10 Simple Steps to A Healthier and Thinner You

Easy, effortless weight loss happens as a result of shifting to an eating style that focuses on real, whole nutrient-dense food.

But, if shifting the way we eat was as simple as saying to people, “Hey, just eat more real, whole, healthy foods and limit, or even eliminate, the not-so-great ones,” we’d all be healthy skinny Minnies by now! So …

… Any program is setting you up to fail (yet again!) if it

does not incorporate actionable steps to help you change.

So, here you’ll find 10 actionable tips that you can start today that can help you succeed on your weight loss journey.

1. Know Your Why

With all the wrong hyper-palatable foods available to us everywhere and all the time, if you don’t have a really good reason for wanting to lose weight – your why – you will end up doing things that you really don’t want to do, and that is just not sustainable.

So, know your why. In my world, and perhaps in yours as well, my why was about lowering my inflammation to feel better. Yes, yes, of course I wanted to drop my excess weight. But. ironically, once I took the focus off of fat/weight loss and put it on health instead, that is when real, long-term weight loss happened! Be as specific as possible about your why and don’t underestimate this step.

Then, once you have your reason, keep it at the forefront of your mind. It’s useful to jot your why down and display it in a prominent place where you’ll see it, and often. Seeing your why spelled out can help thwart missteps, and even distract you from any thoughts of eating unhelpful foods. The disruption, even if brief, can help you stay on track and remain committed. All you need is a second or two for that food thought to disappear. So, seeing your why posted can help it to pass.

Visualizing your reason can also serve to remind you of your goal and to help reinforce the positive changes you’ve already made. Remember, nothing tastes as good as a reached goal feels.

2. understand what’s blocking you

Most of us already know that The Standard American Diet (aptly abbreviated as SAD) is unhealthy. But, learning that our modern food has been purposely engineered to manipulate our eating behavior, and how that works against the way our bodies and our brains were designed to function, is important for getting us to stop eating it.

In this case, knowledge really is power.

Shifting the way we eat becomes a “When We Know Better, We Can Do Better” situation. If you haven’t yet read what blocks us from eating healthfully, you can read that here.

3. make Small Changes

The key to getting your changes to stick long-term is to make small improvements everyday. Oftentimes, we think we need to make a huge effort, with immediate and visible outcomes associated with that effort, in order for something to be effective. This isn’t true at all.

The Power of Tiny Gains tells us if we get one percent better each day at something for one year, we’ll end up thirty-eight times better at it by the end of that year. So, while improving little by little isn’t usually noticeable right away, those small changes do add up. To win big, we have to think small.

4. Clean out your environment

Ridding our environments of unhelpful foods is one of the most important steps we can take. The only reason it isn’t listed first is because determining your reason for wanting to change, and understanding how the foods of the Standard American Diet keep us trapped in a vicious cycle, gleans knowledge that can make cleaning out your spaces easier. Use your “ah-ha” moments to power you through this task.

Refrigerators, freezers, pantries, cabinets, cars, offices, nightstands, lockers, purses, gym bags – everywhere you keep food needs an overhaul. A good starting point is to ditch or donate foods that wouldn’t spoil if left to do so. For the most part, this means removing prepackaged, processed foods. These are unhelpful foods (and drinks) that are typically low in fiber and are laden with excess fat, sugar, and salt, chemical additives, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial colors.

Ideally, it’s best if you are able to remove unhelpful foods in one full swoop – all at once – so you aren’t continually cued or triggered by them. It’s the cold turkey approach to quitting – the “outta sight, outta mind” philosophy. But, realistically, this isn’t usually possible for many of us, so that’s why I included the idea of the Power of Tiny Gains above. You will still accomplish your goal, maybe just not as fast as you could, but the Power of Tiny gains tells us this can actually serve us better in the long run. Taking it step by step when I changed to a “Primarily Plants” way of eating is what I ended up doing, and it works.

What is key here is not re-purchasing unhelpful foods after you’ve used them up. If you’re wondering what you’ll eat instead, the answer is real, whole food. Practically every meal, snack, or nosh has a healthier alternative. It may take a little figuring out initially, but this is time and effort well spent – promise!

