When You hear the word diet, what thoughts come to mind?
Calorie cutting, fat-free, cardboard food choices, stressful, restriction, etc … why is that we as a society are constantly placing negative recourse on eating “healthy”?
Here are some startling statistics on dieting as a nation:
#1 20 million is the annual revenue of the U.S. weight-loss industry, including diet books, diet drugs and weight-loss surgeries.
#2 108 million is the number of people on diets in the United States. Dieters typically make four to five attempts per year.
#3 85% of customers consuming weight-loss products and services who are female.
#4 220,000 is the number of people with morbid obesity in the United States who had bariatric surgery in 2009.
#5 550,000 to 3 million is the average salaries paid to celebrity endorsers of major weight-loss programs.
So as you can see from these stats … there is a strategic method to the diet mayhem! So don’t fret you are not crazy you are information overload with so many options you become exhausted just thinking about it.
So what do you do?
First, KISS (keep it simple stupid) it!!! Eating is simple NOT EASY … finding a balance and not using negative incentives to drive you.
Start to view food as fuel. View food as fuel for your body. If you eat good protein, veggies, and fats.
Just think the more food we consume from the earth and the less food we consume from a box = success.
Use the 80/20 rule or the 70/30 rule.For example, if you eat 21 meals in a week, make sure 17 to 18 meals contain a protein, carb, and good fat then have fun with the other 3 to 4 meals. Now having fun is not a “cheat” meal or an excuse for gluttony it is a meal that you enjoy and it doesn’t even mean it can’t be a protein carb, or fat! For example our fun meals ar on friday night and sunday morning. This doesn’t mean they are “bad”, it means I get to put thought, love, and time into it.
This week our fun was friday night Wings and Sweet potato fries ..
Then today I made my pumpkin pancakes ( I will put the recipe on the blog on Tomorrow), bacon, and eggs over easy topped with avocado.
If you want a treat make it a trip. Chris and I like to make an adventure and have “fun” with our treats. For example, if we go to an Ice Cream Shop … I get to pick what I think Chris would like off the menu and surprise him. It’s just a little fun thing we do and then we sit outside and chat.
So what I am saying is don’t just eat it food to eat it .. eat with thought and purpose. Create a positive environment around food and use it to heal the body, fuel the body, and energize the body!
Fit Chic