Healthy Habits that you Will Actually Look Forward to

Erica Mesirov Food Coach
 http://www.ericamesirov.com

The phrases “living healthy” or “healthy choices” often are associated with deprivation or denial.  We know that we should make choices in our lives that strengthen our bodies, improve our health and increase our potential for longevity.  Unfortunately, we often think of living healthy as giving up all the “fun stuff” to do things that are “good for us”.  Blah!

Yes, any healthy lifestyle includes moderation in certain aspects.  Having said that, there are plenty of health-supporting options that we could actually see ourselves looking forward to.  That’s right, there are downright awesome and fun filled things you could do every day that will improve detoxification, help you lose weight and even build a stronger brain.  Don’t believe me?  Well keep reading.

1. Get together with a friend or a loved one and give each other a massage.  Yes, massage is good for relaxation, but that isn’t the only health benefit!  Everyday we are exposed to viruses and toxins in the air, in our food, on the printers and copy machines at work and even in our carpets and mattresses at home.  To maintain good health, our bodies need to properly detoxify all these contaminants via our lymphatic system.  Our lymph system circulates through our body to pick off toxins to be disposed.  There isn’t a pump to keep the lymph system working like with the heart.  That is where massage can be oh so beneficial.  Massage can stimulate the lymph system and really rev it up and keep it moving.  What does this mean?  The toxins in your body will be quaking in their boots, keeping our bodies working and maintaining our health longer!

2. Take a warm bath with Epsom salts.  Ok, so most people know that Epsom salt baths are good to take after strenuous exercise.  Did you also know that an Epsom salt bath can help lull you to sleep?  The salts are made from magnesium, and magnesium is one of your body’s main tools to support relaxation throughout.  Feeling really wound up at the end of the day?  An Epsom salt bath might be just what your body needs to help you drift into a long, peaceful slumber.  Sleep isn’t just needed to make you feel good in the morning.  Sleep is the main opportunity that your body has to repair the damages of your day.  Improve your sleep quality and you won’t just need less caffeine.  You will also have a stronger body supporting vibrant health.  Just make sure the bath isn’t too hot or you might just wake yourself up more!

3. Eat healthy fat.  For years, fat got a really unfair bad rap.  Now Time magazine has come forward to announce to the world that it is time to start eating butter again.  Eating healthy fats is one of the tastiest, best things we can do to support our health.  Did you know that your brain is predominately made of fat?  Well, when you eat the wrong kinds of fats like from hydrogenated oil, you are building misshapen cells in your brain.  Ouch!  But if you don’t eat fat, your brain can’t carry out many of its functions. No wonder you feel so blah.   When you eat the good kind of fat, you keep your brain the brilliant powerhouse that it is.  So grab a handful of nuts, scoop on some avocado and pour a little coconut oil.  These foods taste great and including them in your diet is a wonderful, health-strengthening choice for your body and brain!

 

Erica Mesirov Food Coach

4. Paint a picture, play an instrument or go to a museum.   Keeping with the topic of the brain, studies have shown that participating in the arts can strengthen other pathways in your brain.  For instance, when kids participate in the arts, their math scores also tend to improve.  Not only that, but the arts can send “feel good” signals to your brain.  By relaxing the body, we reduce the amount of stress hormones present.  Stress hormones disrupt digestion, keep you up in the middle of the night and can throw off your hormones that control food intake.   Want to lose weight?  Incorporating any enjoyable, stress-relieving activity into your routine will help regulate all your hormones, including the ones you need to cooperate to lose weight!

5. Spend time outdoors.  This could mean riding your bike, playing a sport or walking along the beach.  The trick is timing.  One of the best times to go outside is in the morning, before the damaging rays of midday arrive.  First of all, bright light at the beginning of the day helps set our internal clock and regulates your sleep/wake cycle.  It tells our bodies that it is daytime, helps wake us up which will also help us fall asleep at a proper time at night.  Just leave the sunglasses at home because the sun must come through the eyes to reap the benefits.  Sun is also great for vitamin D.  We all know we need vitamin D for good health, yet we also know that if we spend too much time outdoors without sunscreen, we can help bring on skin cancer.  A morning walk is a great time to soak in the rays and give you the half-hour of sun exposure you need without the damaging rays!

