My name is Leah and I can't wait to meet you.
Forget everything you think you know about dieting, weight loss, and weight management. Let go of low fat, low carb, low or no carb, restricted eating, calorie counting, quick fix programs, and diet pills or products. You don't need them. In fact, the only reason you think you need them is because the media tells you exactly that. Follow these basic guidelines to change your eating habits and you will have a forever lifestyle. Changing what you "know", even if it seems intimidating or scary will lead you to grow. In other words, don't be afraid of stepping outside your comfort zone.
I put the scale away.
Why? Because I am MUCH more than just a number.
And so are YOU.
This was difficult for me until I learned that this is not about losing weight. This is about truly feeling holistically well- mind, body, and spirit. My self-worth is not defined by the chemical makeup of my body, in pounds. My health is not defined by this number. Who I am as a person is not defined by this number. My life is not defined by this number. Many, many things can negatively impact the number you see on the scale. Fluctuations in naturally occurring hormones, what stage of digestion your food from last night's dinner, and that sip of water you had at 2 AM before you went back to sleep all impact the number you see on the scale. Focusing on how you feel is the key to moving away from centering progress around weight. For me, this even included removing tags with the size printed on them from my clothes, at first.
I let go of all forms of white, refined sugars.
Before you get overwhelmed by that statement, understand that this is a process. It did not happen for me overnight and it won't for you either. Begin by examining the items in your pantry and eliminating the ones that have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Many food companies will substitute the word sugar with HFCS as a loophole strategy to label, market, and sell foods that are advertised as sugar free. As a general rule, any time you see the word syrup of any kind, fructose, sucrose, lactose, glucose, or the phrase "added sugars", you can assume it needs to go. However, letting go of white, refined sugars doesn't mean all things sweet. I substitute white sugars for natural sugars like local honey and grade A maple syrup.
I learned to read and analyze food labels and ingredients.
As a general rule of thumb, I try to keep the ingredients that I cannot identify on a nutrition label to 5 or less. This is much simpler than it seems. If you don't know what an ingredient is, assume you shouldn't consume it. Many food manufacturers use chemically enhanced "filler" products as preservatives for enhanced shelf life qualities. Additionally, these "fillers" are often used to hide extra forms of sugar. By learning to read and identify the ingredients you are building the foundation for better food choices in the long run. Basically, if it isn't what I would call "real food" (i.e. it cannot rot, mold, sour, or otherwise be inconsumable within a shorter time frame), don't eat it.
I ditched processed foods.
Letting go of processed foods is a key and solid building block for the foundation of living a "whole soul" life. A processed food encompasses most of your "boxed" shelf stable items; most brands of macaroni cheese, microwavable items like frozen meals, and "ready to serve" items like cook-in-bag forms of rice. As mentioned above, many food manufacturers use filler ingredients to preserve and hide extra sugar in most processed foods. Processed foods often contain many chemicals such as formaldehyde, ethylene, and partially hydrogenated oils. The same rules apply here as in reading food labels. If it isn't real food, it needs to go. To make this easier at first, I told myself that "processed" meant "We sucked all the good nutrition out of this food".
I swap white, refined grains for whole grains.
This is a simple step that will become a lifelong habit. Instead of choosing white sandwich bread, choose brown, whole wheat or whole grain bread. This applies to all forms of carbohydrates- rice, pasta, etc. This is also part of your processed foods. Most traditional forms of bread and pasta will read "enriched" or "bleached" either on the front of the box or in the ingredient label. In the real food world, enriched is simply used as a fancy term for processed. I know that you are thinking of just how handy those boxed food items are. And you are correct, they are handy. However, let's take a moment to evaluate why these foods are handy. They are handy because they are familiar; they're what you know. That being said, most of these foods can be cooked in large batches at the beginning of the week.
I plan my meals ahead of time.
This is a twofold approach. I plan my meals, but I also implement a "planned over" strategy. Planning meals saves a massive amount of time and frustration during busy or hectic weeknight scrambles for meals. If you think about it, you do this already. For example, if you go to the grocery store on Thursday and purchase a family sized package of chicken breasts to cook for dinner on Friday, you meal planned. The difference is you only gave yourself a 24 hour window to complete it. Why not purchase your family size packages of meat on the same designated day each week? A family size package of chicken breasts (roughly 30 oz. or 6 pieces) can be baked or grilled at the same time in about 30 minutes. The same principle can be applied to vegetables and/or starches. For those of you saying you are too busy to do this; You can cook several cups of rice or beans in a crock pot over a low setting or add your choice of vegetables in any quantity to the same pan you are baking your chicken on for the same of time. You have 6 full servings of a fully balanced meal ready to be stored in individual containers in the fridge.
