you don’t

Cooking is one of the easiest ways to start eating better! As a beginner to healthy eating, cooking helps to put you in charge of all of your ingredients, so you know exactly what you are working with. It gives you a sense of connection to your food which is also very nourishing. And here’s the deal, that doesn’t mean you have to cook every single thing you eat. You just want to get into the practice of cooking more often than you don’t, and technically speaking, that is just 51% of the time.

Healthy Eating Tip #9: Practice Mindful Eating

In order to receive full nourishment from our meals, we need to be present so we can receive all of the pleasure and nourishment that meal has to offer – that means tasting your food, noticing the textures, the smells, etc.

If you eat in a hurry, on the go, while watching tv, or simply without your own awareness, you will often feel unsatisfied because your brain will not have registered that you ate – and the brain is going to scream hungry. Then, you are left thinking you have an overeating/willpower issue when really you simply have an awareness issue. 

So try to choose one meal a day – and eat it with your full attention. Enjoy the meal, the flavors, the textures, the smells, and connect to your body. Truly have a full circle eating experience and just notice how that affects your relationship with food, appetite, and satisfaction.

Healthy Eating Tip #10: Make It Easy, Fun, and Don’t Get Fanatic!

The reason we want to eat better is so we can feel better. If your journey of healthy eating feels hard, complicated, and overwhelming, you’ve missed the boat! And don’t worry – you’re not to blame – this is how healthy eating tends to be presented to us.

I promise you can not underestimate the power of one small change at a time. Make small changes that feel doable and attainable – let little changes matter, let them be enough. Some small changes I have focused on in the past and made habits in my life: include drinking X amount of water per day, committing to 4 workouts a week, sitting down and eating at least one meal a day with full awareness, enjoying one veggie-based meal per day (for me this usually means a big salad or veggie-based soup per day) just to name a few!

Now You’re Ready To Start Eating Healthy!

Only you will know what the first right move will be. Whatever it is, commit to it and practice it until it becomes a habit. Once you have created a new healthy habit, you can then move on to something new. Small changes over time are what create long-lasting results, especially when it comes to healthy eating!

Eating Healthy For Beginners FAQs

Can I eat frozen fruits and vegetables, or do they have to be fresh?

Yes! While I encourage you to buy fresh produce when possible, frozen fruits and vegetables are a great, affordable option that still retains their nutrients. You’ll want to avoid any frozen vegetables that have sauce or seasonings. Check the ingredients and make sure you’re getting just the veggies.

Can I eat canned beans or vegetables when trying to eat clean?

Yes, to both! Canned beans and veggies are another great, affordable option that can save you time. Make sure to rinse and drain them well before using them in any recipes  – this will help remove some of the sodium content found in canned foods.

Make sure to read the label of any canned food you purchase. Ideally, you want the label to contain just the veggie you’re purchasing and go for the low or no sodium option. 

If you can get your staples like green beans, carrots, and peas fresh or frozen, it’s definitely preferred. But for items like diced tomatoes, and beans they are always good to have on hand.

What if I don’t have time to cook?

It may seem like a daunting task to cook and prep raw vegetables when you’re just starting out, but it’s worth taking the time to practice. Like any new habit, it always feels a little harder at the beginning, but with time, it gets easier. I like to keep some staples in my fridge, freezer, and pantry to make it feel easier.

If you work crazy hours during the week, meal prep is going to be your best friend when it comes to clean eating. You’ll want to pick a weekend day that you can dedicate a few hours to prepping some of your meals for the week. Your future self will be so thankful once the week gets started.

What about snacking? Can I snack while eating clean?

At the risk of sounding cliche (again), remember clean eating is not a diet, but a lifestyle, so of course, you can snack! Healthy eating for beginners doesn’t have to mean giving up snacks altogether. In fact, I would encourage you to snack make healthy snacks that will fuel your body and not sabotage your hard work. 

Some great options include carrots and hummus, whole-grain crackers (look for one with ingredients you can actually read!) with organic nut butter, organic fruit and a handful of nuts, or half a sweet potato with chili powder or cinnamon.

What about protein?

One thing that is super important when it comes to healthy eating for beginners (and everyone, really) is getting enough protein. Protein is the building block of our muscles, and it helps keep us feeling full longer, so we don’t give in to cravings too soon after a meal. 

It’s recommended that women get 46 grams per day while men need 56 (at a minimum – I actually prefer more than this!).

Some great sources of plant-based protein include lentils, black beans, chickpeas, tofu, quinoa, nuts, and seeds. 

If you’re an omnivore, some good sources of animal protein include chicken, turkey, salmon, beef, pork, lamb, and eggs.

I hope these healthy eating tips for beginners were helpful! I would love to hear what has helped you in the past…

So there you have it! My top ten tips for starting to eat clean. I hope they are helpful and encourage you to make small changes in your daily habit that can help support your health, wellness, and weight loss goals.

