Five Factors of Healthy Nutrition for Life.
The development of habits may take a bit of work and practice, but once they are established you will barely have to think about them ever again.
You will reach a stage where you will no longer think about your food as a ‘diet’ but it will simply become ‘how you eat’.
Here are five factors of healthy nutrition for long term success:
1.
Seek help.
The most common things that I hear as a Coach when discussing nutrition with a new client is ‘I know what to do, I’m just not doing it’ or when asked what their current diet is like they respond with ‘yeah, it’s not too bad’ only for seconds later to reveal they start their day with coco pops.
On the surface it seems as though nutrition is fairly simple, and in some respects it is. The statistics on obesity and chronic disease say it might be otherwise though…
It is not at all surprising that there is confusion with all the clickbait nonsense floating around, filter out the noise and seek help.
2.
Eat for Health not aesthetics.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to feel confident about your appearance.
But it is not a good marker for progress.
It is an incredibly difficult way to measure progress in a positive manner as most people are not very kind to themselves and their physical appearance. They tend to hone in on what they see as negatives and ignore the positives.
When seeking health as a primary driver progress becomes more tangible and the byproduct is improved body composition.
Health markers will show in blood work, energy levels, mood, concentration, sleep, for women it will show in their menstrual cycle, you might be lifting more, running faster, have better endurance and get sick less.
3.
Data does not lie.
Track your food.
If you are new to nutrition or you have not seen an improvement in a while then track your data.
Not just your food, but everything: your sleep, your energy, your recovery, your cycle, your mood, your skin, your sex drive; the more data you have the more the evidence will tell you where you can improve and if there are any obvious patterns.
The data will not only fish out problems, it will also highlight your success!
4.
Commitment.
It is super common and understandable for people to want quick fixes.
But when it comes to nutrition there is no such thing.
You cannot eat well for 12 weeks and then go back to old habits and not expect the old results!
Establishing a way to eat that is enduring and sustainable is essential.
Part of that picture is also accepting that a diet should not be aiming for perfection.
If you aim for perfect you will undoubtedly come up short and that can be very demotivating.
I ask people to rate their diets on a scale of 1 -100 with 100 being ‘perfect’.
If they can get to 75/80 then they have likely found something they can do long term.
5.
Find like minded people.
A support system can be a game changer. Mixing with people who are also invested in their health is really helpful. It is amazing how many people will try to sabotage your progress, even those closest to you can be guilty of it. Tempting you with nights out and takeaways. If you find a support system of people who speak your health language, who are equally motivated and who want you to succeed just as much if not more than they want it for themselves, it can be amazing how much that can help adherence.