We are ditching or donating foods with excess:

– fats (including hydrogenated)

– sugars

– salt

We are ditching or donating foods that contain:

– additives

– preservatives

– and dyes

Foods with excess fat, sugar, salt, additives, preservatives,

and dyes include but are not limited to:

– fast food

– frozen dinners

– most prepackaged baked goods, including cakes

– cookies

– donuts, high-sugar granola bars

– crackers

– processed meats

– sodas and energy drinks

– fruit drinks with added sugar

– candy

– ice cream

– chips and fries

– pizza

– diet foods

– instant ramen

– many canned foods

– and many boxed foods

Note: Since there are differing levels in which foods are processed, it’s helpful to consider each ingredient of a product in terms of its healthfulness. It is also helpful to consider where its calories are coming from. The calories should be coming from fiber and lean protein and not from high amounts of saturated fats or sugars. For example, Greek yogurt is processed, but most of its calories comes from protein, and not from excess fat and sugar like donuts. When evaluating how much a food has been processed, it’s helpful to read the product’s ingredient list. By ingredient list, I’m talking about the list of actual ingredients from which the the product is made. It is usually located on the back of the package, not on the front, where all the loosey-goosey, buzz-word, marketing jazz is found. Marketing claims are not facts, so ignore them!

Most of the food you’ll be buying won’t have an ingredient list anyway because they’ll be real, whole foods. But, a good rule of thumb when reading labels is, if a product has more than 3 or 4 ingredients, and if those ingredients are hard to pronounce, or you have to look them up to understand what they are, you’re better off passing on the item. I hear many of you sighing, but don’t despair. Take a deep breath and know that many of your favorites can be made in healthier ways, at home, where you control the ingredients. This way you know exactly what, and how much, of any particular ingredient is in your food.

5. Replenish with healthy options

Replenishing is about improving the quality of your food. We are aiming to surround ourselves with as much minimally processed direct-from-nature, real, whole, food as possible. We are aiming for food with less saturated fat, less added sugars, less salt, and no chemical additives, preservatives, and dyes. We are aiming to surround ourselves with as much fruit, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins as possible. And, it can’t be said enough – label reading is a must because some processed foods aren’t that easily avoided.

Take ketchup, for example. It is a processed condiment that most of us keep in our homes. But we don’t have to purchase the kinds with high fructose corn syrup in them. Shoot for less processed and less packaged food – even be weary of those processed foods that are marketed as “health foods.” They are still highly processed, high calorie, and devoid of nutrients like fiber.

One app I found very helpful in my own transformation journey that is really, really, really useful for helping us discern how healthful a product is or isn’t, is Fooducate. With Fooducate, you are able to scan a products barcode with your phone to see a nutrition grade for that product. The product gets analyzed in terms of its added sugar content, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, controversial food additives including colorings and preservatives, artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, and genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). The healthier the product, the higher the grade. There’s also an interactive community (shout out to all my wonderful friends!!) where you can ask questions and get answers. Fooducate even won 1st prize in the Surgeon General’s Healthy App Challenge. Best part, access is free for many features!

Whole foods are foods that have not been changed from their original state. They have not been modified or tampered with in a lab, factory, or manufacturing plant, and, they typically don’t come with labels or barcodes.

They include:

– fruits

– vegetables

– legumes and beans

– whole grains

– raw and unsalted nuts and seeds

– low processed healthy fats

– AND –

(if you want to eat animal protein)

– eggs –

– low-fat dairy –

– lean meat –

– poultry –

– fish –

from animals raised as close to their natural state as possible.

Fresh is best, frozen is good, and canned and jarred are okay, but watch the sodium levels in canned vegetables, and look for canned fruit that’s packed in its own juices with no added sugar. Do your best to choose brands that do not include any additives, preservatives, or dyes.

An important point of the replenishing step:

It is very helpful to plan meals, in advance,

so you know what to purchase.

Meal planning is very easy to do. It’s an important tool to provide you with structure and a predictable routine – both are important elements for getting our behaviors automatic. Remember the discussions about our limited willpower and getting our brains out of the choice equation altogether? Meal planning helps with both of these. It takes in-the-moment decisions out of the equation so your badly behaving brain isn’t dictating your choices – and possibly at a time when you have none of your 15 minutes of willpower left. Meal planning also helps to minimize food waste. It’s a winning strategy all the way around!

It takes just a few moments to research healthier versions of your favorites and then

write out a shopping list so you can shop just once a week.

Planning meals also means you can do some batch cooking so you have

meals on hand and at-the-ready for lunches or leftovers.

You can learn how much of each nutrient you should consume daily by clicking here.

Another way to up the quality of our food is to buy organic. According to the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) analysis of the latest test data from the federal Department of Agriculture:

“Nearly 70 percent of the fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains

residues of potentially harmful chemical pesticides.”