© Clean & Delicious

The post How To Start Eating Healthy For Beginners (10 Tips!) appeared first on Clean & Delicious.

Are you looking for ideas on how to destress? Or maybe you’re wondering what to do when you’re feeling anxious? Today I’m sharing some of the tips and tricks that have helped me to reduce my stress and anxiety when life gets tough.

These tips help me stay sane and grounded during a time when things may seem like they’re unraveling a little bit. I hope they’re helpful for you too!

My 10 Tips To Destress & Reduce Anxiety

1. Keep your Attention on What Strengthens Your Mind & Body

It can be easy to fall victim to what’s happening around you, but it’s important to pause and take things step by step. Don’t get frazzled and remember that there are plenty of things still within your control.

One of the biggest things you can control is what goes on inside your mind, what you want to give your attention to. Use your mind, thoughts, and imagination to support you – your health, your wellness, and your body. Don’t let your brain go off and predict the worst case scenario – instead, picture something beautiful for yourself!

If you do find your mind going to the worst case scenario – that’s okay! It’s perfectly normal to do that. Use it as an opportunity to redirect your thoughts to the present moment and choose something that’s going to serve you better.

This is where your greatest power lies, so if you want to focus on just one thing on this list, this is the once you should choose.

2. LIMIT YOUR MEDIA CONSUMPTION

While you don’t want to bury your head in the sand, you do need to be smart about how much you’re tuning in to the media. Read the headlines, make sure you’re up to date on the latest and what things you might need to know, then move on with your day.

You don’t want to sit in front of the TV all day long consuming information that might make you feel afraid or anxious. This is likely to put you in a fear-based state.

There’s a quote that I like that speaks to this fear:

“Fear not, There’s a lot of information coming at us and it’s changing from moment to moment. That can be scary, but fear not. Fear is an energy and it attracts the very thing we want to avoid.” ~Ilanya Vanzant

Sometimes we don’t ever realize we’re in this state of fear when we try and stay informed, but if you’re doing it too much it can cause more harm than good. You definitely want to be mindful of your media consumption.

3. SUPPORT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Again, this is something within your control! Don’t overthink this, there are a number of simple things you can do to support your immune system, such as:

• limiting your sugar intake,
• incorporating more greens into your diet,
• putting lemon, ginger, and turmeric into tea or hot water (you can use my recipe for Ginger Turmeric Tea),
• washing your hands,
• putting a local honey or manuka honey into tea or water,
• making a homemade soup (like my Immunity Boosting Soup),
• getting plenty of rest, and
• getting some fresh air (and Vitamin D).

These are all easy, straight-forward ideas to help your immune system stay strong.

4. CREATE & STICK TO A ROUTINE

If you’re not on your regular routine, I encourage you to establish a new, temporary routine for yourself. Giving yourself permission to unravel during a tough situation isn’t going to serve you.

It may feel hard to stay disciplined and put yourself on a routine, but you can do hard things and will be better off for it. Practice a new routine until you find one that feels right, then practice staying with it.

Make sure to include movement in your routine! Getting some type of exercise and getting fresh air. Schedule them in to your day to make sure you’re incorporating them as they can help maintain your sanity.

5. DON’T ARGUE WITH REALITY

Sometimes when we’re stressed or afraid, we go into a blame game. We want to figure out who we can blame or why it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. We go into our mind and make up stories that don’t serve us or change the present reality. The only thing this will do is leave you feeling horrible.

Life is life. There are going to be things that are out of your control. We don’t need to understand each and every one of them, we just have to allow ourselves to experience it and accept what is happening. Practice allowing yourself to feel the raw emotions without having to blame or project it onto something or someone else.

6. ASK FOR HELP

Reach out for support if you need it! This is especially true if you’re in a support role for others (like those in the medical profession). Give yourself permission to take the time you need when you need it. There are a lot of options for people you can reach out to, like:

• a spouse,
• a family member,
• a friend,
• a therapist,
• a coach, or
• a spiritual community.

Remember you’re human and humans have needs – don’t brush your needs under the rug.

7. CONNECT WITH YOUR inner SELF

This could mean meditating, journaling, praying – whatever it is that you do to look within (or to a higher power). Even if you do it for just 5 to 10 minutes a day, it gives you the opportunity to quiet the outside world, to ground and connect to yourself or whatever you may believe in, and to provide a bit of sanity in an otherwise chaotic time.

Think of it like putting your head underwater. You cancel out the noise so you can come back to your home, your inner quiet.

This is a really good practice to try and incorporate into your daily routine. One thing I like to do is journal, and some questions I like to ask myself during a difficult time are:

• How is this exact situation perfect for me right now?
• What about this scenario is serving me?
• How is this situation growing or evolving me?

