Our modern word Diet has a history, with origins coming from the Greek diaita . Diaita was a noun that meant a way of living, and also had a more specific meaning, signifying a way of living which could include a food diet as well as other other daily habits. Most of our daily food choices ultimately depend on preference, marketing and trends. Someone may decide to follow a trend and go fat free, carb free, hi protein, rustic or something else. Restaurant commercials and food products tempt us everywhere. When you combine our fast food culture, a trendy diet, and then limit it further with personal preferences, it’s fairly easy to come up nutritionally short, under satisfied, and overweight.
What does your diet say about you? What is your Diaita; your way of living? Does it include too many fast foods, packaged foods, or high sodium meals that dominate your taste buds into food ignorance? Have you bullied your taste buds into submission? Our taste buds are capable of subtlety unless you bully them with salty, fatty or highly processed foods and add-ons. By giving our taste buds simple, clean foods, we can re-awaken our taste buds and our good health. My food philosophy is built around whole foods that are seasonally and readily available combined with essential food groups. Learn the basics, and then add flair and flavor! I assist my clients in learning simple recipes that use natural ingredients and to proportion their serving size for each meal and snack. Expanding the number of foods and flavors in your go to selections can bring even more flair and nutrition to your plate. You have to learn to play the diet game for good healthy living. Once you learn the game, you can keep your skills up by practicing. Some of my favorite ways to “practice” are to experiment with color themes of food, try something new or mysterious to me, and try foods and spices from other cultures. When at the local market, I look for fruits and vegetables that are bold in color, flavor and even name. An earlier post of mine was a recipe that used Daikon radishes as a sushi wrapper, and it was AMAZING! Finding new, unconventional ways to eat healthy can be such fun, and can really help expand your diet. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Trying new things, although sometimes weird or scary, can really open your eyes into a whole new world of foods, flavors, and cultures. Get some friends or family in on the game too! Go with whatever smells or looks good to you, and start playing in the kitchen! Expanding your diet is a great way to keep you moving forward in your health journey. The more you expand your healthy variety, the less likely you are to expand your waistline. I think it’s safe to say that everyone experiences the point in their fitness or nutritional journey where giving up begins to overpower perseverance. This can be especially true if the results we desire do not come as quickly as we want them to. We start to downplay our goals, cheat on our schedules and simply think that our dreams are not attainable. It is at times like this when our foundations become so important. Having something to reflect back on can be one of the best things to push you through whatever ditch is keeping you from accomplishing your goals.
I wrote in an earlier post about the importance of building a foundational “safety net” to fall back on when we start to lose sight of the finish line. Whether it’s a picture, list or something else, I can’t emphasize enough how necessary it is to have a method of reminding yourself of why you’re even on this journey to begin with. We cannot let our self-doubt keep us from accomplishing what we set out to do. A small reminder everyday can really make a big difference in the long run. Even something as simple as saying your self-mantra every morning can really help keep our negative thoughts away from our dreams. Something I like to do is keep an inspiring quote on my mirror so that when I look at myself every morning, I feel confidant and encouraged. Whatever motivates you to continue on, find a way to incorporate it into your lifestyle. Making motivation a habit will help prevent you from hitting rock bottom and keep you moving forward. So whether your just starting out, halfway done or at the end of your health journey, I highly encourage everyone to find a small motivational task that can be done every day. Keep yourself from loosing sight of your end goals. If you still lose sight, build a strong foundation that will get you back on track. Regardless of the method you choose, perseverance is something that must be maintained. I hope everyone enjoyed Mother’s day yesterday! It’s a wonderful time to celebrate the love and support that your mom has given you, and to show some love back! Whether it’s from your mom or simply someone special in your life, support is something that we could all use a lot of. Regardless of what we need it for, knowing we have a team cheering for us almost always gives us that extra boost of confidence to carry out our mission. I always give as much support as I can to my clients, because I know how much it can help them to do great things with their health. I am inspired and amazed by the efforts I see every day.
Not only do we need support in our healthy lives, but in our personal lives as well. When people support us through tough times, it makes a huge impact. I’ve written before about how important it is to have support, but I want to emphasize how important it is to give support. If someone you know is starting to pursue a healthier lifestyle, I highly encourage you to seek them out and let them know how much you are rooting for them! Letting them know that they have at least one person backing them up can be such a confidence booster and could push them to continue on if they get off track. There are plenty of influences out there tempting us off track. Let’s build a team of positive influence that supports the healthy efforts of those around us. Take notice of small things that people are doing to improve their health and fitness, and lend an encouraging word of support. If you see someone in your office filling up their water bottle, or a person loading their grocery cart with veggies or having an apple for snack – give a little kudos! If you’ve ever heard the line “you get what you give” then this is the idea that I’m pulling at. If you notice and seek out people who desire to be healthy and give them your support, you are more likely to find that support when you need it. Follow the pay-it-forward concept and inspire others. By giving others support and surrounding ourselves with supportive people, we can all feel and be healthier. Building a strong foundation is one of the best things you can do for a healthy lifestyle. This foundation acts almost as a net to fall back on if you lose your way, and makes it a lot easier to get back up and keep going rather than just quitting all together. We tend to avoid thinking about the possibility of getting off track with our health until it is upon us, but it’s an important factor to consider and plan ahead for. Our foundations are what define who we are, what are goals are, and how we are going to reach them. They are a reflection of our strengths and a tool to fight our weaknesses. If you think of your health journey as building a house, then you can see how important the presence of a foundation is. You can get every other detail right on the house, and make it gorgeous. But, if your foundation is weak, the house will eventually begin to fall apart. A strong foundation keeps a house together, and can keep your healthy lifestyle intact.
Foundations for health feel or look different for every individual, but should share a common purpose. The purpose is to help support us when things get a little shaky. If the foundation is strong, we weather the storm better, and can put ourselves back on track much more quickly and efficiently. Whether it’s setting goals with dates attached, writing down the top 5 reason’s why you want to be healthy, or that picture of what you DO, or DO NOT want to look like - your foundations should be inspiring things that will push you forward to the finish line. Summer is just around the corner, and the lively weather is the perfect inspiration to make that push towards a healthier lifestyle. With all of the fresh produce and cheerful faces and warming sunshine, it’s hard to resist the urge to go outside and be active! Take those pale limbs out for some fresh air, and take advantage of this time to strengthen your foundations. You will be amazed at what motivation and confidence it brings. |