Healthy In-take, Healthy Out-take: Making Sustainable Food Changes

We're almost finished with January and I'm sure some of you made New Year's resolutions. Most of them probably had to do with changing unhealthy habits like weight loss or smoking cessation. How are those going?

This is the point when many people start losing enthusiasm for making changes – mostly because their resolutions were unrealistic to begin with. After about 3-4 weeks, and seeing little or no results, most folks give up and resign themselves to another year of being overweight or smoking. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Make Small, Sustainable Changes Instead

Rather than making big, splashy, dramatic changes, try making small, sustainable ones. Research shows they're much easier to maintain. Let me give some examples for weight loss:

Instead of – "I will never eat sweets again!"
Try – "I will greatly cut down on sweets. I'll eat more fresh fruit and save baked desserts, in reasonable portions, for twice a week only."

Instead of – "I will eat vegetables every day."
Try – "I will eat more vegetables throughout the week. I will try new veggies and new recipes to keep things interesting."

Instead of – "I will never eat chips and salsa!"
Try – "I will eat fresh vegetables with low-calorie dip most of the week and have a reasonable amount of chips and salsa once a week."

See the difference? The "Instead of" comments are very black and white (never, always) and unrealistic. If you've been making these types of comments, ease up and try a gentler, more realistic approach. I think you'll like the results!