There’s always a nugget of wisdom in these moments, so use this as an opportunity for yourself and get really curious.

8. CLEAN YOUR SPACE

In addition to clearing clutter from your mind, clearing clutter from your physical space can help too! Clean your closets, reorganize your drawers, even tackle a home project if you have time. Create an opportunity to get something done.

9. THINK POSITIVELY ABOUT THE FUTURE

Take some time to think about your summer or something fun that’s coming up. Or make a vision board! Whatever you think about, project your attention forward.

Sometimes when you get caught up in a stressful moment or length of time it can feel very doom and gloom. But it’s not – things will eventually change. Use this opportunity to think about something you want to do, a place you want to go, or something you want to create. Daydream a little and have some fun with your imagination!

10. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO RELAX

Whatever stressful situation you’re in, worrying about it won’t make it go away any quicker. Find ways to let let yourself relax and ease your anxiety a bit. Maybe it’s playing a board game with your family, reading a book, or putting some music on (that one always helps me).

Fearing and obsessing is not going to serve you – it may be natural to experience fear, but how can you relax? This likely isn’t the first time you’ve experienced stress or fear, and it won’t be the last. But it will come to an end eventually, so think about how can you lean in and relax a little about the situation you’re facing.

I hope these tips help! Know I’m always supporting you and am here for you, and want to show up for you in any way I can. xo

© Clean & Delicious

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Gratitude journals are one of the easiest ways to practice cultivating more gratitude in your life which proves to have a significant impact on both our physical and psychological health and can help us to create a happier, healthier more vibrant life.

But what exactly is a gratitude journal?  Why do we want to start a gratitude journal?  And how can a gratitude journal actually help us to live a more joyful and fulfilling life?

Gratitude + Your Brain

When we let our brains run on default mode, they tend to choose negative thinking over positive thinking, and they do that for good reason.

Our brains are designed for survival, they are programmed to look for problems and obstacles as a way of keeping us safe and protected.  But the problem is that since we no longer live in a world where we are in constant need of food and protection, our brains tend to create problems where they don’t really exist.

So it becomes our job to help train our brains to relax and to look for the good (hint: this is where gratitude can help).

Try to think of your brain as a GOOGLE search engine; it’s  your servant.  If you are thinking in terms of a problem and worrying all the time,  your mind will work to seek evidence to prove this thinking true.

On the flip side, when you intentionally look for the good and direct your brain to focus on gratitude and the things that are working in your life, your mind will go through the day looking for more of that goodness.

It’s like a snow ball effect; energy goes where attention goes so let’s get really good at looking for the good (on purpose).

HOW TO BEGIN A GRATITUDE JOURNAL

STEP 1: Choose Your Medium

Where are you going to keep your journal?  Personally, I like to use notebook but you can also keep it digital, by using your phone or computer.  Ultimately you want to choose whatever will feel the most doable for you so that you can stay consistent.

STEP 2: choose a Time to JOURNAL 

Do you want to do this daily, weekly, or even bi-weekly?  Everyone is different, so there’s no right or wrong way to do this.  It just makes it easier make that decision before hand. 

Also think about the time of day that will work for you.  I recommend first thing in the morning, this way you are setting yourself up for the day, but again, do what feels right to you.

STEP 3: CHOOSE A PROMPT

Think of one thing to be grateful for.  Just one.  It can be something big or something small. 

Next, list five reason that you are grateful for this one thing.  Having to search for these reasons will really helps to shift you into a feeling of gratitude (which is a great way to shift out of any type of negative or doubtful emotions).

STEP 4: CONGRATULATE YOURSELF

You just got started with your gratitude journal!  Once you have shifted yourself into a place of gratitude and feeling good, use this time to think about your day and what you want to be putting your attention on.

Gratitude is a great starting place for creating the type of day you want to have.

Do you keep a gratitude journal?  What are some of your favorite prompts when it comes to your journal?

© Clean & Delicious

The post How + Why To Start A Gratitude Journal appeared first on Clean & Delicious.

Last week, I shared a video titled, “Why WillPower + Self Control Will Not Help You Lose Weight” and while it seemed to resonate with most of you, I did have a handful of people who were really confused by this suggestion. 

So I wanted to pop in to clear up the way I see this.

My definition of willpower and self control is when we believe there is an external plan, diet, or eating approach that is the right way to eat and all we have to do is have the will and the self control to follow the rules and then we will be good.

When believe the plan is over there, it invites us to disconnect with our selves, our lifestyle, our experiences, and our inner knowing.  Instead of using our inner wisdom as a path to help guide us to the goal, we abandon ourselves,  and then wonder why we can’t will or control ourselves enough to get to the goal.  It’s like you are constantly fighting against yourself and you’re never going to win.