When life gets in the way and I find myself at the grocery store on Thursday evening, 2 hours before I need to have dinner I purchase food with the intention of using it in at least two meals. This helps restore the flow of meal planning and keeps me on track. Perhaps I purchase one whole chicken, baby carrots, and brown rice. I can bake all of these things at the same time under an hour. The next day I can use the already cooked chicken, carrots, and brown rice to make a wholesome chicken stew with minimal effort.
I never, ever, skip breakfast.
I know you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As a breakfast hater, I can still give you 100 excuses why I should skip breakfast. My stomach is upset, I am too busy, or simply I don't want to because coffee is better than breakfast.
Here's the deal:
Breakfast is the foundation of your day, every day; the power cord, if you will. The first meal of the day signals the rest of your body to start producing insulin, hormones, antibodies and basically all other functional aspects of why and how your body works. Starting the day with a high protein breakfast provides your body with the nutrients it needs to stay normalized throughout the day; this includes blood sugar levels.
To put it simply: if you start your day by skipping breakfast your body goes into defense mode. You are being deprived, in a stressful environment, and more importantly that you are starving. Starvation mode tells your body to save all the extra calories it has in order to function; ultimately meaning that everything will be converted and stored as fat cells. Additionally, starvation mode triggers the release of Cortisol, the stress hormone most responsible for weight gain. Starvation mode is the pathway to overeating in the late afternoon to bedtime timeframe.
These same principles apply if you start your day with processed, sugary, junk food. Your blood sugar will spike, ultimately causing your body to only crave processed, sugary, junk food for the rest of the day. Think of this concept like the power cord of your day; if you use the wrong one, your device will lose battery. And so will you.
I only eat meals on small plates.
Perhaps one the easiest changes I made was switching my plate size. This little change can yield big results. Turns out, there is truth in the age old adage "My eyes were bigger than my stomach". Scientifically speaking, we eat with our eyes. We choose aesthetics over almost all other aspects. How the food looks to us- both in physical appearance and quantity- influences our food choices. This is why bakeries put the biggest, most decorated doughnuts in the front of the case and restaurants serve entrees on a large plate. It is the equivalent of an optical illusion. A larger plate equals more room for food servings. Therefore, signaling to your brain that the plate needs to be full; often times leading to over eating. A smaller plate will appear to be "full" with half the food servings a larger plate requires will satisfying your brains "need" to see a full plate.
I focus on one, healthy choice at a time.
The biggest struggle for me with weight loss has always been something I call the stress of deprivation. Stress of deprivation is that overwhelming dread you feel when you are dieting, limiting your food choices or following a strict calorie allotment and the unnecessary beating you do to yourself if you get off track. Getting off track would send me into a binge eating spiral. What was the point of "dieting" if I couldn't even stay on track for one day? But, this is not about being perfect all the time. I am human and I make mistakes. This is about making small changes over time that grow into habits. By focusing on making one, single, healthier choice at a time you eliminate the need for all that stress. If I am traveling with limited food choices, for example, I no longer shoot myself in the foot by saying things like "But I can't eat healthy right now so I'll just quit". I make one, better decision at a time. Instead of a candy bar I choose a protein bar. Instead of soda or sugary juice, I choose water.
I stay hydrated.
You already know that drinking water is good for you. But did you know that dehydration is one of the biggest hang-ups for losing weight? If you are not properly hydrated, you can follow an exercise and diet routine religiously for weeks or months at a time and gain weight or see no change at all. I aim for at least 1 liter of water each day. This is easier than it sounds. When I first started this journey I would set alarms on my cell phone to remind me to drink water. Over time your body will become so dependent on the amount of water you take in that you will crave it. My recommendation is to invest in a go-cup that has measurements and take it with you, literally everywhere.
(Seriously, if you see me out you will see my blue go-cup.)
I practice self care.
Life is hard. I am busy. I have responsibilities. I am stressed.
But, I also deserve two hours a week to de-stress. I take time for myself and I don't feel guilty about it. What I hear most often from other women when I make this point is that they are too busy taking care of everyone else. While I know this is true I also know that in order to provide the best care for my family, I have to take care of myself too. My family deserves the best version of me. So, I incorporate little things throughout my day to give the world my best me. I aim for 8 hours of sleep each night. I limit my screen time before bed time so that my sleep is more restful. I indulge in a long bath once in a while. I read a good novel for an hour on a sunny afternoon. I go to the gym. While none of these things are the same as a day at the spa, they allow me to unwind and refocus.
Following these basic rules keeps my body fed and my soul nourished. They are the guidelines of my everyday life, including vacations and holidays. However, the only reason these guidelines became habit is because I didn't overwhelm myself by trying to make them all at once.
Remember that you are on a journey. Journeys are meant to be traveled one step at a time. Focus on implementing ONE of these small changes at a time can and will lead to a better, healthier, newer version of a whole you.
