Getting started with healthy eating

Thursday, June 10, 2010  1:17 pm

It’s challenging to follow a healthy lifestyle in our anything-but-healthy culture. But for most of us, it’s worth the effort to be the most vibrant, healthy version of ourselves that we can. No matter who you are – how old, how physically or financially limited – you can improve your life by making healthier food choices and moving more, and connecting with others. Here are a few ideas for laying the groundwork for dietary change. These are ideas for gathering information and doing the mental preparation for success.

* Don’t believe the hype. The idea of a pill, potion or diet that will magically excuse you from the reality of how our human bodies work can feel irresistible. But like 1% mortgages and other investment schemes we’ve been learning so much about lately, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. The FDA recently warned that some diet aids can actually do serious physical damage.

The only way for the average person to stay healthy over the long haul is to eat a healthy plant-based diet and be adequately physically active. The pill or diet might help with a jump start, but eventually we all live within our human physiology.

* Take a positive, additive approach. The fact that we live in human bodies is a very good thing. Weight loss or getting healthy is best experienced as an exercise in getting to know yourself and how your body works. The key is to find some joy – some fun, in learning how to care for yourself well. In my years of counseling people on lifestyle, I find it’s best to start by adding good things – like physical activity, and servings of fruits and vegetables. That way, the foods and activities that don’t serve you (like French fries, donuts and Law & Order marathons) tend to fall by the wayside with less sacrificial pain. There is a way to enjoy what you eat and follow a healthy diet.

* Know where your journey begins. There are a slew of good (and free) web based assessment tools to help you figure out what you’re eating right now. That’s really the first step in finding out where you want to go. Step on the scale, find your BMI, and see where you are on the sliding scale from underweight to obese. For most of these assessment numbers, see them then set them aside, and focus on the habits. It’s easy to get fixated on “I knew I struggled with weight but now I see I’m obese – I’m no good”. When those kind of thoughts pop up, see if you can turn it around to a positive, like “I knew things were getting out of hand, and now I know the situation and can do something about it – I can do this”. So long as you are focused on positive change and positive habits you life is likely to get better. Everyone has difficulty with something in their life. It’s how you work it in your mind that makes the difference between success and spinning your wheels.