My dog Sadie

6. Catch up on conversation with your pet.  Have you felt like you and your dog or cat just haven’t had a good chance to talk lately?  Studies show that spending time with a pet can actually boost your self esteem which is a huge plus for your health.  There is also some research that indicates spending time with a pet can actually protect you against heart disease.  Pet owners are shown to have lower cholesterol, lower triglycerides and are more likely to survive a heart attack if it does happen.  Not only that, but you can spill all your secrets to your pet, and it will still love you unconditionally. (Ok, I know your cat looks like she is judging you, but trust me…she secretly thinks you’re ay ok!)

See, being health conscious isn’t all drudgery.  Fancy that!  There are plenty of healthy habits that you will actually look forward to.  What are your favorite healthy habits?

The Lesson that Lena Dunham’s Naked Body Taught to Me.

So, I watched a marathon of Girls season three this weekend.  Previously I saw a bit of season two, but this was my first real encounter with this much-discussed show.  It was also my first encounter with the most talked about topic of the show: Lena Dunham’s liberal exposure of her naked, very normal, “non-Hollywood” physique.

I put the terms Lena Dunham’s nudity in quotation marks on Google and got 76,000 results.  And if you take out the quotations, boy are you left with a lot of people jabbering about her naked body.  I did find it interesting how she throws her character into toplessness at times when it isn’t needed for the events of the scene.  Yet I read somewhere that she does it because in life, people are just naked sometimes and she wants her show to be a slice of life.  Ok, I guess I buy that.

This got me thinking.  Maybe the general discomfort that many feel towards Lena Dunham’s “normal” body reflects a discomfort that we as a nation have towards our own “real” bodies.  I watched the Chilean film Gloria some months ago and it portrayed scenes of an older couple falling in love.   Their love story included scenes of them having sex and nudity.  I’ll be honest; I was a bit shocked to see a sex scene that included flabby skin and a little extra huffing and puffing.  That isn’t anything I’ve ever seen in a Hollywood film.  Don’t other countries say that Americans are uptight about nudity? 

In the United States a sex scene includes two ripped, glistening bodies contorted as the couple mutually climaxes to a screaming, exemplary orgasm.  In this country, when we see a naked body we see it airbrushed, in perfect lighting from the perfect angle and after the actor or actress has paid a personal trainer thousands of dollars to whip them into the shape they need to be in to go naked.  No, famous people don’t let the world see them in their “regular shape” (which quite frankly, for most of us would seem pretty awesome).  Our celebrities have to get themselves to a place of molded perfection.

The body is supposed to have curves, right?  I mean, even if a person is a healthy weight, isn’t there still some curve in the natural body?  Lena Dunham’s physique would have been considered ideal some generations ago.  Take a trip to your local museum and you are likely to find a painting of a beautiful voluptuous woman.  Throughout much of history, people would have judged her curves as a sign of fertility and wealth.

What percentage of us has difficulty looking at ourselves naked in the mirror?  Show of hands?  Do you see my hand in the air?  Because that isn’t my favorite pastime.  So maybe Lena Dunham’s body represents something much deeper in the general population.  Because, quite frankly, Lena Dunham looks much more like the rest of us than any glistening celebrity body shot from the perfect angle.  Maybe people have trouble looking at her, because people feel uncomfortable with themselves.

Lena Dunham’s naked body taught me that, as a country, we need to start to embrace the way we look naked.  I mean, the way we really look when we are naked.  If we can’t look at a reflection of a real body on television, how will we ever be able to make peace with ourselves?   As a food and weight loss coach, I haven’t forgotten the importance of being healthy.  And the healthy body for most people includes at least some curve.  Yet we can’t be healthy, no matter what size we are, if we can’t make peace with what we are at our core.

So I guess watching a marathon of Girls wasn’t such a mindless experience.  And I’m sure as long as there is lots of nudity in the show, people will keep talking.  Society’s view of the ideal body changes as generations change.  We can blame Hollywood, but at the end of the day, we are the ones buying the tickets.  As individuals, we get to decide for ourselves what is normal and what is beautiful. 

So what do you choose as your model of beauty?

You may learn more about Erica at http://www.ericamesirov.com

An Action Plan to Master your Market’s Produce Section

Erica Mesirov Food Coach  http://www.ericamesirov.com

So you arrive at your favorite grocery store.  You missed the festivities of your local farmer’s market so you are on the hunt for the freshest, best tasting, healthiest fruit and veggies.  Before you just randomly start picking out your produce – stop!  Do you have an action plan or a strategy?  Then do not pass go, do not collect $100 and do not fill your shopping cart just yet.  Did you know that there is a way to better your chances of choosing the most health promoting produce for your family?