And I can't wait to meet you.
Forget everything you think you know about dieting, weight loss, and weight management. Let go of low fat, low carb, low or no carb, restricted eating, calorie counting, quick fix programs, and diet pills or products. You don't need them. In fact, the only reason you think you need them is because the media tells you exactly that. Follow these basic guidelines to change your eating habits and you will have a forever lifestyle. Changing what you "know", even if it seems intimidating or scary will lead you to grow. In other words, don't be afraid of stepping outside your comfort zone.
I put the scale away.
Why? Because I am MUCH more than just a number.
And so are YOU.
This was difficult for me until I learned that this is not about losing weight. This is about truly feeling holistically well- mind, body, and spirit. My self-worth is not defined by the chemical makeup of my body, in pounds. My health is not defined by this number. Who I am as a person is not defined by this number. My life is not defined by this number. Many, many things can negatively impact the number you see on the scale. Fluctuations in naturally occurring hormones, what stage of digestion your food from last night's dinner, and that sip of water you had at 2 AM before you went back to sleep all impact the number you see on the scale. Focusing on how you feel is the key to moving away from centering progress around weight. For me, this even included removing tags with the size printed on them from my clothes, at first.
I let go of all forms of white, refined sugars.
Before you get overwhelmed by that statement, understand that this is a process. It did not happen for me overnight and it won't for you either. Begin by examining the items in your pantry and eliminating the ones that have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Many food companies will substitute the word sugar with HFCS as a loophole strategy to label, market, and sell foods that are advertised as sugar free. As a general rule, any time you see the word syrup of any kind, fructose, sucrose, lactose, glucose, or the phrase "added sugars", you can assume it needs to go. However, letting go of white, refined sugars doesn't mean all things sweet. I substitute white sugars for natural sugars like local honey and grade A maple syrup.
I learned to read and analyze food labels and ingredients.
As a general rule of thumb, I try to keep the ingredients that I cannot identify on a nutrition label to 5 or less. This is much simpler than it seems. If you don't know what an ingredient is, assume you shouldn't consume it. Many food manufacturers use chemically enhanced "filler" products as preservatives for enhanced shelf life qualities. Additionally, these "fillers" are often used to hide extra forms of sugar. By learning to read and identify the ingredients you are building the foundation for better food choices in the long run. Basically, if it isn't what I would call "real food" (i.e. it cannot rot, mold, sour, or otherwise be inconsumable within a shorter time frame), don't eat it.
I ditched processed foods.
Letting go of processed foods is a key and solid building block for the foundation of living a "whole soul" life. A processed food encompasses most of your "boxed" shelf stable items; most brands of macaroni cheese, microwavable items like frozen meals, and "ready to serve" items like cook-in-bag forms of rice. As mentioned above, many food manufacturers use filler ingredients to preserve and hide extra sugar in most processed foods. Processed foods often contain many chemicals such as formaldehyde, ethylene, and partially hydrogenated oils. The same rules apply here as in reading food labels. If it isn't real food, it needs to go. To make this easier at first, I told myself that "processed" meant "We sucked all the good nutrition out of this food".
I swap white, refined grains for whole grains.
This is a simple step that will become a lifelong habit. Instead of choosing white sandwich bread, choose brown, whole wheat or whole grain bread. This applies to all forms of carbohydrates- rice, pasta, etc. This is also part of your processed foods. Most traditional forms of bread and pasta will read "enriched" or "bleached" either on the front of the box or in the ingredient label. In the real food world, enriched is simply used as a fancy term for processed. I know that you are thinking of just how handy those boxed food items are. And you are correct, they are handy. However, let's take a moment to evaluate why these foods are handy. They are handy because they are familiar; they're what you know. That being said, most of these foods can be cooked in large batches at the beginning of the week.
I plan my meals ahead of time.
This is a twofold approach. I plan my meals, but I also implement a "planned over" strategy. Planning meals saves a massive amount of time and frustration during busy or hectic weeknight scrambles for meals. If you think about it, you do this already. For example, if you go to the grocery store on Thursday and purchase a family sized package of chicken breasts to cook for dinner on Friday, you meal planned. The difference is you only gave yourself a 24 hour window to complete it. Why not purchase your family size packages of meat on the same designated day each week? A family size package of chicken breasts (roughly 30 oz. or 6 pieces) can be baked or grilled at the same time in about 30 minutes. The same principle can be applied to vegetables and/or starches. For those of you saying you are too busy to do this; You can cook several cups of rice or beans in a crock pot over a low setting or add your choice of vegetables in any quantity to the same pan you are baking your chicken on for the same of time. You have 6 full servings of a fully balanced meal ready to be stored in individual containers in the fridge.
