Pssssst: the Diet like a Dietitian Nutrition Guide IS NOW OUT. Click here to learn more!
Want to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle and honor your body with nutrition without dieting?
Living a healthy lifestyle can done be without partaking in excessive restrictions, and rules that take over your life. Living a healthy lifestyle should include traveling, socializing with friends, and a whole lot of balance. A lot of people fall into two extremes thinking I either have to diet, or just I won’t be living and eating healthy. But there IS a sweet spot of NOT dieting, yet honoring our bodies through gentle nutrition. Want this kinda lifestyle for yourself? Keep reading because I’m about to share the 4 parts/steps which I use with my clients to transition them into a healthy lifestyle without dieting!!
Listen to the Podcast on iTunes right here
Listen to the Podcast on Spotify here
Diets gives you rules, restrictions, structure. Structure can be good and necessary, but diets also take away from our lives. The fear of breaking your calorie limit when going out to eat, or missing a workout while traveling can keep you from living your life. Eating a healthy lifestyle should empower you to do everything you want to do…. not deprive you.
On the other hand we see on social media a lot of hearing “just listen to your body and eat nutrient dense foods”. Which sounds great but if you don’t already have a strong nutrition foundation under you then you’re left in the dark. This can look a lot like listening to your body by giving into every junk food craving or having an entire cake instead of one slice.
“Diets make you feel deprived, lifestyle changes and sustainable nutrition help you feel alive.”
How do we find balance between these two extremes; honoring our bodies and feeling our best in a balanced and free way? I’m about to share my 4 Parts/Steps for transitioning to a healthy lifestyle without dieting!
Part 1: Create a firm nutrition foundation & Begin becoming aware of your eating habits
Creating a firm nutrition foundation starts by learning about general nutrition and nutrition basics. So what does this look like?
Nutrition Basics:
- Getting 7-9 hours of sleep a day
- Managing stress in a healthy way
- Less processed foods
- More whole foods
- Drinking 8-10 cups of water a day
- Moving your body for 60 minutes a day
- Practicing mindfulness while eating
A firm nutrition foundation is just as important as knowing why it DOES matter. Knowing why what you’re putting in your body and how certain foods affect you — so you can begin a journey driven by wanting to feel your best & honor your body, vs to just hit a number goal or follow rules.
Okay now let’s talk about mindfulness!! Are you present when you’re eating? Are you always multitasking? When you’re not mentally present while eating it’s so easy to overeat or to eat out of boredom. If you want to become more mindful then an easy way is to begin journaling, tracking your eating, eating habits, and emotions that go along with it all. This lets you see where you could make small changes in order to make progress. Once you become aware of those bad habits you can then switch to healthier eating habits!
Part 2: Continue to learn more about your current eating habits and creating a solid nutrition foundation for a few weeks before trying to really listen to your bodies cues
Start becoming aware of the dieting lies and food police’s commentary going on in your mind. Most of us are totally unaware of the rules we live by such as “I can’t eat past 6pm” or “Dessert will make me fat”
Begin to figure out your personal barriers and then begin working backwards on things you can do to overcome those barriers. We all have different personal barriers for example: Is it lack of nutrient dense foods? Overeating? Not enough food? No motivation? No time? Once you’ve become aware of your own personal barriers begin working backwards on things you can do to overcome them.
Continuing using tracking as a means to become more aware of your eating habits! What is the nutritional value of the foods you love and eat regularly? What meals are you eating that are protein/fat/carb balanced? If they’re not then how can you make them more balanced?
Part 3: Begin to tune into your hunger and fullness cues, and begin supporting your journey through non-tracking measures
Once you have a firm nutrition foundation and have tracked long enough to understand whats in the food you eat its time to cut the cord and stop tracking. I teach my clients several techniques to be able to tune into their hunger cues and honor their bodies with food without tracking and obsessing over number.
1-10 scale — How Hungry Are You Before, During, And After?
Take a moment before, during, and after eating and ask yourself how hungry are you? This is not only a great way to pause and practice mindfulness but to become more aware of your body.
Non-Number Related Support
Hand portioning: Use your hands to be able to know what a portion of what a carb, fat, and protein should look like in your meals.
Eyeball For #freshfitnfive
Including these 5 nutrients at every meal will help you balance your blood sugar and hunger hormones. Which will overall help you curb your cravings, help you stop overeating, meet daily protein goals, feel an increase of energy, and simply feel satisfied after meals! So what are these 5 super important nutrients?
- Protein
- Smart Carbs
- Healthy Fats
- Fiber
- Boosts
If you want to learn more about the #freshfitnfive click here!!
Part 4: Total Freedom
Using your firm nutrition foundation and understanding + knowing your personal eating habits/styles that needed changes you should be fueling your body and eating in a way that makes you feel your best. You should feel confident enough in yourself to cut the cord with tracking honoring your body by relying on your hunger and fullness cues ++ your nutrition understanding.
Use weekly self checks to motivate yourself and check in
“What could you do better?”
“What made you feel good vs what didn’t?”
Allow these weekly self checks to drive what changes you make. Continue setting fun healthy living goals to continue working on a better version of you! Allow these new goals to motivate you to continue working on the best version of yourself.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
The nutrition guide is now available & it outlines ALL of this to a T ++ and gives you:
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- All the nutrition education to set a firm foundation (general nutrition, macronutrients, tips and tricks, healthy swaps, grocery shopping, eating out suggestions, and more!)
- How to track and the calculations you need to become your own expert
- An entire intuitive eating mastery guide towards end
- 100 balanced recipes (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/snacks) to help give you a way to eat healthy without having to follow a strict meal plan!
- Exact path through all 4 part – step by step – with checklists and action steps
- No fluff – just everything you need to know to become your own expert!
- A Private FB community
Head to www.sarahgracemeck.com/nutritionguide to learn alllll about it and get your guide today!