Eat Well with Lauren

The word “diet” and act of “dieting” instills a sense of deprivation, restriction, and mindset of “I can’t have that.” What this does is it creates an unhealthy relationship with food and if you feel deprived you aren’t likely to stick with it. So, if you are wanting to lose weight, then approach it with a mindset of “ok, so now what healthy food can I add in.” And what will happen is the less healthy gets weeded out by the healthy and you start to crave those healthier foods you never used to eat before you started on this path. Before I go further maybe the word “healthy” should be defined. In my opinion healthy is whole food, simple ingredients, minimally processed, and lots of plant foods…maybe thats more of my definition of a healthy eating pattern but what works for you may be different. However I do not think heavily processed food with tons of preservatives, additives and derivatives counts as healthy for anyone. So going back to this healthier mindset, our tastes and cravings do change according to what we are eating and now your mindset is “I can have that, but I don’t really want it.” Once you get there, success is inevitable because the healthy food just makes you feel good! I run my absolute best approximately 2 hours after eating oats in some form or another, either in homemade bread/muffin/fig bar/bowl of oats with a banana, almond butter, dried fruit and nuts and maybe some yogurt. I eat a lot but its all good stuff and I eat until full! At the next meal you eat, pay attention to how you feel afterwards. If you feel bloated and weighed down then change what you are eating because food shouldn’t make you feel that way. And its not that you have to eat “perfect” every time. I absolutely have nights eating out when Ive reached over my friends plate to eat a chicken wing (I think I had some/a lot of wine that night) or ate one too many chips at the Mexican restaurant, etc. but if the majority of the food you eat is leaving you feeling unenergized afterwards then that is something to address! Because you don’t have to feel that way! So add in the vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts/seeds, beans and see what happens. If you are interested in any personalized nutrition services, click on the tab above. The simplest is a 24 hours diet revamp. Let me know! I would love to help. Thanks for reading.