When life gets in the way and I find myself at the grocery store on Thursday evening, 2 hours before I need to have dinner I purchase food with the intention of using it in at least two meals. This helps restore the flow of meal planning and keeps me on track. Perhaps I purchase one whole chicken, baby carrots, and brown rice. I can bake all of these things at the same time under an hour. The next day I can use the already cooked chicken, carrots, and brown rice to make a wholesome chicken stew with minimal effort.
I never, ever, skip breakfast.
I know you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As a breakfast hater, I can still give you 100 excuses why I should skip breakfast. My stomach is upset, I am too busy, or simply I don't want to because coffee is better than breakfast.
Here's the deal:
Breakfast is the foundation of your day, every day; the power cord, if you will. The first meal of the day signals the rest of your body to start producing insulin, hormones, antibodies and basically all other functional aspects of why and how your body works. Starting the day with a high protein breakfast provides your body with the nutrients it needs to stay normalized throughout the day; this includes blood sugar levels.
To put it simply: if you start your day by skipping breakfast your body goes into defense mode. You are being deprived, in a stressful environment, and more importantly that you are starving. Starvation mode tells your body to save all the extra calories it has in order to function; ultimately meaning that everything will be converted and stored as fat cells. Additionally, starvation mode triggers the release of Cortisol, the stress hormone most responsible for weight gain. Starvation mode is the pathway to overeating in the late afternoon to bedtime timeframe.
These same principles apply if you start your day with processed, sugary, junk food. Your blood sugar will spike, ultimately causing your body to only crave processed, sugary, junk food for the rest of the day. Think of this concept like the power cord of your day; if you use the wrong one, your device will lose battery. And so will you.
I only eat meals on small plates.
Perhaps one the easiest changes I made was switching my plate size. This little change can yield big results. Turns out, there is truth in the age old adage "My eyes were bigger than my stomach". Scientifically speaking, we eat with our eyes. We choose aesthetics over almost all other aspects. How the food looks to us- both in physical appearance and quantity- influences our food choices. This is why bakeries put the biggest, most decorated doughnuts in the front of the case and restaurants serve entrees on a large plate. It is the equivalent of an optical illusion. A larger plate equals more room for food servings. Therefore, signaling to your brain that the plate needs to be full; often times leading to over eating. A smaller plate will appear to be "full" with half the food servings a larger plate requires will satisfying your brains "need" to see a full plate.
I focus on one, healthy choice at a time.
The biggest struggle for me with weight loss has always been something I call the stress of deprivation. Stress of deprivation is that overwhelming dread you feel when you are dieting, limiting your food choices or following a strict calorie allotment and the unnecessary beating you do to yourself if you get off track. Getting off track would send me into a binge eating spiral. What was the point of "dieting" if I couldn't even stay on track for one day? But, this is not about being perfect all the time. I am human and I make mistakes. This is about making small changes over time that grow into habits. By focusing on making one, single, healthier choice at a time you eliminate the need for all that stress. If I am traveling with limited food choices, for example, I no longer shoot myself in the foot by saying things like "But I can't eat healthy right now so I'll just quit". I make one, better decision at a time. Instead of a candy bar I choose a protein bar. Instead of soda or sugary juice, I choose water.
I stay hydrated.
You already know that drinking water is good for you. But did you know that dehydration is one of the biggest hang-ups for losing weight? If you are not properly hydrated, you can follow an exercise and diet routine religiously for weeks or months at a time and gain weight or see no change at all. I aim for at least 1 liter of water each day. This is easier than it sounds. When I first started this journey I would set alarms on my cell phone to remind me to drink water. Over time your body will become so dependent on the amount of water you take in that you will crave it. My recommendation is to invest in a go-cup that has measurements and take it with you, literally everywhere.
(Seriously, if you see me out you will see my blue go-cup.)
I practice self care.
Life is hard. I am busy. I have responsibilities. I am stressed.
But, I also deserve two hours a week to de-stress. I take time for myself and I don't feel guilty about it. What I hear most often from other women when I make this point is that they are too busy taking care of everyone else. While I know this is true I also know that in order to provide the best care for my family, I have to take care of myself too. My family deserves the best version of me. So, I incorporate little things throughout my day to give the world my best me. I aim for 8 hours of sleep each night. I limit my screen time before bed time so that my sleep is more restful. I indulge in a long bath once in a while. I read a good novel for an hour on a sunny afternoon. I go to the gym. While none of these things are the same as a day at the spa, they allow me to unwind and refocus.
Following these basic rules keeps my body fed and my soul nourished. They are the guidelines of my everyday life, including vacations and holidays. However, the only reason these guidelines became habit is because I didn't overwhelm myself by trying to make them all at once.
Remember that you are on a journey. Journeys are meant to be traveled one step at a time. Focus on implementing ONE of these small changes at a time can and will lead to a better, healthier, newer version of a whole you.
And I can't wait to meet you.