The Calorie Conception
Most people were raised with the idea that calories in equals calories out. Counting calories are mainly linked to a desire for losing, gaining, or maintaining weight. The perception of this idea focuses on numbers rather than nutrients. When you fixate on caloric intake and additionally watch the weight on the scale, you can miss key factors for healthy weight maintenance. It is more important to look at the type of foods you’re eating, rather than the number of calories they have.
Breaking the Cycles
Two important cycles to mentally shift while eating would be eating for pleasure and following a strict, specific diet. Getting in the cycle of eating things for pleasure will increase food intake while you are bored and cause you to choose unhealthier options more and more over time. When you restrict yourself by saying you are on a diet, the foods you eat are only for a short period and are not chosen based on nutrients. Diets are rigorous cycles that do not support long term change.
A Healthy Holiday
During the holidays, food is almost the highlight of every gathering. While food is not bad, the choices of food we eat can be. Some holidays have specific food traditions and indulgences. Indulging on excessive amounts of unhealthy food puts your health in jeopardy. Food can even become an idol. It becomes an addiction to eat in a way that consistently affects the body in a negative way. When these decisions are made over time, our health begins to drop. Rather than waiting until something goes wrong, there is a settle shift that will completely transform your health.
Two Simple Shifts to Transform Your Diet and Nutrition
Performance Over Pleasure
Instead of looking at food as a simple pleasure or a way to lose weight, begin to look at food as a source of energy and health. Food is our fuel source so we can perform to our highest ability. When you are looking at your plate, or in a grocery store, ask yourself if each food will give you energy and assist in healing your body. Eliminate foods that only are for pleasure. When you eliminate these foods in your home, you will simultaneously be eliminating unhealthy habits of eating for pleasure over performance. Food can become more pleasurable when the focus shifts to improving our body’s performance.
Quality Over Quantity
Instead of depending on a diet for change, begin to depend on your judgment of food. When you are in tune with your body and the food you are eating, you will unconsciously begin to lose weight. Just because something has fewer calories, doesn’t mean it will assist in weight loss or health. Imagine if you were given two options as a snack, almonds and a Twinkie. You would actually find the almonds would be higher in calories, however, they would still be the healthier option. The health benefits along with the nutrients in almonds outweigh the harmful effects a Twinkie would cause to your body. When calories are the main goal, it can create unhealthy choices based on numbers rather than nutrients.
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