But, organic fruits and vegetables are more expensive. In order not to blow up our budgets, we may only be able to pick a few organics each week. It makes sense, then, to know which ones contain the most pesticides so you can at least avoid those.

You can check out the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list here.

This list tells you which fruit and vegetables have the most pesticides.

Similarly, the EWG has a list called the Clean Fifteen.

This list shows which fruit and vegetables are grown with the least pesticides.

Considering organics is wise because research shows avoiding pesticides is important for keeping our gut microbiome healthy. And, a healthy gut microbiome provides us with many health benefits, including better immune function.

6. LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE

Obviously, you will want to avoid all your known trigger foods. Trigger foods are those that when eaten, make you crave and want more and more. You’re also going to want to avoid being cued by unhelpful foods because simply seeing a particular food can influence our eating behavior. If you are in a household with others who are not taking this journey with you, or you’re not able to ditch or donate your unhelpful foods all at once, you’re going to be exposed to them. To help keep your transition moving forward, regardless, here are a few suggestions:

1. Store healthier foods in large, clear, easy-to-open, containers. Place them in the front of the fridge, freezer, cabinets, or pantry. Choosing large containers is helpful because our brains perceive larger as better or superior. Clear containers means you can readily see what’s inside without much effort, and placing them up front means you’ll see these containers first. These tricks make it more likely you’ll choose the healthier foods over anything else. For cars, offices, drawers, lockers, purses and gym bags, the same idea applies – place healthier foods in larger, clear, and easy-to-open containers in areas where they can be easily seen and accessed.

2. Conversely, store unhelpful foods in smaller, colored, harder-to-open containers and place them in the back of the fridge, freezer, cabinets, or pantry. Choosing smaller containers is useful since our brains perceive smaller as not as good or inferior. Opting for colored containers means you can’t easily see what’s in them so you won’t get cued or triggered by the unhelpful food. Harder-to-open means you’ll need more effort to get to the unhelpful food. These tricks make it less likely you’ll choose these foods. Same idea goes for any food that’s stored in cars, offices, lockers, purses, and gym bags. In your car, for example, keep food in places like the glove box or trunk. If you don’t have colored containers, you can wrap containers in aluminum foil. Wrapping hides what’s stored, and it makes it that much more difficult to get into the container. The time it takes to unwrap the item could be the difference between stopping yourself or indulging.

3. The trick for limiting unhelpful drinks is this: Pour liquids into taller glasses rather than shorter ones. We have a tendency to think a tall glass holds more than a short one, so we think we are getting more if we’re drinking from a taller glass – even when both hold the exact same amount of liquid.

4. Cook as many meals as you can at home. Preparing your own meals means you pick the quality and quantity of the ingredients. And, you control the portion size. A good rule of thumb here is to make sure at least half your plate consists of fruits and vegetables. Other benefits include:

“Being healthier and happier, consuming less calories without really even trying, consuming less processed foods which can result in higher energy levels and better mental health, and living longer. [1-2]

5. Keep fruits and vegetables prepped and at-the-ready. If you do this, and employ some of the storage tricks above, all the while limiting the availability of unhelpful foods, you’ll end up choosing more real, whole food, simply by default.

6. When shopping, stick to your list. Do your best to stay out of center aisles. Center aisles are where most of the processed food is sold. For the most part, real, whole foods are kept in the outer aisles. This is where you want to shop.

7. If any normal route you take to get to work, school, meetings, events, etc. involves passing places that could cue you to eat unhelpful foods, find an alternative route. For instance, if you’ve been stopping at a fast food joint for an unhelpful food every Monday for the last 3 years, and you wish to quit doing this, choose other roads to reach your destination. Similarly, if donuts get served at the office every Friday morning in the conference room, avoid going in if at all possible.

7. Limit SUGAR

Limiting sugar is paramount to our healing. Period. It has no nutritional value, it houses empty calories, it’s inflammatory, and it’s addictive. And, eating too much of it causes overweight and obesity, elevated insulin levels, cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, tooth decay, acne, bloating, aging skin, and depression. [3]

But, how much is too much? For both men and women, it is advised in the 2015-2020 USDA Guidelines that 10% or less of daily calories should come from added sugar. In grams, the American Heart Association says 24 grams per day for women, and 36 grams per day for men. Broken down into teaspoons, that’s 6 teaspoons for women daily, and 9 teaspoons for men.

If you’re consuming more than these recommended daily amounts, it’s best to start slowly cutting back, little by little. Cutting back little by little allows your taste buds to adjust. Overtime, you will need less and less to get the amount of sweetness that satisfies you because our taste buds regenerate about every two weeks. Eliminating sugar altogether is best since it will likely result in less systemic inflammation, fewer energy crashes, and fewer headaches – among other things.

