Have you ever had a day where you saw something that inspired you?  Or maybe you read something that immediately caused you to say “yes, I’m in”! Something about it caught your attention and made you want to be better, or do better.  So, you jump on board without too much thought.  But then what happens.  A hectic day full of work, carpools, food shopping, homework, cleaning, and preparing food for the family often pushes those noble thoughts out of your head and into space.

There is so much propaganda out there right now trying to get into your head to encourage you to create these grandiose plans to take dieting action.  While any healthy thought is admirable, a grandiose thought like, “I’m never going to eat bread again” can get you into trouble.  These declarations are usually too difficult to execute forever.

I’ve seen this myself.  Without calling out any particular person or company, there is one “celebrity health guru” that comes to mind.  Not a day goes by that I don’t get an email or video from her encouraging her readers to eliminate certain foods to drop the weight.  Now don’t get me wrong.  There is definitely a time and place when you might need to eliminate certain foods that are GI triggers for you, or that you are allergic to or have a food sensitivity too.  I actually work with clients who have food triggers/sensitivities and we do an elimination diet followed by food challenges to identify those triggers.

That’s not what I am referring to here.  To tell the general public to absolutely avoid certain foods (like dairy, gluten, eggs…) in order to drop the weight, well that to me will yield short term success.  Yes, when you eliminate entire food categories and the “junk food” that usually falls within that category (think cakes, cookies, white bread when eliminating gluten, and fruited high sugar yogurt when eliminating dairy), you will most definitely lose weight.  But is there a reason you should be off these food categories for life if you choose healthier options within those categories (think whole grains, whole wheat, and plain Greek yogurt)?

I think not!

What you can do when you are faced with these grandiose thoughts is to use them as a springboard for coming up with more realistic and sound thoughts that you can truly turn into action.  Do you really want to never eat bread again?  Do you think that is what is going to make you into the healthier person you want to be?

Instead, make a commitment to not denying yourself but to give yourself unconditional permission to eat what you truly want when you are hungry and stop when you are comfortably full.  Choose healthier versions of these foods for good health and you will find that you won’t even desire them that often.  Key words here…healthier versions!

As an intuitive eater, you learn what your true food preferences are.  Oftentimes, something that you thought was a trigger food for you that you could not stop eating (overeating/bingeing) may actually be a food that you realize you never really liked.

Small changes add up to big changes and instead of having a “flash in the pan” healthy moment, you will end up with a healthy lifestyle full of healthy habits that has built up over time.

I encourage you to honor every healthy thought you have.  Think about how you can turn it into a healthy habit instead of it being a passing thought that disappears because it is too big to stick.  You can turn any thought into a healthy action, just be mindful about the ones you choose.

Your turn to take action:  Turn one of your healthy thoughts into a healthy habit this week.  Please share how you did this and how you feel.