If you are one of the few who can maintain enough willpower and self control to get to your goal, you often find that while you may reach the goal on the scale, the emotional desire for freedom and confidence and self approval is far from being met.

When we will ourselves to stick to the plan, not only do our bodies shrink but our sense of being shrinks as well. And to me, that trade off is not worth the cost of admission.

SELF DISCIPLINE however is a different conversation.

For me, self discipline is a process of getting to know yourself and your truths and then  practicing becoming the kind of person who honors and lives that truth.

This is not based on what someone else is telling you about you, but based on what you discover to be true about you.

The path of self discipline is weaved with patience, love, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, and lots of trial and error.

When you discover something to be true about you and your body and your soul, then you practice honoring that truth by living the habits and actions that support it.

Not because it will make you skinny or accepted but because it makes you feel good.

This is why I do encourage people to TRY on lots of different eating styles, so you can see what actually works and doesn’t work for you.  And again, when I say work,  I mean what FEELS good.

And I don’t just mean the food on your plate.  Does it feel good with your lifestyle?  Your responsibilities?  The time you have to focus on it? Etc.

When you know something to be true for you, then the practice of honoring that is also for you, and thats what I would call self-discipline VERY different from self control and or willpower.

And it might not look exactly the way you thought it was suppose to look.

In this video you will learn:

• My definition of willpower
• My definition of self control
• Why we sometimes feel like we are constantly fighting ourselves + our bodies
• Why focusing on how you FEEL is more important than how you look
• How accepting your body makes the journey a bit easier

[ytp_video source=”p0GK1T0neWQ”]

Your turn!  Have you ever experienced how willpower and self control can actually sabotage your best efforts to be healthy and/or lose weight?

Come down to the comments below and share your thoughts, questions, ideas, and/or your aha! moments.

© Clean & Delicious

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If you have been following my channel for a while, you probably know that I am an ex-chronic dieter. I spent many years struggling with my relationship with food and body, and was forever on a new diet in attempt to lose weight, change my body composition, and get healthy.

It wasn’t until I gave up dieting, which actually happened when I got pregnant for the first time, that I was able to end my constant struggle with dieting and find freedom and peace in my relationship with food and body.

Might I add, this is definitely not an overnight fix, and an enormous part of that equation was learning to eat intuitively. For me, intuitive eating is the polar opposite of dieting.

Dieting is when we take external cues, rules, and ideas about how we should be eating, and allow those rules to dictate what we should be eating regardless of what we feel. 

On the other hand, intuitive eating invites you to shut off your brain, reconnect to your body, and use your body’s cues and signals to determine what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat.

Intuitive eating connects you to your instinct and intuition, while dieting promotes us to disconnect. While weight loss can be a byproduct of intuitive eating, the main goal is to create a kind and nourishing relationship with your body, with your food, and with yourself.

“As one of my favorite mentors says, most of us are on HIGH-FACT diets, meaning we take in so much information that we lose connection with our deepest source of knowing ourselves.”

Keep in mind that while every principle we will cover is simple in theory, they each take some practice, so offer yourself some grace and kindness. Intuitive eating is not a diet; there is no right or wrong; you can’t pass or fail. This is a learning experience.

Step one is going to depend on your willingness to be kind, easy, compassionate, forgiving and understanding with yourself. There’s no doing this perfectly. Sometimes we eat when not hungry; sometimes we eat past full; sometimes we eat emotionally; and that all has to be okay. That’s all a part of being in relationship with food. My desire for you is that you grace yourself the space to see and understand this for yourself without the impatient desire to change it all yesterday.

A diet mentality is an all or nothing approach to healthy eating and/or losing weight. It’s the false hope sold to us by the diet industry that losing weight quickly and easily will make you happy, fulfilled, and valuable. When we sign up for this broken system and put all of our energy into shrinking our bodies, we also shrink our entire selves and our entire world. Rejecting diet mentality starts with recognizing and rejecting the diet culture, which of course starts with educating yourself about diet culture. The diet culture wants to tell us what we should weigh, what our bodies should look like, and that all of our value lives in the aesthetics of the body; if we could just reach a certain image, we will then be happy, fulfilled, and valuable. As long as the diet industry has you believing that they have something you need, they get to continue perpetuating this billion dollar industry that depends on you believing. But they are selling us a faulty product, because diets never work. Between 96-98% of all people who have lost weight on a diets gain it back within a year. Those who do manage to keep it off are more often than not ganged in disordered eating, an obsession with food and/or body.

When you approach health or weight loss by restricting your food and depriving yourself of pleasure, your amazingly insanely wise body goes into reservation, or starvation mode. It adapts to less calories; it adapts to protect you! The body is designed to REJECT a diet. And so inevitably, as soon as it gets the chance, it will come back into balance. When you do eat a reasonable amount of food again, the body will hold onto the extra weight because it has now adapted to serving on less. It is a vicious cycle that is hard-wired to fail. Think of it like a pendulum. You are not a failure. I am not failure. This is not a conversation about morality, discipline, willpower, or self-worth. This is a conversation about a faulty system that we are bombarded with all of the time from every angle.

