5 Tips to Create a New Dietary Lifestyle

Many of us want to change our dietary lifestyle but struggle to buckle down. Let's make some changes together so we can transform from the inside out.

Look at the picture of above. What do you see? Perhaps, what sticks out to you is the fruit. Or maybe you notice the donuts covered in icing. Perhaps, the first thing you see is the Jimmy Dean sausages next to the tomatoes. I noticed the sausages, Im not gone lie. Ha! Everything in this photo is permissible but not everything is beneficial to consume... excessively. I eat everything in this photo but over the years, once I became more intentional about my nutrition and wellness journey, the practice of balance in my diet became a priority.

Many of us want to be transformed, but the reality is, it takes patience, diligence, and a pinch of grace. The key to transformation is creating healthy systems for your life. Systems that help you remain consistent, provide freedom, and add value to you. The picture above is VERY colorful so my goal is to help you prioritize purchasing and eating colorful food.

START HERE: 5 tips that you can use to help you create a colorful dietary lifestyle that is packed with nutrition without compromising taste.

Tip #1 - Be REAL

Doesn't it suck when you start a new diet and you are so irritated that you have to eat cauliflower rice and grilled chicken breast? Seems super plain right. Some people may like it but I encourage people not to deprive themselves of foods they enjoy. It is crucial to be honest about your likes and dislikes related to food. I HATE eating bean sprouts for some reason. I am a big texture person but there is something about the texture of bean sprouts that makes me want to throw them across the table. Bean sprouts protect against cell damage and they are an amazing source of antioxidants but none of that compels me to eat it. So, its not happening LOL. Im not going to eat something that I absolutely hate and neither should you. The key is to find other alternatives that offer the same benefit. So my challenge to you is to be real about your relationship with food. What do you like? Which foods make you puke? Im telling you it is truly okay if you don't like eggs even though most of the world does - who cares. There are other great sources of protein you can find. Don't stress about it. Just swap it for something else and keep it pushing.

Tip #2 - Be SPECIFIC

We often say to ourselves "Man, I really need to set these goals and stick with them." But my husband likes to say "having a vision is essential to accomplishing those goals." Making a plan to actually walk out that vision is essential too but without the vision, its hard to be motivated to keep going. What is your vision for your health? Create that first and then talk about specific goals. A vision statement is an idealistic longterm state of the future. Let me show you some examples:

Tesla's vision is to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world's transition to electric vehicles.

Amazon's vision is to be earth's most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Netflix's vision is to become the world's leading streaming entertainment service.

These examples should help you create your own vision. Once you write the vision out and make it plain, you will feel more empowered to accomplish your health goals. Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) and that will set you up just right.

Hopefully these examples will help you create a vision for your health that will inspire you to create healthy systems for your life.

"Your body holds deep wisdom. Trust in it. Learn from it. Nourish it. Watch your life transform and be healthy.” ― Bella Bleue

Tip #3 - Be STRATEGIC

Reflect on the times that you normally crave a particular snack - what time is it? is that snack normally sugary? Personally, I have sugar cravings in the early afternoon like clock work. I've had to learn overtime how to be strategic with planning my day and making sure I have everything I need to satisfy those cravings in a healthier way in order to balance my blood sugar levels.

Additionally, you have to plan out your meals and snacks. So many of us plan to go to the grocery store but we arrive there without a grocery list or a budget. How do you really expect to be efficient on your grocery run without a plan? Perhaps, some free-spirited people would say that they are still efficient without the plan and maybe that is true but its always nice to switch things up and tweak your normal flow. Submitting to another way may be more helpful than you think.

How to be strategic:

1. Schedule a day in the week where you do all your grocery shopping

2. Create a grocery list and a budget up to two days before your shopping day

   1. I like to start creating my budget and list of food two days before to give me enough time if I want to make any changes

   2. Your budget and food list should be for at least 5 days and up to 7 days

3. Make your grocery store run no longer than an hour in order to minimize your temptation to spend over budget and get things that are not on your list

Lets think of ways to mitigate the habit of snacking if that is something you are trying to change in your dietary lifestyle.

Tip #4 - Be FLEXIBLE - Mix it up!

Who really wants to eat the same exact thing every day? Some of us may have a higher tolerance for it while others do not. Regardless, I'm a firm believer that its always a great idea to switch things up just for fun. Make your dietary lifestyle exciting and nutritious.

Here's how you can mix things up:

1. Choose a different theme for food every week

   1. One week can be asian-themed and the next week can be latin-themed

2. Choose a different grocery store to shop at every week

   1. Not all grocery stores carry the same items so sometimes, going to a different store expands your options. For example, you may find a particular marinade for a chicken recipe that you normally wouldn't find at the grocery store you frequent

3. Choose 2-3 different options for lunch and dinner recipes

   1. Alternating recipes often creates a sense of anticipation for the meals that you will prepare

   2. For example, Monday and Wednesday you can make chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and shrimp stir fry for dinner. Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you can make veggie quesadillas for lunch and keto lasagna for dinner. On Friday, perhaps you can have leftovers or order from your favorite restaurant for dinner. And so on, and so on.

Commit to mixing it up this week with your dietary lifestyle and I believe it will really inspire you. Flexibility helps you feel like you have freedom so be flexible and see what happens.

Tip #5 - Be GENTLE

Transformation requires consistency, courage, and most importantly patience. If you want to make a change, it's going to take time and it's going o require you to be gentle towards yourself.

It is interesting how we can be patient and gentle towards others; however, we don't give ourselves the same level of grace - not even close. They say we are our own worst critic - its true. If you can be a little more gentle towards yourself, that decision will promote more progress in your health journey than you think. Could it be that you haven't seen much progress in your health journey because every time you have "failed", you have beaten yourself up for it? Perhaps you should exchange your critical, self-punishing attitude for a more gracious and gentle one. It's time to be more gentle toward yourself as you create a new dietary lifestyle.

Add Color

If you have gotten to this part of this post, that means you now have the tools you need to create a new dietary lifestyle. Remember our keys: be real, be specific, be strategic, be flexible, be gentle. Starting something new is always challenging because it's often outside of our comfort zone, but the reality is, we need the challenge in order to transform from the inside out. Next time you are trying to create a meal, take a glance at your plate and remember to add color. That will help diversify your pallet. If you are looking for a coach who can hold you accountable to creating healthy systems for your life and help curate meal plans for you, click below to set up a free consultation. Let's create a dietary lifestyle with colorfulllll plates?

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