Ok, I’m going to get the obvious out of the way first.  Yes, organic is healthier.  Why?  Because less pesticides and chemicals are used, you say? Well, that is part of the answer.  Think deeper, and when I say deeper, I mean deep into the plants’ roots.  Conventional farming strips minerals from the soils used to grow food.  When minerals are stripped, this is reflected in an absence or reduction of minerals in the foods the soil grows.  Organic farming methods replace the minerals lost in the soil, allowing the food to grow with more nutrients.  So when you eat organic, you are literally buffering your body’s nutrient reserve.

Can’t afford organic?  Unfortunately, organic can be more expensive which limits many people’s access to these nutrient rich foods.  Still, when you get to the market, peruse the organic sections for sales.  If it is on sale, grab it!  It is probably now very similar in price to conventionally grown fruits and veggies.  Also, while you may be drawn to shop at Whole Foods market for your organic produce, that might not be the best bang for the buck.  I find my local chain grocery store has more sales and in general, more affordable pricing on organic produce.  If possible, focus on purchasing organic the most pesticide laden foods like apple and celery.  Not sure how your favorite food ranks?  Here is a list of fruits and veggies in order of pesticide data findings for 2014:  http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php

Ok, now that we’ve passed the organic aisle, we can look at the rest.  Do you think if it isn’t organic, that it is all the same?  The answer is decidedly no.  If you look at the signs by the produce, they should list where the food was grown.  If the food was grown in a different country, it is wise to research their laws regarding pesticide and chemical use.  I often see signs for foods grown in a variety of countries.   Yet I go online and see documentation that suggests certain countries’ pesticide regulations tend to be lax.  I use this information to help determine my produce purchases. 

The best non-organic purchases are foods that are currently in-season, meaning they are grown now, and only need to travel a short distance to reach your market.  For me, that means I look for California local.  Now, I believe it is phenomenal to support your local economy, but that isn’t the main impetus for shopping local.  The real value in choosing produce from your local growers is those precious fruits and vegetables have only a short distance to travel to reach you.  What happens when you buy from across the country?  To accommodate the long travel time, items must be picked before they are ripe and then the ripening process must be chemically halted.  Otherwise, these foods would ripen and go bad before they ever get near your grocery shelves.  Then the produce must embark on a long journey to reach your grocery shelves. 

This journey involves being packed up and placed into hot (or cold in the winter) trucks to embark on the long journey towards your home.  The food is often stored in warehouses for long periods of time awaiting placement on store shelves.  Then, when the food is ready to be placed, it is chemically ripened and chemically altered to look fresh.  This chemical ripening means not only more chemicals in your body upon consumption.  It also means less nutrients for you.  This is because when a food is chemically ripened, it grows differently and loses much of its nutrient value.

So this brings us to the last part of the store to buy good quality fruits and vegetables.  Hint: you won’t find it near the fresh produce section.  A great place to buy good quality fruits and vegetables when you can’t find good quality fresh selections is the frozen food aisle.  “What?”, you gasp!  Isn’t fresh always the best option.  No, it isn’t!

If you can always buy fresh foods that are local and in season, then there is no advantage to buying frozen.  Since most of us eventually crave something that is out of season or isn’t grown locally, frozen is a good alternative.  Frozen foods are picked fresh and immediately frozen.  This means that they aren’t chemically altered for transport and they don’t need to be chemically ripened.  Purchasing frozen can also sometimes be a more affordable way to buy organic for those whose budgets preclude organic merchandise.  When food isn’t local and in-season, frozen is better.

One final thought for your fruit and vegetable picking.  Always choose items that are the brightest and richest in color.  Fruits and vegetables have things called phytonutrients which is part of their nutrient powerhouse.  The brighter the color, the more phytonutrients!  The more phytonutrients you consume, the better off your body will be. 

So there is your action plan for the produce department.  And if all this overwhelms you, still eat your fruits and veggies.  It is better to pick lesser quality fruit and vegetables than to not eat them at all!

The Beautiful Art of Doing NOTHING

Erica Mesirov Food Coach  http://www.ericameirov.com

I strive to do less.  Can this be me talking?  I never thought I would hear those words come from my lips.  I’m the epitome of the type A personality.   I have to be creating, achieving or embarking on something at any moment in time or I feel lazy and time negligent.  I am always striving towards something far in the future that I need to have, and only my hard work will bring it to me.

