Dietary Change. I feel a lot of uncertainty in our society when I talk about diet. A lot of people don’t be sensible of the danger based of a wrong diet. They need to know how they can optimize their own wellbeing by changing to a healthy diet. My own experience and research confirm my feeling about the industry lie. Most of the people trust the manufacturer and marketing and eat lots of food which are seemingly healthy. They don’t know that most of the food they eat aren’t healthy.
Do you answer one of the following questions with YES?
You want to raise your wellbeing?
You like to get better skin?
You like to have strong nails and shiny hair?
You like to have dense tissue?
You like to sleep the whole night?
You like to reduce indigestion?
Or only feel better, fitter and livelier?
Then you can continue reading.
1. Dietary Change begins in your head!
No Win without effort
The human is a creature of habit. We are living in our own comfort zone. If we like to change something in our life it isn’t easy. But it is easier when we accept. It is very important to accept the changing to implement something new in your life durable. A new and more healthy diet requires more organization and you need to think about how to find this time in your life.
Think in small steps
Have you ever been tried to inform yourself about a healthy diet? Maybe you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. You are not alone. A dietary change need time. It’s a durable process. Be relaxed and don’t set to ambitiously goals. Everybody has another reason to change the diet. What’s yours? When you know what’s your reason you can start with some steps which fits perfect to your Vision.
Be honest with you
I think the biggest point is to be honest. Sometimes we do not know about the unhealthy food we eat but sometimes we know it and we beautify the facts. It’s totally ok when we eat something which is not healthy but it isn’t ok when you tell yourself it IS HEALTHY. For example: When I eat unhealthy fatty French fries I can tell myself: “These French fries are not that unhealthy because they are made from potatoes!”. But that’s a lie. I tell myself: “I want to eat these unhealthy French fries although I know they are really unhealthy!”. In this case I can enjoy my French Fries but I won’t eat them very often. Haha.
2. Analyze: What / When / Where do you eat?
Be aware
I’m sure you tried to change your diet in the past but you haven’t changed it in that way you really want? Have you asked yourself why you failed? Have you asked yourself what you eat in a day and what’s healthy and what not? First you need to analyze your diet and understand what’s wrong with it. My tip is to make a quick mental calculation what you eat in a day. In this way you find a first point you can change. I’m sure there is something you are satisfied with you don’t need to change. But there are some point you are unsatisfied. Begin with snacks or meals you are really really unsatisfied with and search for a healthy Option.
Understand what you eat
Do you know what you eat? Do you know what is healthy and what not? I’m sure there are a lot of food ingredients you think they are healthy but they aren’t. I made my own experience in that case and recognized that the food industry is more interested in making money than in your health. You need to act in your own responsibility. You will have more success and more fun when you know exactly what you eat. Find time to learn about the food you eat.
Feelings and eating behaviours
We are emotional souls full of different feelings. Our eating behaviours are depending with our feelings we have. If you are nervous and angry you will not think about your diet very well. You will eat uncontrolled and often unhealthy because your diet isn’t important in that moment. When you feel good and happy you will think about more because you like to be kind to yourself. You need to discover yourself and your eating behaviours. First when you know your eating behaviors you can counteract. You can carry some healthy snacks with you during your busy work to have something healthy on hand when you need something and when you are stressed. Otherwise you will pick up the best food you find and that isn’t really healthy most of the times. And there are so many healthy Food idea out there. For example Jessie’s Roasted Blueberry Ice Cream & Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches.
3. Dietary Change Step-by-Step
Avoid radical Dietary Change
I’m often full of enthusiasm when I’m confident of something new. I put all my time in my new project and recognized I worked too hard very often. I learned to avoid stress and think first before approach new projects. Please don’t be too enthusiastic – even less when the project is Dietary Change. Growing on your own experiences and foil is much more effective than act before thinking.
Match your diet to your life
Think about your Dietary Change. Be honest to yourself and asked yourself if your plans are really realistic. You need meals and food which you can integrate in your daily life. For example: You like to bake your bread by yourself in the future. But is that possible? Are you able to bake it 3 times a week? For me it wasn’t. So my solution was to find a trustful store who sell healthy bread. Instead of baking my own bread I spend lots of time in my kitchen in the morning to prepare my breakfast variations. This point is more important for me. As you can see you can’t do ALL THESE amazing things in the kitchen when you have another real life. You need to set priorities.
Start with ONE change ONLY
Sense of achievements are the base for a permanent motivation. And you need motivation to learn all that stuff to live more healthy. When I think about my last years I learned a lot and I’m still learning what is good for me and what not. Dietary change is a process and you need to learn it slow and step by step to integrate new food and meals in your day. Best decision is to start with only one thing you like to change. And then change and listen to your body if you feel good or not. Some food which is really healthy mustn’t be healthy for you. I can’t eat lots of raw vegetables for example. I prefer to cook them or make a smoothie. Some other people feel really good by eating raw vegetables. Find your own way!
Here are some idea to start with:
Müsli
Replace your muesli with a healthy muesli. Look at the Package label to make sure there are no unhealthy additives in it. And avoid sugar in your muesli. Best is to make your own version. Use seed, nuts, oats and fresh fruits and top with milk. You can use dates as a sweetener. You can also buy good quality musli in an organic store but it’s much more expensive than a self-made version.
Bread
Do you love bread? Make sure you use full-value bread and no bread made from superfine flour. The difference is the health value of the bread you eat. You will get full for longer when you use full-value bread. You make sure you don’t get hungry to fast because in this case the risk is higher to eat uncontrolled and unhealthy.
Meat
A great way to implement more healthy food in your diet is to reduce meat and sausage. It isn’t necessary to avoid is completely if you don’t like to avoid it. But try to reduce and replace. You can eat some organic cheese or a vegan / vegetarian spread instead. In my optinion the best waay is to live without meat and sausages because I made my own experience with the changing. Since I don’t eat animals I implement much more fruits, vegetables and legumes in my diet and I feel much more better. If you need to know more about the benefits of a plant-based diet read this book: China Studys
Milk
Who reads my Blog Post about dairy milk vs nut milk? After my change I feel much more better. I feel more in order and I don’t feel bad in my stomach. I’m not lactose-intolerant but I feel dairy products aren’t really good for my body. This is one more opportunity to eat / drink more healthy. If you buy nutmilk take care of the ingredients because they are often additives inside which are not healthy. I make my own or buy it in an organic store. You can create so many special Drinks with nut milk. Like this Black Sesame Latte from Sophie.
Eat not to late
Another idea is to eat not too late. The human has some habits and they can be change if you want to change it. It isn’t really a problem to change habits. You only need to be patient. I learned to eat not too late to help my body to process during the night. It also encourage your metabolism.