Healthy eating is a serious concern for many and there is no shortage of diets, studies, and advice promising to help you drop the pounds and slim up. From keto to paleo to the south beach diet, and from the plethora of diet pills to help you with that little boost, you can find yourself overwhelmed by all this information and promises of a quick fix.
The truth is that many of these diets don’t work because the objective- to be thin, to lose weight- shouldn’t be the true objective. And these diets tend to be short term and cold turkey type methods that will only set you up to fail in the end.
If you want to be healthy, the objective shouldn’t be just to lose weight and be thin, but rather, it should be geared towards inner health. Because for some people, losing weight is simply unrealistic. We aren’t all built the same, and some of us simply can’t drop the weight, and that doesn’t mean we have to be unhealthy. Weight is not necessarily indicative of health. If you watch what you eat and exercise, this will go a long way towards making you healthy, regardless of whether you end up losing weight or not.
I have wanted to lose weight as well. My goal has always been to get my health problems under control, and I thought that by losing weight, that could be enough. But for a woman of 35 years of age, losing weight has proved harder than I thought and I have come to realize that it’s more important to take control of my physical health, my inner being, rather than my outer appearance.
My health plan is centered and tailored to me. It may not work for everyone else, and that’s the point. Everyone is different. For me, cutting junk food out cold turkey never helped because eventually I know I’d slip up. But if I eat healthily and reward myself with a little treat every once in awhile, I find myself much more able to control those insatiable cravings for junk. My favorite junk foods include hot Cheetos, candy, and root beer. If I eat healthy for two weeks, I reward myself with a bag of hot Cheetos or a root beer at the end of those two weeks. One snack every two weeks isn’t going to hurt me, and it means I won’t have to give these foods up entirely. Because for me, giving foods up never really helped.
I do yoga or pilates every 20 minutes when I wake up. Doing exercise in the morning helps me have energy throughout the day. I suffer from kidney disease and an autoimmune disorder and having the energy to get through my day has been a constant struggle.
For breakfast, I have a smoothie made up of fruit, chia seeds, spinach, oats, honey, greek yogurt, and coconut milk. I also have a fried egg with pepper and a cup of black coffee with a small splash of creamer. With breakfast, usually after my workout, I enjoy an episode of one or my favorite shows or perhaps a documentary, something to help relax and get my mind engaged before I start work for the day.
For lunch, I sautee mushrooms and onions with some spices and a small amount of butter, and I also have some celery with peanut butter, cucumbers, pickles, and perhaps a slice of cheese or cherry tomatoes. In between lunch and breakfast and dinner, I might have a snack which could include air-popped popcorn with spices, raw unsalted almonds or peanuts, or perhaps dark chocolate covered raisins.
For dinner, I will have a small portion of protein. It could be tofu or chicken or a few slices of pork or beef, but I always include either two vegetables or one vegetable and one grain. My husband and I enjoy vegetables such as Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, or asparagus. For grains, we enjoy quinoa, bulgar, wild rice, brown rice, or perhaps some couscous. For a beverage, we usually just settle for either water or unsweetened iced tea. For dessert, I will usually opt for either a piece of fruit. This is my diet plan. It’s what works for me. That’s the point of all of this, is to illustrate that what works for one person may not work for others. This particular plan works for me because I can be healthy and I still get to enjoy an occasional treat every now and then, so I don’t have to feel like I am giving anything up. For a foodie like myself, that’s what’s most important to me.