“Diets are hard-wired to fail and yet we still blame ourselves.”

Begin to recognize diet culture and the diet industry and say no thank you! Allow yourself to feel angry with this faulty system. Some of the negative side effects of dieting include: slower metabolism, increased desire to binge eat, pre-occupation/obsessing with food, feelings of deprivation, sense of failure, decreased sense of willpower, and risk of developing an eating disorder. 1 in 4 dieters will develop an eating disorder. Dieting is the gateway drug to eating disorders.

The first principle is rooted in giving up any attachment to the very toxic diet culture. I know first-hand that for anyone who is used to dieting, the idea of not dieting can be scary because our identities become wrapped up in it. Even though diets don’t work, they are familiar, they are comforting, and they offer us a false sense of control which can feel very scary to let go of.

Some common fears of letting go of dieting include:

• FEAR: If I stop dieting, I will eat all the food!
• Reality: Dieting is the trigger for over eating .
• FEAR: I don’t know how to eat when not dieting.
• Reality: Practice getting in touch with inner signals.
• FEAR: I’ll be out of control.
• Reality: There is nothing to control in the first place.

When you listen to your body, it will guide you to your body + your weight range. Not all human beings are supposed to have the same size and shaped body. You can be fit and healthy in any shape and size. You can be bigger and very fit and healthy, or smaller and unfit and unhealthy. Let your feelings be your guide. Dieting becomes a way of thinking. It’s rigid; it’s all or nothing. It’s afraid, unforgiving, and it doesn’t leave any room for the natural ebb and flow of life. Dieting creates a viscous cycle: feel fat, want to lose weight and start a diet → restriction + depravation → weakened self-control or loss of self-control → over eat, binge eat → feel fat, want to lose weight→ start the whole thing over again. The ONLY way to stop is to STOP dieting. It can be very socially uncomfortable to step away from dieting because it is so woven into the fabric of our culture. It has become kind of normal for people to chat about food, weight, body, etc., as if it’s all the enemy and that it’s fine to talk against yourself. Know that while you are healing this relationship, you have permission to create space from any thing or person you need to.

Here are the three steps to rejecting the diet mentality:

 Step 1. Cultivate self-compassion, ease, understanding, and forgiveness.

This is not a practice that you bully yourself into. This is a willingness to see the big picture and begin to operate yourself from what you’ve been fed, so that you can identify and create your own thoughts, ideas and opinions on how you want to move forward. Notice the internal conversations you have with yourself. Are you being kind and compassionate, or are you being judgey and critical? Notice your tone. Be easy. Remember: just because you think something, doesn’t mean it’s true. Be a detective in your own mind.  What thoughts do you want to keep and which would you prefer to leave? Journal it out.

Step 2. Evaluate your dieting history.

What have you tried in the past? Really think back. Did any of it actually work? Was any of it sustainable? How did these attempts affect your inner world? Are you willing to give up dieting? To break up with it? What are you afraid of?

Step 3. Detox your environment.

Anything that is in your peripheral, your space, your environment, your world that encourages cutting calories, dieting, restricting, depriving, getting smaller, anything that makes you feel less than when you read, see, or consume it, GET RID OF IT! Be willing to challenge what you see. Have the courage to create an environment that supports your desire for health, wellness, social connection, movement that feels good, pleasure, play etc. Health is not just a size. Give yourself permission to broaden your horizons.

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Have you ever wondered why some people have more self-discipline then others?  Or how you can create more self-discipline for yourself?

Well, like anything (and everything!) it’s a practice and so,  I’m sharing my top 5 tips on how to create more self-discipline in your life, to help you keep you moving towards your health, wellness, and weight loss goals.

Just as a reminder, my definition of self discipline is the process of getting to know and understand yourself, your body, your truths and your dreams; and then with that understanding, practicing how to live in alignment with that truth/honoring that for yourself. 

Discipline is not about what you think you should do or what other people are doing or what other people are telling you to do, it’s about really connecting to what feels good to you and what you want for yourself, and then living in the space that is consciously working towards that. 

You could say it’s a commitment to living in pursuit your best life.  But remember, that life it’s a life based on your rules.  You get to write the script.

And I also think it’s important to realize that self-discipline and self growth do not make you a better person, or a more worthy person or a more whole person, you are all of those things already BUT what it does do is help us to live more fulfilled and happy lives.  So here we go…

My 5 Tips on Creating More Self-Discipline:

 STEP ONE: Identify what you want and why you want it

What’s the goal  and why is it important to you?

