Tag Archive for: take action

Dieting Information Overload – When To Start Taking Action

to-do-listI’ve been a registered dietitian nutritionist in private practice for over 28 years now. Wow, hard to believe. And a lot has changed in the industry in the last 28 years. When I first got out of school and opened my business, I was mostly treating patients for medical conditions using nutrition therapy. These conditions included uncontrolled diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, gastrointestinal conditions, to name a few.

 

In most of these cases, except for some of the gastrointestinal conditions, weight loss was always a part of the treatment plan. I created a nutrition plan that included a meal plan tailored to the patients’ medical condition and weight loss goals. My patients were getting better and losing weight. It all seemed so perfect.

 

At some point, I asked myself what can I do to help prevent these illnesses or the complications from occurring due to their diseases. Again, weight loss was usually part of the prevention plan and my patients wanted a meal plan to follow, which I obliged to.

 

Yet, at some point about 5-6 years ago, I realized that these meal plans are actually doing a disservice to many of these patients. The meal plan turned into a diet for them to follow and they just didn’t know how to navigate certain situations in their lives when they couldn’t “follow” the meal plan I created. These included vacations, weddings, deaths, job loss and other events and circumstances. They then felt guilty, ashamed and upset that they just couldn’t “do it”. They lost total confidence and trust in themselves.

 

Can you relate?

 

This is when I turned my attention to helping people break free of dieting to learn how to re-trust themselves and their bodies again to make the food choices that feel right for them. Yes, this is where my intuitive eating work comes in.

 

But here is what I have found.

 

As I started talking about and spreading my message about giving up dieting, all of a sudden the internet was swarming with coaches doing the same thing. It caught on like wildfire! It seems like every other day there is another summit with ‘expert interviews’ telling you how to give up dieting.

 

I’ve been on these summits, and I do believe they can be very helpful. But I also believe that there comes a point where you need to stop collecting information and start taking action. That’s when the real change happens.

 

So, in theory, yes, giving up dieting is your answer to finally achieving the body and life you want without food restriction, deprivation and feelings of guilt after you eat. But, if you don’t begin to practice this, you will continue to struggle.

 

3 Tips to Help You Start Taking Action

 

  • Stop signing up for every “end dieting” summit that pops up in your newsfeed. Choose 1 or 2 experts that you resonate most with and follow them (hint…I hope I’m one of them).

 

  • Pick one action step and focus on that for one week. Self-assess each evening to see how you feel with your progress. When you are ready, add a second action step and so on. Don’t take on too many changes at once.

 

  • See support to help you on your journey. These changes are tough! Anyone who tells you otherwise is not being truthful! There is no reason to go this alone. An RDN coach can walk the journey with you and support you. If you’d like to see how I can help you, just contact me here.

 

I am excited for you that you have made the commitment to give up dieting forever. I also know how scary that thought is. Please don’t let that fear keep you in the “gathering information” phase. Start taking action today. I am here to support you.

 

Drown Out the Miracle Diet Noise – Create Healthy Habits from Healthy Thoughts Instead

healthy-thoughts-quotes w textHave 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.