Approach
Approach
Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood! (www.helpguide.org)
Healthy eating does not have to be overly complicated.
To help heal your body, gradually
incorporate the changes below:
1) Cut down on refined sugar (e.g., cakes, biscuits, chocolates).
2) Cut down on processed packaged food. Cook and eat as much natural fresh food as possible (depending upon your budget and schedule).
3) Cut down on refined carbohydrates (e.g., bread, pastries, white pasta).
4) Eat all meals by 6 PM if feasible (with only fruit or nuts for snacks if peckish afterwards). This can make a big difference.
5) Eat smaller portions.
6) Eat breakfast and then have smaller meals throughout the day.
7) Drink more water.
8) Reduce your consumption of alcohol.
Insights
Give Yourself Time
Give yourself time to lose weight.
Don’t rush the process. Do it gradually.
It is all about balance.
You could put all your focus and energy into losing weight quickly and use your free time to exercise, but then what will you have to give up? Time with family and friends.
I did not want to lose weight quickly and spend all my time exercising and obsessing about diet.
I wanted to maintain a balance between spending quality time engaged with kids and family and working on myself.
It took from nine months to a year to achieve my optimum body shape and weight through yoga, exercise and eating the right foods.
I tried to do all this in a balanced way.
Of course, it was easier, since I was not at work. If I had been working, it would have been much more difficult.
It took some time before the ‘new way of eating’ became the norm. But it was well worth the pain!
Go Easy on Yourself
Don’t give yourself a hard time if you sometimes fall off the wagon.
We can’t be perfect all the time! There is a reason your body might crave the occasional sweet or salt fix.
I sometimes succumb to my monthly cravings and can devour a box of Pringles in no time!
Open boxes of Pringles are not safe in my house!
So long as you are following a healthy diet most of the time, have achieved your optimum shape and weight and are in maintenance mode, then it’s fine to loosen your discipline occasionally when your body craves processed food.
Just eat, enjoy and resume your healthy diet again the following day.
Discipline and Dedication
Losing weight and obtaining your ideal body shape is not easy. It is hard to change the eating habits of a lifetime.
However, with an awareness of what feels right for you, along with control, discipline and dedication, it is possible.
Admittedly, it is easier to reach your ideal weight and body shape when you have time on your hands and more awareness and control, but doing something is always better than doing nothing.
Control Emotional Eating
When I was working in a high-pressure job, I would actually eat more than I needed to due to stress - especially when I came home from work late at night.
It is easy to overeat when you’re in a rush because you don’t really register whether your stomach is full or not.
Whether you are at home or at work, try and find those extra minutes to chew your food more and enjoy the taste of food.
Have an awareness of when you turn to food because of a negative emotion so that you exercise greater control of what and when you eat.
I also learnt that the body can function perfectly well on smaller portions of food.