Many of us are in a habit of knowing what we don’t want, but do you have clarity on what you do want?  What is the thing you are wanting to achieve? The more specific you are the better. 

Saying, “I want to be healthy” is a vague goal. 

Saying, “I want to lose 25 pounds is more specific”.  Or, “I want to improve the quality of my food and cook more”.  Or, “I want to exercise 4 days a week” or “I want to be able to run 1 mile”.  These are all examples of tangible goals that you can work and take steps towards achieving.

So step one is simple.  Identify what you want and why you want it.  This will serve as your anchor throughout the process.

STEP TWO:  Take time every morning to connect to your want and your why

Make space to connect to the goal and connect to the dream. This is the fuel for you to take action. 

Often times we think we have a motivation problem but really what we have is an inspiration problem. 

We are not inspired by our desires because we are disconnected from them or because we spend so much time rooted in reality of what we don’t have or don’t want, that we feel discouraged.  But when you take the time to dream and envision what you want and feel that excitement, that very desire becomes what springs you into action.  It’s the inspiration.

What will it feel like to have it, accomplish it, embody the goal?  What would be the byproduct?  How would be the benefit?  Remember why it’s important to you.

STEP THREE: Put it on your calendar

Once you have connected to the want and the why and you are feeling good and excited about it, take the actionable steps that you wrote out and put them on your calender or on your to-do list.  Put them somewhere, where they are out of your head, on paper.

This way when the day takes a turn or emotions try to get the best of you, you can look back and say, this is what I want.  This is what I wanted when my head was clear and I was connected to the goal.

We live in busy times, I know we all have busy schedules,  We have to get into the habit of putting ourselves back on our own today lists.

This is why it’s so important to take care of you before you start dealing with the rest of the world or the rest of the family.

Schedule it in.

STEP FOUR: Allow yourself to be where you are as you work toward the goal

 It’s so important that we don’t try to bully ourselves into change.  Just because you took the time connect to your want and why and scheduled your action steps into your day does not mean its going to all work out perfectly.

This is the space where the real work comes in, because this is where you get to really learn about and understand yourself. 

If you get clear, get excited, write it down and schedule it, and then you have a hard time following the plan,  this is the space that will be your greatest teacher, this is where we get to learn more about ourselves and what we need to make things work.

And you can’t do that if you are constantly pushing against yourself , critiquing or rejecting whats happening for you in the here and now.

It’s very hard to understand what we need or to adjust and tweak the plan to do when we don’t understand why we started int the first place.  And you’ll never understand why, if you are constantly pushing against.

STEP FIVE: Celebrate the Small Wins

Success is really just a bunch of little things, done consistently over time.  So make it a practice to celebrate the small steps you take on a daily basis.

Drank your water?  Acknowledge it.

Prepped your lunch for tomorrow?  Pat yourself on the back.

Look for the the good, acknowledge it and celebrate your efforts.  Every. Damn. Day! xo

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Contrary to popular belief, more willpower and more self restraint are not the answer to weight loss. 

As matter of fact, I would argue that they actually contribute to the endless diet-binge cycle that so many of us have struggled with at one point or another in our lives.

Here’s the thing.

When we attach ourselves to a specific way of eating, or to a specific diet, and then hold judgment around that way of eating, we inevitably set ourselves up for failure.

For example, if you believe eating low carb is good,  then you also believe that when you eat low carb you’re being good.

And when you don’t eat low carb, that’s not good (aka it’s bad), which means you’re bad and that judgement usually comes partnered with shame, guilt, and a good internal beat up session that can look something like this:

Whats wrong with me? Why did I do that?  What’s the point?   I’m never going to lose this weight…. etc! 

And it’s in this exact space that overeating is very likely to happen (oh! the irony).

In many ways, we turn to food to comfort ourselves from the self created negative emotions that are a result of the way we are thinking about ourselves and our food.

The more stringent the rules, the more attachment we have to our diet, the more likely we are to fall off the wagon. Because let’s be honest, nothing is ever perfect in life (including you and your diet).

But after we crash and burn, the first thing a dieter thinks is that this is simply a willpower issue.

We think, “All I need is some more willpower or some more self restraint and then I’ll be able to lose the weight”.

But, what if what we actually needed was a little more ease and curiosity?   What if instead of eating to follow the rules, we ate in a way that would bring us pleasure and make our bodies feel good?

As someone who has spent many years trying to understand and unlearn the diet mentality, what I know for sure is that the more we try to control and the harder we grip the faster and harder we crash and burn.

In this video you’ll learn:

• Why self control and willpower actually contributes to weight gain
• How our thinking can cause us to overeat
• What we need instead of more willpower and control
• How your thoughts create your results
• How to redirect your energy to get in alignment with your goals

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Your turn!  Have you ever experienced how willpower and self control can actually sabotage your best efforts to be healthy and/or lose weight?

