3 Ways to Eat Healthier (Without Giving Up.)
Kelsie Eversmeyer
I know eating healthy is our favorite thing to do. How can it be if you’re used to eating everything that’s soaked in grease, crispy, crunchy, salty, sweet- and quite frankly- SO f****ing delicious?
Well, if you talk to anyone who is now a health food ‘nut’ then you’ll hear them say crazy things like “I love eating healthy!” and, “the foods I used to eat make me feel sick now.”
What? How is that even possible? Are they lying? Are they human? Are they annoying?
While health freaks and gym-obsessed 9-5ers who post nothing but gym mirror selfies wearing lifting gloves are indeed annoying- they have tapped into something that you have yet to figure out. (But don’t get me wrong- most of them have no idea WHAT it is they have tapped into, they just know they like the result of it.)
It’s called adaptation.
Your body is a tough and adaptable MF’er. It will use what you give it and adapt to it in order to use it. That’s why low carb works, why keto works, and why people can survive on the fruit diet… where they ONLY eat fruit. (Yes, it’s a thing!)
AND it’s the same adaptation that your taste buds use to ‘like’ a food you used to hate simply by eating more often. I mean hey, if the body thinks you’re going to feed it grapefruit everyday, it’s going to change up your taste buds over time so it can enjoy the experience instead of feeling repulsed by it.
So, if you feel like shit, but feel like change will never be enjoyable for you- then brush that negativity off, and listen up- ?your body is made to change.
Read that again: ?YOUR? body is ?MADE? to change.
It may not give a shit about your 6-pack, but it ?REALLY? cares about your survival. So, no matter what you do to it, it’s going to find a way to keep you living and keep your body, organs, and systems functioning (until it can’t anymore.) … that’s a topic for another day.
We need to look at the ?brain? when it comes to making changes. Your habits build out all the risk and reward systems in your brain. In other words, your brain says “Oo! We like this!” or “Eh! What the hell is this?!”
The more positive rewards we can associate with a ?new? task or habit (preferably a better one) then the more we can TRAIN our own brain into ?enjoying ?these new habits and routines. Notice I didn’t say ‘trick’ your brain- that’s where diet crashes happen.
The takeaway: Change is simple, not easy.
So before I lead you down a path of 1500 scientific research articles explaining why YOU aren’t a failure and it’s just your brain trying to protect you- let’s jump into the WAYS in which you can start? changing your brain ?now?.
The key here is that ?you have to take it a little step at a time so the change is gradual?. If you go 0-100, your body doesn’t respond too well, and your brain shuts the shit down after a while. (If you’ve ever crashed off a diet into a pile of cupcakes at your kid’s 3rd birthday party- then you know ?exactly? what I mean.)
Stop doing ?that? a? nd try these SIMPLE, easy-to-implement steps instead:
Try new foods and STICK TO THEM.
There’s nothing worse than eating foods you can’t stand- I’d rather skip a meal than eat food that doesn’t taste good. But how do you know what you like until you try it? Exactly.
So this week, pick up 4 different ‘healthy’ foods to try.
Don’t take this so literally- beyond just picking up a head of broccoli that you already decided you don’t like, it can also mean just trying a different way of preparing them!
So if you’ve hated ALL vegetables your whole life, then your challenge is to prepare the SAME vegetable 4 different ways this week and see which one you can tolerate the most! Then stick to that for a bit, and start experimenting with another vegetable next week. Then on, and on, and on until you have a good 5-7 veggies that you know how to cook and enjoy eating.
PLAN AHEAD.
Don’t waste your time by trying to wing-it in the moment. ?Tip #2 is all about preparing to succeed so you don’t plan to fail.
Get yourself a cookbook, pinterest board, or something similar to find recipes that make good use of spices, herbs, and other flavors, and then ?WRITE IT DOWN- the recipe, the foods and spices needed, AND- most importantly- the TIME it’s going to take.
Then, plug the meal with the appropriate amount of time where it fits in your schedule. IF you have 5 different places to be on Tuesdays, then planning to meal prep on Tuesday probably isn’t the best idea.
Some of my clients like to keep a small calendar just for their meal planning and they write in their meals for the week every Sunday. Then, they write in the days they need to grocery shop, and which days they need to cook (based on their time availability). I keep it right in my Google calendar so I don’t lose it- do what works for ?YOU?.
Save the best for last.
When all you want is something sweet, salty, and snack-a-licious- make sure you get something nutritious and high in protein first.
My best “non-action” actionable piece of advice is to NEVER make snack foods into meals. NEVER?.
And now that I’ve scared you with the rules- here’s where things get fun: Breaking them.
“Never” = “Every once in a while” when you can effectively break the rules.
We will go over how to break the rules without breaking your ‘diet’ and how to get to your goals in the meantime at my upcoming nutrition clinic! If you’ve struggled with just finding the way that doing all the right things can fit into your schedule, fit in with your family, or fit in to getting drinks with your friends- then you’re going to want to get your ass to the clinic. (And NO, I’m not going to tell you that you need to eat 5 balanced meals a day and workout 6 days a week when you’re a working mother of 2 children- this is REAL advice for REAL people.)
Bring some wine, beer, or tequila, a friend, and $5 for a ticket to Stone Strength Systems on Saturday, August 17th at 10:00AM. (Pizza is included in your ticket price!)
You can email myself, ?kelsiejenefitness@gmail.com? or Brad ?brad@stonestrengthsystems.com for more details and to claim your ticket.
Not available that day? No worries- you can set up a FREE consult at a better time with yours truly right ?here?.
See you there!
