Why its time to Ditch the New Year Diet
Q2 Check-In! Are you still going after your goals?
I just read an article that said the top 3 FAILED New Year's Resolutions are:
1. Diet or eat healthier
2. Exercise more
3. Lose weight.
So should we stop trying to improve health? Of course not. I 100% believe you were created to feel good and live life to the fullest- and your body/symptoms should not hold you back from what you were created to do!
But…Why?
But in order to succeed we need to know WHY these are the most failed goals…
Bio-Individuality! Health is NOT one-size-fits-all. Diets are often plug-and-play. If the plan does not take into account YOUR sleep, weight, hormones, cycle, workout, mental state, stress, sleep, toxic exposure, metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, time available, things you love, etc…it might not be right for you.
They are not sustainable. If you only follow a plan or create a big goal because it sounds good (like drinking a gallon of water a day), you can’t ever stop the plan because you’ll be lost. What happens when it doesn’t work? Actually getting educated on what you are doing allows you to listen to your body’s ques and build a healthy lifestyle from it that will last beyond the first 30 days.
They focus on deficit. Have you heard you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight? From a health standpoint, this often puts our bodies into a state of emergency. At first, this might result in weight loss, but eventually hormones begin to shut down to conserve energy and focus only on systems that keep us alive- restricting energy for things that are less imperative for survival, like reproductive organs, hair, skin, daily energy, and begins to hang onto every calorie it gets and stores as fat for later energy.
Stress. Counting calories, checking the list to see what's not allowed, counting macros, tracking food, missing out on a celebration- these all add stress on the body. Stress while you eat inhibits digestion and nutrient absorption which causes long-term deficiencies and greater problems. Stress also raises cortisol, which shuts off metabolism, and causes hormone chaos.
What to do instead?
We talked about why diets often fail- but what if you have genuine goals to steward your body better and feel great? Amazing. Here are # ways to create sustainable habit change and improve health long-term!
Connect with what you really want your life to look like- where are you 1 year from now? What about 10 years? What are you doing, how do you feel? Consider what your life would look like if you got to the root of your health complaints and really healed? Consider what it would look like if you don’t?
Create small changes and habit stack- for instance- do you drink coffee every morning? Place a big ol’ glass of water right next to that pot. When you go to push the button, you have a big glass of water before the coffee. Add things you want to do into routines you already have in place!
Really learn the why behind the foods you include or exclude, and know what works for YOUR body. Don’t just follow the plan…what happens when you want to stop? We are changing lifestyles here, people.
Crowd out rather than eliminating. Elimination leads to negative feelings like missing out, stress, and ascribing value to food. Before eliminating your favorite foods, crowd them out with healthy habits. Fuel up on protein, fat, tons of veggies, and plenty of hydration. You will be less likely to crave sweets, or need that caffeinated pick-me-up mid-day. Later, you can crowd those out with substitutions.
Consider the health of your gut, hormones, sleep, stress, nutrient levels, food quality, etc BEFORE looking at weight loss! Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity! What puzzle pieces are we missing?
Reward yourself! Find ways to reward yourself for small wins!! Seriously, your brain gets a dopamine hit, and then you are more inclined to win again and again.
Did you set any goals for the year? Are you still working toward them?? Whats stopping you? Let me know in the comments.