It should be noted, we’re not talking about natural sugars found in fruit, honey, and unsweetened milk, though it’s not a bad idea to keep these in check also. We’re talking about limiting, or even entirely eliminating, highly processed refined sugar (otherwise known as sucrose) that comes from sugar cane and sugar beets.

Keep in mind that sugar has 56 other names, making it easy for food manufacturers

to hide how much sugar truly is in a given product. Be extra vigilant when reading labels.

8. Limit ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS:

Limiting artificial sweeteners is a good idea for a couple of reasons. First, even though they are calorie free, they impact our insulin system the same way sugar does. Here’s what happens: “When we eat artificial sweeteners, the sweet taste hits our tongue and causes a dopamine surge and insulin response even though no corresponding calories are forthcoming. This compromises our feedback loop. Secondly, in 2014, researchers discovered artificial sweeteners cause glucose intolerance by altering our gut microbiota.” [4] And finally, “artificial sweeteners have been shown to cause weight gain. They keep us wanting foods that actually do contain real sugar, so when we do get them, we tend to over-indulge. This causes us to gain weight.” [5] The process for quitting artificial sweeteners is the same as weaning off sugar. Take it step by step, little by little. Remember our taste buds regenerate every 2 weeks, so you’ll end up needing less and less. Eventually, you won’t need any at all.

9. LIMIT FLOUR

Limiting flour is a good idea even for those who aren’t sensitive to gluten. This is because, “Flours are digested far more quickly than whole grains, causing our blood sugar to spike, then drop. We end up with increased hunger, the inability to feel full, and our bodies get cued to store fat. Think of the digestive process as akin to melting ice. Eating a whole-grain food, whole wheat, for example, is like taking a huge square block of ice and leaving it on a driveway to melt. It will, but slowly, over the course of many hours. Eating a refined grain, wheat flour, for example, is like sprinkling ice shavings all over a hot driveway. They melt on contact – the opposite of a what happens with a whole grain. The problem is when grains are processed (ground down to make flour), the surface area of each particle gets multiplied exponentially. When the surface area is increased, our digestive enzymes have a field day accessing the glucose, so it hits our systems too fast and too hard.” [6]

10. SET EXPECTATIONS

Behavior change occurs when we continuously and consistently stick to the steps in a process. The popular belief is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Ah, no. It takes a minimum of 21 days to form a new habit. On average, it takes a little over 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic – 66 days to be exact. And, even that time frame can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. [7]

As much as I know you would like things to change quickly, you have to be realistic about how long it will take before your choices become automatic. You know you best. Be patient with yourself. Shifting the way we eat is definitely not a sprint, it is more like a marathon. Slow and steady will win the race long-term. And, long term is what we want because there’s no point in making changes if they aren’t going to stick. Understanding this from the get-go will save you a lot of time beating yourself up if you aren’t able to change in 21 days. The fact is, you aren’t suppose to! Changing our habits is a process.

Finally, what is key to shifting our way of eating is consistency, not perfection. If you are striving to eat a wide variety of real, whole, nutrient-dense foods to give your body the nutrients it needs to function at its best, you are well on your way. Sometimes life just happens and we’re going to miss the mark. To refocus quickly, do your best to never miss twice in a row.

Once you get into the swing of things, choosing healthier options becomes easier and easier. And, the longer you eat healthier, the more automatic it becomes. One healthy meal turns into two, two turns into a few, and a few turns into a week, until one day you realize you’re several months into your new way of eating. Looking, feeling, and functioning great keeps you going. The days of eating foods that are not helpful to you are gone forever and well forgotten! Yeah, you! You did it!!!

You’re a rock star!!!!!!

References:

PHOTO: by Kaleidico on Unsplash

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-sweet-danger-of-sugar; https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/carbohydrates-and-blood-sugar
https://www.fix.com/blog/perks-of-home-cooked-meals/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/too-much-sugar#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7
Thompson, Susan Peirce, Ph.D., Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living HAPPY, THIN, and FREE, Hay House, Inc., 2017; p. 100
Thompson, Susan Peirce, Ph.D., Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living HAPPY, THIN, and FREE, Hay House, Inc., 2017; p. 38
Thompson, Susan Peirce, Ph.D., Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living HAPPY, THIN, and FREE, Hay House, Inc., 2017; p. 103-104
Clear, James, “How Long Does it Take to Form a Habit? Backed by Science. https://jamesclear.com/new-habit