I have distant memories of sitting in my middle school classroom, drowning in a messy cry.  Tears have dribbled down onto my face, shirt, corduroy pants (why, I don’t know) and have even created a slipping hazard in the space around me.  Did someone die?  No, I was lucky never to experience a close death in childhood.  The tragedy was an item I was holding clenched in my grief stricken fist:  My final paper for French class with a C marked on top which would serve as my entire grade for the trimester.  C meant adequate (barely), which was an unspeakable atrocity in my universe.

So here I sit in life with my plate full and mountains of obligations before me.  I have dust on the floors, laundry to clean, dishes that have done there fare share of soaking and a dog with a leash in her mouth waiting to be walked.  I have a master’s degree thesis with notes scrawled in piles of notebooks that are pleading for organization.  I have social media for my business that needs updating.  I have a paid gym membership waiting to be used.

So with all these obligations before me, what am I asking myself to do?  The answer, for me, is difficult to say.  Yet here I say it: I strive to do absolutely nothing. 

I’m not doing this out of preference.  This has to do with some health challenges that have come up.  There was a series of deaths in my life in the last couple of years, along with a busy schedule, crazy partying neighbors and a little too much coffee, which created high levels of stress and shot my adrenals. Now my adrenals are sub-par during the day and fighting my ability to sleep at night.   I did the damage to myself.  Now I need to create healing and my body is screaming at me to rest.

So I sit here in uncharted territory.  I feel my body lie into the couch and I ponder what nothingness should feel like.  I start reading a book but quickly drift away by making a to-do list in my head.  No, that’s not it.  I pop in a yoga and meditation DVD, but start planning on how to excel on my thesis while losing this valuable time.  Ok, that didn’t work.

Then it hits me.  You don’t just achieve things by doing.  Sometimes you can gain the most just by being.  I’ve never given myself a chance to “just be” in my life.  Heck, I’m the person who went up to my kindergarten teacher to complain that there was too much coloring and not enough reading instruction.  What will I gain by taking time for myself to get healthy?  I don’t know yet.  I imagine I will learn things about myself I never knew.  At the very least, I will learn the art of doing nothing, which I currently score a C, at best, in my current ability. 

And what about my thesis?  Well, I may get a C on that too…or an A.  Who knows? Because I’m old enough to know a grade doesn’t define me, one achievement doesn’t encompass all of who I am and that you can control your effort but not the results. I’m also starting to become aware that there are surprises found in silence.  I’m going to have to let that be enough. 

So right now I am nothing more than enough.  Yes in this moment I’m just purely adequate and average.  And in about a minute I will be closing my computer to do nothing.  To tell you the truth, that feels pretty good.

The Health Essential Benefits of Leisure Time

Erica Mesirov Food Coach http://www.ericamesirov.com

Want to do something super supportive of good health?  What if I told you there was something you could do that involves no deprivation and would not only make you feel wonderful but also improve your health?  “Sign me up right now!”, you scream!  Ok, great!  I want you to close your e-mail, hide your smartphone, put your textbooks away, get someone to watch the kids and….

You still with me?  Great because this is the good part.

I want you to take some time each day to unwind and relax.  This could mean lighting candles, taking a bath, journaling, meditating, reading a book or whatever else allows you to center yourself and de-stress.

Hello?  HELLO?  Is anybody there?

Gosh, why when I mention taking a little time each day for down-time does everybody leave the room?  Relaxation has gotten a bad rap these days.  It is often equated with being slothful, selfish, lazy and worse.  Leisure time is as vital to your health and well being as eating vegetables, running on the treadmill or reducing sweets!

What happens if you decide not to charge your smartphone?  It eventually dies right?  And your computer?  I bet when you don’t use it after a certain amount of time, it eventually goes into sleep mode.  What about the electricity in your house?  I imagine you don’t run every high powered electric device at once or you will soon be in the basement looking for the fuse box.

We realize our electronics have limits, but we refuse to believe that our bodies do too.  Running non-stop elevates our stress hormones.  We can exist without outward repercussion for a period of time in this inflamed, elevated state.  This fools us into thinking that there isn’t a negative consequence to this lifestyle.  We tell ourselves, we are fine, we feel fine and even though we are teetering on the brink, we don’t yet have tangible signals of the combustive tension building up in our internal organs.

Then one day it happens.  We get a small sign that something is amiss.  Maybe we gain 10 pounds, maybe we have trouble falling asleep, or perhaps we have a little indigestion.  The imbalance and inflammation in our bodies is trying to give us a clue…which unfortunately we don’t have time for because we have a deadline.  Skip ahead about five years, and now we’ve gained fifty pounds, or gone weeks without a good nights sleep or have full blown IBS.   And all these negative side affects of too much stress feeds back into the inflammation and hormonal imbalance that is making us feel crappy in the first place.

