1. Improve your overall health
2. Improve the aging process
3. Prevent chronic disease: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cancer
4.Prevent obesity-related premature death
5. Make moving and walking easier
6. Stop being sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired
7. Get off the yo-yo fad diet merry-go-round nightmare
8. Stay alive for your kids and family
9. Boost energy
10. Look great
11. Feel great
12. The sense of joy and excitement you will feel when you succeed
13. Ditch fad diets. Instead, start changing your eating habits, and think lifestyle not diet to keep you motivated for the long term. Best idea: eat real whole food.
14. Avoid the hassle and frustration of counting and measuring! Instead, use small plates to eat small meals and snacks. Try healthy fats, like avocado, nuts or almond butter.
15. Eat the rainbow. Learn about the vast amount of healthy and delicious foods that are available to you. Don’t be afraid to try new fruits and veggies.
16. Clear your kitchen of all junk food and processed food.
17. Use clear containers to prep healthy food so it’s ready to go and within easy reach in the fridge.
18. No starvation required! Instead, work on setting habits towards choosing healthy food, eat to satisfaction not until your stuff.
19. Make a list of how you will look, feel and how your health might be in 1 year, 5 years, or even 10 years, if you don’t get healthy and change your relationship with food. Be completely honest with yourself, and it’s important to realize that having an unhealthy relationship with food is NOT okay.
20. Confront your fears, write down all the things that scare you in regards to your health and food, and overcome your fears with a list of alternatives.
21. Write down all the reasons you want to get healthy, improve your relationship with food and lose weight.
22. Print and pin a picture of the digestive system on your fridge and notice the size of a human stomach, it does not take much food to fill it and satisfy it.
23. Remind yourself and read your list every morning, or several times a day if needed.
24. Set small goals, it’s much easier to think of small actionable steps at a time, then huge steps and mark off achievements as you go.
25. Stick with the one day at a time motto, or even one hour at a time if needed.
26. Make a running list of healthy substitutes for your unhealthy favorites.
27. Every time you create a meal you love, take a picture of it and save them on your phone, this makes meal planning much easier and allows you to quickly access great meals in the future.
28. Learn moderation, you don’t have to completely give up your favorites. The key is to learn moderation, think 1 cookie on occasion instead of 5 every day. Order a dessert on special occasions, but eat 1 slice or a smaller portion of it.
29. Set your mind to lifestyle changes, not another temporary diet plan. Your overall motivation needs to be long term and lasting. Changing to healthy eating habits will give you permanent lasting results.
30. Choose healthy foods YOU really like, if you hate fish and Brussels sprouts it won’t be long before you quit.
31. Get the whole family involved in healthy eating and exercise.
32. Be very mindful of how you feel eating healthy whole food When you eat real whole food, you will find that you have more energy, and feel better overall.
33. Be very mindful of how eating smaller portions makes you feel. You might be surprised to find that you actually need much less food than you thought.
34. Silence inner negativity, any time your inner critic tries to sabotage your efforts, replace those thoughts with positive affirmations. Keep a list of those affirmations handy.
35. Master emotional eating habits that occur when you eat or overeat behind certain emotions, such as sadness, anger, loneliness, frustration, or boredom.
36. Ask for help, support from friends you trust or family members, and tell them exactly what you need from them. For example, if your spouse keeps sweets in the house, ask him to get rid of them or at least put them out of sight.
37. Seek progress, NOT perfection! Forgive yourself when you slip up and get right back to focusing on your healthy habits and lifestyle.
38. Yes, you can eat out! Just remember portion control, most restaurant plates equal about 4 meals worth, so take the rest home and divide it up. Another good trick is to order from the appetizer menu.
39. Remember: You love yourself and want to take better care of yourself.
