Heavily processed foods dominate the market more every year.
Despite the push in the past 20 years for healthier foods, countries like the United States continue to see obesity rates rise.
Everywhere you look ads scream at you to consume their latest product. Whether its food or other goods the push for you to buy is all around.
Making healthy choices daily becomes harder especially if you have a life filled with pressing priorities.
Focus on Eating Whole Minimally Processed Foods
Your goal should be to take control of your unhealthy eating habits as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, food that is available for fast consumption is stuffed with unnecessary artificial ingredients.
In addition to being easy to buy and consume, processed foods are addictive. They leave you craving more.
Here are some ways I’ve found to get off the processed food hamster wheel:
- Go grocery shopping on the same day and time each week. This reduces the need to hit the GrubHub app.
- Educate yourself on the ingredients in the foods you consume. A little education goes a long way. You don’t have to become a health guru.
- Stick with whole minimally processed foods as much as possible. These foods are easy to prepare with basic some cooking skills.
- Batch prep time intensive meals. Crock pots and healthy casseroles help.
- Stick to natural sugars. Fruit, local honey, maple syrup, and organic dark chocolate work best if you have a sweet tooth.
Foods like:
- Grass-fed beef, Bison, Salmon, Wild Shrimp, Monkfish, Mussels, and Wild Catfish
- Wild Rice, Quinoa, Black Bean Pasta, and Sweet Potato
- Kale, Arugula, Spinach, and Watercress
- Garlic, Mushrooms, and Onion
Help change your palate. Any excess weight you have will start falling off.
Plus your cravings will be reduced because you’re filling your body with important vitamins and minerals.
No excessive supplementation is required.
Variation in the Foods You Eat Is Key
I don’t know about you but I love eating a wide variety of food.
I know some people prefer a more narrow diet but most people I talk to get bored easily when they eat the same thing every day.
Nutritionist Karen Collins says,
“Use variety to support healthy eating. The variety of food on hand. (pantry, fridge, freezer)
Vary healthy meals each week for nutrients supplied and enjoyment of healthy eating.”
You don’t have to eat chicken, brown rice, and broccoli every day to have a good diet for healthy living.
There’s so much conflicting information out there when it comes to eating healthy.
Try not to subscribe to one diet. Diets like Vegan or Keto work best if they’re altered to suit your needs.
Restrictive diets are hard to maintain long term. The failure rate is high and most go back to how they were eating before. They end up gaining more weight in the process.
When you eat a whole foods diet that you love, this enhances your success rate ten-fold.
Eat Fewer, Larger Meals Daily
Personally, I don’t consider meal schedules diets but when and how often you eat can have an effect on your overall lifestyle.
In recent years intermittent fasting and TRF (time restricted feeding) have become quite popular.
When you delay your first meal of the day your body reaps the benefits of being in a fat burning state for longer.
When you eat your body starts burning glucose, not its fat stores. When you eat fewer meals per day this can be beneficial for long term weight loss.
Eating many small meals throughout the day besides being a time waster, you ‘ll experience blood sugar spikes and drops.
Fasting advocate John Romaniello says,
“ Caloric manipulation aside, fasting works incredibly well because of the effect that fasting has on your overall hormonal environment.”
“The less times you eat per day the less your insulin will be spiked.” “ The elevated HGH (human growth hormone) in combination with low insulin is a deadly one-two punch to your body fat.”
When you delay your first meal in addition to changing your diet, this is quite challenging.
I encourage you to change your diet first before attempting an intermittent fasting protocol.
The Beginners Guide to Fasting will help you get started once you’re ready.
Use the “Crowd Out” Method to Help Kick Junk Food Eating
Once you begin to change your diet, eat those healthy new foods as much as possible.
Leave no room in your stomach for processed foods.
Eventually, you’ll start to crave whole foods instead. This will take some time but it’s possible.
Years ago I was addicted to soda, cheeseburgers, and sweets. In a few months after I changed my diet, those old foods I used to eat looked awful.
I crowded out the old foods relentlessly. If I had a craving I ate a sweet potato or a scoop of almond butter. This did wonders.
The Institute of Integrative Nutrition advises you to go at your own pace once you start crowding out junk food.
It’s important that you’re kind to yourself during this radical transformation.
If so, your new healthy living diet will last a lifetime.
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Download The Quick Guide to Less Stress, Less Weight for 10 more tips that’ll help you maintain your success in healthy living for years to come.