Taking leisure time isn’t a luxury.  It is an essential piece of the health and weight-loss puzzle.  Constant pressure and stress is as toxic to our bodies as eating at McDonalds on a daily basis. 

Not convinced?  Here are some added benefits of leisure time.  It allows your clients to have the best and most capable you.  It allows you to work faster in the office.  It makes you more cheerful and patient at home.  It will make you healthier and potentially allow you to live longer to be with everyone who cares about you.

Yes, there are situations like being a single parent that make finding time for you much more demanding.  Take whatever time you can.  If you can only find 10 minutes at a time, that will have to work for the moment.  Just make sure to find it. 

The crazy thing is, after you try it, you might actually find you like it.  So what do you do daily to relax?

The Real Skinny on Going Gluten-Free

So, the world is a-buzz with conversations about going gluten free these days.  Does a gluten-free diet equal a healthy diet?  Is this just a fad like low-carb or low-fat?  Will going gluten-free benefit me?  Good questions!  Here I answer some of your top questions about gluten-free diets!

1) Isn’t this just a fad?  If gluten were a problem, people would have been suffering from this for 1000s of years and yet I just heard of this a few years ago.   Well, it makes sense you are confused. But let me ask you a question.  When your grandparents were little kids, did they eat food bought in a box and warmed up in a microwave, or were most of their meals cooked fresh from whole foods?  Look around your local supermarket.  The only places we see fresh whole foods these days are in the periphery of the market like in the fruit and vegetable section.  The rest of our food is bought in cans, bottles, boxes, frozen etc.  Do you know what helps give these processed foods their texture?  Gluten!  For the first time in history gluten has been separated from the grain and is being artificially added to almost everything we eat. This is why we are one of the first generations to be suffering from the effects of gluten.

2) If I choose options that are gluten-free, that means I’m eating healthy, right?  I hate to disappoint you, but the answer is no.  Many people go gluten-free and fill their diets with gluten-free pastas, crackers, cookies and cake.  These foods are just as processed, sugar filled and nutrient depleted as their gluten filled counterparts.  The difference is the gluten has been removed so they won’t cause a reaction in the gluten intolerant.  In fact, certain gluten-free food products can actually be worse for you.  For instance, many gluten-free pastas are made out of GMO corn.  GMOs can take a toll on health when eaten as a large part of the diet.

3) If I’m not celiac, doesn’t that mean I can eat gluten without repercussion?  Well, not so fast.  Only 1% of the population is celiac.  Statistics show that about 40% of the population is gluten sensitive.  What does gluten sensitive mean?  Well, gluten sensitivity isn’t a conventional allergy and symptoms may take up to 72 hours to appear.  How may you suspect that you are gluten sensitive?  There is a wide array of symptoms.  If you have stomach problems, acne, eczema, depression, mental illness, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis or frequent flu and colds, you may be suffering from gluten sensitivity. 

4) But, if I took a blood test and it came back negative, that means I don’t have a problem with gluten?  Blood tests are good to measure allergies.  Sensitivities are a bit harder to decipher.  There are some naturopaths who claim to diagnose gluten sensitivity through muscle testing.  The best way I know how to discover gluten sensitivity is to do an elimination diet.  You will eliminate gluten for a two week period and remain aware of how you feel.  Then you reintroduce it and see if any symptoms that went away during the elimination period return.  If you see no improvement in symptoms during the elimination or worsening of symptoms during re-introduction, it means one of two things.  You don’t have a problem with gluten, or there is more than one food that is causing you problems and you need to eliminate the other food as well.  You should always eliminate dairy with gluten since these sensitivities are often seen together, but the foods should be re-introduced apart to track symptoms separately.

5) If I eliminate gluten, the only thing I have to look for on food labels is the word wheat?  Gosh, I wish it were that easy, but finding gluten on a food label can be tricky business.  Grains such as wheat, barley, rye and most oats contain gluten.  Since much of what is being added to processed food is a processed food product, it becomes even more difficult to find it on a label.  For instance, the word starch could mean gluten, soy sauce almost always contains gluten and natural flavoring has the possibility of containing gluten.  The best way to be sure is to look for foods that are labeled gluten-free.  Many stores also have a list that can be accessed online of most of their gluten-free products.

