Most of the time, diets don’t work. Traditionally, diets are straightforward prescriptions. Eat this exact thing, in this exact amount, at this exact time. No matter how enthusiastic you are, diets are impossible to execute perfectly. This is normal. Life gets busy. Kids get sick. You are expected to work late. It’s a birthday or special holiday. Or if you do in fact follow your plan too well for too long, you could have disordered eating patterns or lasting health consequences as a result. Or if you follow it perfectly and it sucks, you get turned off by the process and quit altogether. While sometimes a rigid prescription is necessary, for the most part we don’t need that surgical precision. You just need to think about how you can make what you are already eating a little bit better. This means fiddling with recipes and adjusting quantities. Making small changes and improvements to what you already eat and enjoy eating, one step at a time.
Your Food Plan consists of your Feel Best foods. Ultimately, you want the majority of your diet to consist of your Feel Best foods. But to start, make some switches from good to better and better to best.
Here is a scenario for transforming your breakfast into one that makes you Feel Good, to one that makes you Feel Better and ultimately, one that makes you feel your Best.
Phase 1: Your breakfast consists of the Starbucks drive thru, grabbing a whipped-cream coffee drink and a pastry. You eat in the car on your way to work. Now you begin to experiment to improve your breakfast just a little bit.
Phase 2: You look at the Starbucks menu and exchange your breakfast pastry for a whole grain muffin and replace your coffee order with one that has a single cream and sugar. You bring a greek yogurt cup from home for some added protein. You eat as you scroll through your emails.
Phase 3: You switch your whole grain muffin for some protein packed cottage cheese or greek yogurt. You add some berries for sweetness. You’re adding 2% milk instead of cream to your coffee. You eat at home using dishes instead of take out packages. You scroll through your social media feeds and check the news.
Phase 4: You prepped your breakfast during the weekend and opened your fridge to overnight oats and a veggie frittata. Instead of coffee, you reach for some hot lemon water. You eat mindfully, watching the sunrise. Your protein packed breakfast helps you to stay full throughout the morning and energized to take on the day.
Meal transformation is not about reaching perfection. But rather progressing based on what you want, what you need, and what you can reasonably do now. Over time, things will change. Think long term. What do you want to happen over the next few months? Years? Decade? Do you want to be on a meal plan? Or do you want to intuitively and wisely make the best choices for yourself, rather than following a rulebook.