Come down to the comments below and share your thoughts, questions, ideas, and/or your aha! moments.

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The post Why Willpower + Self Discipline Will Not Help You Lose Weight appeared first on Clean & Delicious.

As most of you already know, I really struggled with my weight any body image for many years. I would say the thick of it started when I was around 12 or 13 years old and then continued to be a constant struggle until I was about 30’s (and just to put that into perspective, I am currently 41).

The funny thing is that my struggle with weight and body image is what lead me to do what I do today, so in many ways, I’m super grateful for the journey.  Had I not wanted to lose weight, I would have never gone on to study fitness, integrative nutrition, weight loss, or food psychology.

So needless to say, healthy eating and sustainable weight loss are topics that are very near and dear to my heart and something that I understand from the inside out.

So today I am sharing 5 steps that helped me switch from a dieters mentality that constantly kept me in the loop of losing and gaining weight and jumping from one diet to the next to where I am today; a Mom of two who loves her body and her food and has maintained a 20 pound weight loss for over two years and through two pregnancies.

Diets are a guide line, not a rulebook

While diets can be extremely helpful and informative they don’t work without YOU!  As a dieter, I always thought that I was the problem and the diet (whichever one I was on at the time) was the solution.  So I would get very uptight and very strict and try very hard to follow the rules of the diet to a T. 

But inevitably, I would eat something that either wasn’t on the diet or too much of something that was on the diet and then label myself a failure.

I would leave myself out of the equation and then when I couldn’t stick to the diet I automatically concluded that there was something wrong with me and never considered that maybe that diet didn’t work for me, or that I would need to tweak a few things to make it a better fit.

Remember, diets are just guidelines and you have to check in with yourself to tweak and adjust where needed.

FOCUS ON QUALITY, NOT CALORIES

I was very focused on calories and what I needed to eliminate or restrict from my diet, which always left me feeling deprived and frustrated (and in retrospect led to a lot of binge eating). 

Once I learned to switch my focus from calories to quality I found myself looking at food in a whole new way.  Instead of always focusing on what I needed to eliminate, I began looking for new, delicious, nutritious foods that I could incorporate.  This was a complete shift of perspective and really made ‘healthy eating’ feel super fun and very delicious.  This definitely got me trying new ingredients and cooking a lot more.

STOP EXERCISING TO LOSE WEIGHT

For the longest time, I exercised for one reason and one reason only; and that was to lose weight. 

I didn’t pay much attention to whether or not I actually enjoyed the exercise, I usually just tried to do the exercise that was suppose to burn the most calories or help to lose weight the fastest.   It usually just took a couple of weeks before I would decide it wasn’t really working so what was the point any way?  So of course, I’d quit.

Until one day I decided, I was going to do exercise that I enjoyed and made me feel good simply because I enjoyed it made me feel good.  No exchange, no trade off. I just committed that whether or not my body changed, I was going to move my body because it feels good.

You have to remember that anything you don’t enjoy will be very difficult to sustainable. The key to long term results is consistency, and you wont be consistent, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing.

Swap Willpower for Awareness

For me willpower always felt like I was working against myself.  It was like I wanted to change my weight so badly… so desperately, that I never felt like I had the time to understand it, I just wanted to fix it.

So I would try and push and will my way to the finish line but that always felt SO hard and it never got me very far before I would eventually throw in the towel.

Eventually, I realized that the reason it felt as hard as it did, was because I wasn’t really paying attention.  I wasn’t slowing down enough to notice what I needed when I needed it or how I needed it.  I was always so busy pushing that I was never listening.

So, I began to practice more awareness.  Simply paying attention to what was an wasn’t working for me.  What I enjoyed and what I didn’t.  

Admittedly, in order to do this, I really had to ACCEPT where I was and surrender the need to FIX myself.  But that’s an entirely different conversation!

Know the Difference between Physical + Emotional Hunger 

This ties into onto number four because in order to recognize the difference between the two, I had to be practicing awareness.

Once I was able to distinguish the difference between physical and emotional hunger, I then began to practice meeting my emotional needs without food.

And thats not to say that I never eat emotionally anymore, because I do.  But now it doesn’t feel like its happening to me.  If I choose to do it, its with awareness.

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My definition of emotional eating is when we are eating to avoid or numb out an uncomfortable emotion.  Sometime this is conscious, most times it’s not.

A lot of people say eating when you’re not hungry or eating emotionally is self sabotage, but I think it’s the opposite. I believe that for most of us, eating emotionally is an attempt at self care. 

Something comes up for us that is uncomfortable or unpleasant and we try to make ourselves feel better by eating. 

And here’s the thing, it’s kind of a brilliant strategy in the sense that it works (albeit for a very short time).

But it’s a very temporary fix, that ultimately does not support long term health and weight loss goals (plus, as soon as we are done eating the original emotion is still right there waiting for us).

