Six Ways to Approach Your Nutrition Differently This Year

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions.  I haven’t been one for quite some time.  I used to make them and would feel charged up just thinking about all the opportunities a new year held.  But it never took long for the new car smell of it all to fade and I’d lose interest in my resolution and the possibilities.

An old friend reached out to me the other day on Facebook to ask about protein and meal replacement shakes.  Although she never said the words “New Year’s resolution” I had a feeling that she was looking to start her new year differently than she has before.  So rather than doing the whole online back and forth I called her up.

It wasn’t that my friend didn’t know anything about health and wellness.  Quite the opposite.  She was overwhelmed by all of her choices and just didn’t know where to start.  Especially where nutrition is concened.  So here are my top tips for approaching nutrition differently this year.

#1 Be Mindful

The first thing I recommend to people is to simply be more mindful when it comes to their intake.  There are food journals, daily planners that include space for food stats, fitness journals, and of course in this day and age you know there are apps for that.  Just recently I joined my friend Bobbi for her Holiday Shred and I found that even though I wasn’t tracking my nutritional stats I was able to lose five pounds.  Mind you, my goal wasn’t to lose weight, but to maintain it over the holidays.  I planned to do that by making dinner at least three times a week and by limiting treats to three times a week.  Each Saturday when we checked in I was surprised to find that I either maintained or lost weight.  It was such a blessing because I finally realized that obsessively tracking every micro and macro simply isn’t necessary. {If you are training for an event or entering a competition, these tips aren’t for you so stop shaking your head ;-)}

#2 Baby Steps, Baby Steps

We just watched “What About Bob” last night and I couldn’t resist using that line as a heading.  Wanna make keeping track of your body’s reaction to your new way of eating easier?  Make one small change at a time.  Think “going Paleo” or primal sounds good?  Or maybe that clean eating is the answer to all your problems? {It’s not by the way, but more on that later}  Start small by eating more God food – fruits and veggies.  Then reduce your intake of man food – stuff that comes in a box or through a window.  And even then just focus on one or two things.  Last January I stopped eating fried foods for the month.  Not forever, just a month.  I wasn’t trying to set myself up for failure.  I do live in the South, after all.  Now, when I choose to eat fried foods I’m able to listen to my body and put down the last bite before it does me in.

#3 Grace Trumps Legalism

Why didn’t I give up fried foods forever?  Because although there is a lot of sound diet advice out there, I do not like the “eat this and not that” school of thought. It can get pretty legalistic pretty fast and turn into “eat this and only this and never ever eat that”.  God intended food to give life through its nutrients and for it to add to the enjoyment of our lives by the sheer yumminess of it.  Besides, legalism = feelings of deprivation and no one sticks with feeling deprived for long.  In fact, when people feel deprived they tend to swing the pendulum back in the other direction and binge.  Big time.  No? Just me?

#4 A Clean Heart Is Better Than A Clean Diet

Speaking of grace, before I got off the phone with my friend I told her about Revelation Wellness and their next Clean Hearting Challenge.  Wherever you are on your health and wellness journey, this challenge can be a real game changer.  I participated in it last September and it really helped me strengthen the spirit link of the mind, body, spirit wholeness approach to health and healing.  The next challenge starts tomorrow so you still have time to sign up before the midnight deadline!

 

#5 Shakes, Smoothies, and Juices – Oh My!

While I love shakes and smoothies, I do not recommend using them as meal replacements.  Even if their ingredient list is full of real food and all the nutrients you need in one day.  Nothing beats eating real food so start there.  Once upon a time I just couldn’t seem to eat breakfast on a consistent basis.  So I first started drinking shakes as my breakfast, not to replace the meal, but to form the habit of having it every day.  Then, as I started teaching more group fitness classes I started eating a meal for breakfast and my daily shake as my “second breakfast”  {not third or fourth, people – I’m not a hobbit people}  Because I eat my breakfast so early in the morning I’m super hungry once nine o’clock rolls around.  A shake makes a great second breakfast.  It also makes a great afternoon snack or after dinner dessert.

I was so ready to join the juicing movement after I finished watching “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” but didn’t feel worthy since I didn’t own a super cool blender.  {What’s up Vitamix and Blendtec owners?} Besides, it seemed like a waste of money because I never used all the fruits and veggies I bought.  Although I still don’t have a super high tech blender, I have found the perfect solution to the wasting fruits and veggies problem.  Green Blender ships you enough ingredients to make ten juices/smoothies from the five recipes they include.  No waste.  None.  I’ll be writing up a formal review later in the week, but no need to wait to use the code they shared with me.  Just hop on over and enter “reina” when you check out.

#6 Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

I know that starting to eat better, or returning to eating healthier can be overwhelming.  Even when someone gives you “easy to follow tips” like I tried to offer in this post.  So I’ll leave you with this – you are perfectly imperfect, just the way God made you.  I pray that as we journey to better health and greater wholeness that we invest in our bodies as vessels for His service.  That we see our bodies as they are – fearfully and wonderfully made – and not fixer upper projects.  Amen?