03/10/2021
❓THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN , WHERE, HOW AND WHY OF EATING
The abundance of both health information available on-line these days and of no and loss cost fitness and nutrition apps hasn't translated into improving the levels of people being overweight and obese - and more at risk of getting health complications and lifestyle diseases in mid and later life.🤔
Sometimes too much information and overwhelm leads to procrastination..."what's best?"...."I'm still researching my options"..."I'll start this after my holiday/Christmas/next year"...you get the picture!
The answers are inside of you - not outside.
Taking a closer look at both what you are doing and looking for patterns with the "who with/when/where/why" you are eating can be the best place to start.
Once you have awareness of these patterns, we can begin to make some small tweaks to them and get strategies in place so they support our goals rather than work against them.
Here's a great and free exercise you can do that will really help shine a light on your patterns and behaviours around food and start to identify changes you might like to make.
📔 FOOD DIARY- “you’re my type on paper”
I’m a fan of good old fashioned pen and paper.
Here you can track whatever you want – you aren’t limited to someone else’s structure and you can go all Adrian Mole and include your thoughts and feelings as well.
IT’S ALL CONNECTED!
**HINT** as there is a good chance that your weight, stress levels, nutrition, sleep, activity, mood, blood sugar, cravings, energy levels and menstrual cycle are all connected, why not log them all in one place – this may reveal patterns and connections.
Writing down what you eat is an insightful exercise. It's an awareness tool.
But we want to use the journal as a learning exercise rather than be dependent on it forever as a form of self -judgement and control.
(Unless you have some fairly extreme body composition goal in which case strict tracking is necessary, but you aren’t like most people and you aren’t the people I enjoy working with)
🔎BE YOUR OWN DIET DETECTIVE🔎
Unpicking the “how did I get to this point?” means you can start to become your own Diet Detective.
Then work to discover what works FOR YOU – not someone else, not the latest trend or celebrity fad, but for you: your likes, dislikes, habits, hormones and body type and the resources that you already have.
You are in the driving seat. Data helps us to test, tweak and adjust until we get to the destination (result) you want (that doesn’t just have to be a weight goal!)
😕OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD: IT’S COMPLICATED...😕
It’s rarely just about the food.
Unravelling the complex nature of why we eat what we eat takes time, a curious mind and self compassion.
Rather than just track the “what” of the foods you eat (and your drinks, let’s not forget them), it’s really valuable to dig into the:
✅ WHY – was it mealtime, were you bored? Upset? Kids gone to bed? Etc
✅ WHERE – did you sit down at the table? Sat in front of the TV or at your desk? In your car? Out shopping? etc
✅ WHEN – time of day, habits versus hungry, late at night?
✅ WHO WITH?– do you eat more at family gatherings? With certain friends? After a few drinks down the pub with your mates?
✅ HOW? Slowly and mindfully? In a hurry? With a knife and fork? Or your hands?
Establishing patterns allows us to put strategies in place and proactively plan ahead
It gives Context to the "What "we eat – we all know veggies are better choices and junk food is not, so what’s stopping us from doing that consistently?
It’s not a lack of information problem…
Often that quest for more or “better” information is keeping you confused and stuck, or hopping from diet to diet hoping you will find the “perfect” one.
(This is where a coach trained in behaviour change is valuable as it’s not a case of telling you ”hey just eat this”. A coach helps filter all that information and gets you to focus on simple action steps that move you towards your goals )
💜 START WHERE YOU’RE AT: 💜
Ready, Willing and Able..
Tracking food is boring, time consuming and generally takes any joy and spontaneity out of our eating. Not everyone is motivated by doing it.
For some this can lead to frustration, overwhelm or checking out of the process. Not good!
So there’s some even more simple ways we can record and track our food
📸 PHOTO JOURNAL: 📸 “ a picture tells a thousand words”
It’s not going to give us as much data as the food diary, but it’s much easier to commit to doing it consistently and is often “good enough” to make adjustments and tweak visual portion sizes/ratios.
(A lot of my clients prefer to use this method!)
✅ HABIT TRACKING: ✅
“first we make our habits; then our habits make us”
Focussing on just one simple habit, such as eating protein with each meal or eating slowly and mindfully and layering these in one at a time adds up to long term results and sustainable change.
It works.
SMALL WINS CONSISTENTLY = SUCCESS 🏆
which grows confidence in both yourself and your actions. Then slowly those habits embed as our new normal.💪
🤸♀️CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE 🏄♀️
You don’t have to pick just one. Start with what feels simple and easy – almost too easy. Get consistent with that first and then maybe experiment with some of the others.
(And yes you can use Tech to help you with all of the above – you just don’t NEED to ;-))
In my programs we do just that – because you get to be in control, you get to choose the path and you get to decide the pace.
Cos that’s what works! 😀
This is a long game and you have to stay in it to win it.
There is no finish line so choose things you can commit to and sustain for the long term.