6) I suspect I have a gluten sensitivity.  It is too much trouble to eliminate it, so I just try not to eat it most of the time.  Isn’t that almost as good as eliminating it?  You would think, but it doesn’t quite work that way.  One of the main things a gluten sensitivity does is it creates what is called leaky gut.  Leaky gut, as it sounds, means food is literally leaking through your gut into your blood stream.  Gross, right?  Things like partially digested foods are getting into your blood stream that shouldn’t, creating all sorts of imbalances and havoc.  Once this happens, your gut won’t start to heal if you are continually exposing it to gluten, even if the exposure is less than before.  You need to eliminate it for a period of time and after a number of months, you may or may not be able to tolerate it one or two times a week.  If you are celiac, you can never have gluten again, even if you don’t have symptoms when you eat it. 

7) Will going gluten-free make me lose weight?  The gluten-free diet on its own is not a weight loss diet.  Completely eliminating gluten may help you lose weight only if you are gluten sensitive.  Healing the gut over time will help lesson inflammation, support better detoxification and aid other imbalances that are getting in the way of being a proper weight.  A gluten-free diet isn’t a weight loss diet on its own, but the effects can help those who are sensitive with their other weight loss endeavors.

Well, that is my primer on going gluten-free.  Did I answer the question you wanted to ask?  If not, leave it in the comment section below and I will make sure to address it!

The #1 Tip to Help you Eat Healthier

Erica Mesirov Food Coach http://www.ericamesirov.com

Eating nutritiously can be a drag…well that is how it seems at first.  You know you want to be healthy, but you also know that you don’t want every meal to be a tasteless, bland, unimaginative ordeal.  Eating is one of the joys in life. So how do you balance being in tip-top shape with some type of joie de vivre?

We often begin a diet after a period of less than desirable eating.  With our stomachs full of pastries, pizza and deep fried decadence, we decide it is time to make a change.  Starting TOMORROW, we will eat nothing but nutritious, wholesome and slimming sustenance. 

In my humble opinion, this is the set-up for failure.  When making a diet change, we shouldn’t do anything that we can’t see ourselves maintaining for a lifetime.  Otherwise, our exciting, new healthy eating plan has failure built right into it.  Can you really see yourself resisting cookies, cream sauce and macaroni and cheese for the rest of your life?  Then you shouldn’t set up that type of expectation from the get-go.

A better way to request change from ourselves is to ask ourselves to transition away from the bad for you foods and towards better quality diet choices.  When eating a plate full of sugary, oily, refined carbohydrate-rich indulgence, our taste buds become dulled.  Healthy options are tasteless and diet feels like deprivation.  Give yourself time to transition to a better way of eating, and you will eventually taste all the crisp, fresh, naturally sweet goodness in a plate full of lightly steamed vegetables or a big chicken salad with olive oil and lemon. You will also have the opportunity to balance your blood sugar which will help keep cravings at bay

Here is how transitioning works.  Let’s say that you begin every morning with a big bowl of granola.  The problem with most granolas is that they have tons of added sugar.  They also have a good deal of refined carbohydrate which quickly turns to sugar in the body.  Therefore, you may want to transition to a more nutritious option.  First you may choose a more natural granola made with whole grains, nuts and fruit and only lightly sweetened with agave or honey.  You will eat this for a week while you get used to the taste of lower sugar.  Then the next week you will instead make a big bowl of oatmeal with nuts and just a small amount of maple syrup or maybe some granola sprinkled on top. Again, you are transitioning towards a low sugar, whole food option.   Then finally the next week, you will remove the maple syrup and granola completely, keep the nuts and add lots of fresh berries.  You will have given your taste buds time to transition away from a sugary breakfast and appreciate the subtle sweetness of fruit sweetened whole grain cereal.

You can do this without setting up the false expectation that you will never eat your favorite foods again.  As you transition to a wholesome diet, you will increasingly enjoy the taste of vitamin and mineral-filled health supportive options.  When you eat what used to be your favorite sugar filled cereal, you will notice that the blood sugar rush makes you feel kind of crappy.  When you have achieved stable blood sugar, you can eat your former favorite foods without them throwing you off your game.   Instead of making you want to binge, now the sugar cereal will make you feel depleted, leading you back to your fruit and nut oatmeal the next day.  You’ll enjoy your favorite foods, but not to a point where you WANT to eat them everyday.

Be kind to yourself when changing your diet and make sure to get all the support that you need.  Diet isn’t something you start Monday.  When we slowly adjust our meal plan, our taste buds steadily change and adapt, our blood sugar normalizes and “diet” becomes something that makes us feel good.  Now is that worth taking the time for?