So the real work to do when it comes to emotional eating, is to identify the feeling you are trying to care for and then find a better, more effective way of doing that. 

It’s the ultimate act of self care.

Here are three simple tools that have helped me over the years.

Awareness

You have to be willing to pay attention to the stuff you don’t normally want to pay attention to.  Often times we have so much inner dialogue and conversation around what we should and shouldn’t be eating that once we go off of our self proclaimed rules, we tend to tune out. 

This is what I call eating behind your own back.  It’s the, ‘f-it I’ll start again tomorrow’ mentality,

So what I am suggested, is NOT that you stop yourself from eating the food but rather that you get really curious and stay with yourself while you’re eating the food. 

Have you ever actually payed attention to yourself and the process of overeating? Have you ever watched yourself eat the bag of potato chips or the entire pint of ice cream?  Have you ever actually just stayed with yourself during that experience?

Like, hmmmm… this is so interesting.  What is this food actually doing for me right now and what am I gaining from this eating experience? Because while we may not like the habit of overeating, I promise you, we never do anything without good reason.  So be curious.

Identify The Emotion

So once you have practiced bringing your awareness and allowing whatever is happening to happen, I want you to notice, what you are feeling. 

The feeling that we really want to identify is the feeling that tales place right before the decision to eat.

I want you to ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?”.

This doesn’t have to be a big, heavy emotion or a negative emotion.   

For instance, I found that I would turn to food pretty much anytime I was experiencing what felt like a big emotion to me. So it could be frustrated or stressed OR it could be super excited or eager.  And often times, it should be something as simple as bored.

This will be different for everyone, but the practice here is to try to recognize the emotion that is creating the desire to eat.

Nourish the Emotion

Once you have identified the emotion, ask yourself, “What can I do right now to take care of and nourish myself without food?”.

What is it that I really need or want right now?

This really is the ultimate act of self care. It’s an invitation to be in relationship with yourself.  To really understand whats going on for you when it’s going on and then to learn/practice how to care for yourself in away that supports your longterm health and weight loss goals without using food.

I am not suggesting this is a quick fix, but I do know these tools work because they are the very same tools I have used and applied over the years to end my habit of emotional overeating. xo

[youtube width=”820″ height=”421″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYk9kexQcaM[/youtube]

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For those of you who have been reading/watching of a while, this is an updated version of my original Spaghetti Squash 101 which I posted several years back.  We decided it was time to freshen her up, so here we go… wheeee!

Spaghetti Squash is an oblong yellow variety of winter squash that has a mild, sweet, nutty flavor and, when cooked, has long thin ‘spaghetti-like’ strands, that have a little bit of crunch to them, kind of like an al dente pasta.

I’m not going to tell you that it tastes just like pasta, because it doesn’t, it tastes like squash, but if you’re open to trying something new it’s a great nutrient-dense, low carb alternative to traditional pastas.

Season

Its peak season is the fall and the winter but you’ll see it in grocery stores all year round and I find it to be a great veggie to use throughout the year.  It’s as delicious and versatile in the Summer as it is in the winter.

Nutritional Benefits

Spaghetti Squash is packed with beta carotene, vitamin A, potassium and folic acid.  One of the perks of this winter squash is that it’s high in nutrients but low in calories; one cup of spaghetti squash has just 40 calories, so it’s a great addition to just about anytime of diet.

Shopping

When you are shopping for spaghetti squash you want your squash to be hard on the outside and then feel surprisingly heavy for their size.  You may notice that the shades of yellow on the skin will vary, some will be lighter some will be darker, but that really doesn’t affect the squash at all so you don’t need to pay too much attention to it.   However, you do want to make sure that there are no soft spots or green spots on the skin of your squash.

Storing

Spaghetti Squash likes to be stores in a cool dry place.  I leave mine right on the counter, and it will last a good three to four weeks.

Preparation

When you’re ready to work with your spaghetti squash, you’ve got a couple of options; if you’re in a hurry you can steam your spaghetti squash in the microwave (shown in the video) but for the most flavor roasting it is the way to go.

Serving

Spaghetti Squash makes a great side dish and can be kept super simple; adding a little parmesan cheese and red pepper flake makes for a sensational dish

Another option is Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs (I sub out the past a for the squash)

And then of course there’s the Spaghetti Squash Chili Mac

Simply layer your favorite chili on top of the cooked squash and sprinkle with a bit of shredded cheese, cilantro and onions.

And one last idea is my Spaghetti Squash and Garlicky Greens

The options are truly endless when it comes to spaghetti squash and I would LOVE to hear how you like to eat yours?

Print

Spaghetti Squash 101

Course ingredient 101, KITCHEN BASICS

Cuisine American

Calories

Author Dani Spies

Video

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