I used to say: "I eat healthy" a lot!

I took a lot of pride in that statement!

At the same time, I was feeling hungry most of the time.

I experienced energy crushes daily.

I also had cravings for sweets.

However, my thinking was because I was eating "healthy", I was ok. Can you relate?

The next thought in line for me was: "I must be getting old and experiencing hormonal changes" - my response to a "sudden" weight gain. I was already exercising and eating healthy.

It could not be caused by that? Nope.....

What I did not know?........ Well, I did not know a lot!!!!

I was influenced by many food rules that I "accepted" without critical thinking!

Does that sound familiar?

Until I started "traveling" into the world of nutrition, diet and food psychology to help myself and my current clients to shift the limiting beliefs about food and eating habits.

Even though I was eating healthy, I had a restrictive "diet" mindset without officially being on any particular diet. I had a great cover up for it: "I eat healthy!" The restricting mindset was driving my food decisions and away from tuning to my actual body signals.

What is healthy eating anyway?

If you ask many health conscious people, they will give you their subjective definition. If there is something healthy, then there is something unhealthy? Could that be chocolate? For some people it is! There is a lot more to this dilemma but I would give you just a few examples in this blog.

First of all, our health is the result of our diet, which is the culmination of days, weeks, and month’s worth of eating decisions.

And what determines whether our diet is healthy, is not the healthfulness of the individual foods we eat, but the outcomes in which they create and how they affect our mindset. How we prioritize our mental energy based on how we approach our food decisions.

The confusion lies in thinking of your eating “in theory” vs real world. It is always about the real world that is not black and white!!!! Don't you love colors?

If you compare a 100% whole food diet to one that is 80% whole foods and 20% junks foods, then of course the 100% whole foods diet is going to be healthier. Is it really possible?

However, our eating doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Everything we eat affects everything else we eat. Our food choices also affect how we approach food (restriction vs abundance).

If choosing an apple over some chocolate leads to feelings of restriction and deprivation that then leads to a 5,000 calorie binge on the chocolate you deprived yourself of, is the apple really healthy for YOU? Restrict and binge cycle is real! Have you ever experienced it?

What if having a 300 calorie bowl of cinnamon toast crunch at night instead of an apple satisfies you enough that it makes it easy to adhere to a diet that is majority whole foods.

In this scenario is the cereal healthier than an apple for YOU?

Remember that eating is personal. It’s easy to say sugar is bad for you or that something is healthier than another when you look at it in isolation.

What if there is another way where eating the same Monday thru Sunday and all year around is possible?

What there is no moral consequences for feeling bad for eating "unhealthy" and feeling good for eating "healthy?

Want to know more?

Join our Cheesecake vs Weight Loss workshop this Friday, June 24 at 1pm EST.

Here is a link to register for the workshop.

Your questions are always welcome?

Did this message provoke some thinking for you?