5 Mindset Shifts around Food, Weight & Body Image: Part 5 of 5
We made it to the last essential mindset shift to around food, weight and body image! I hope you've enjoyed this blog series and have found it helpful in all the ways!
This week we're going to talk about taking a "To-do" approach vs. a "Not-to-do" approach when it comes to making changes to your diet.
Most diets are predicated on you restricting or removing something from your diet. This “Not-to-do” approach is seen everywhere from Atkins (carbs are the Not-to-do), to intermittent fasting (certain stretches of time to say “no” to eating at all), to all the low-fat diets from the 90’s.
Too often we're instructed or internally guided to find things to remove from our diets - (take out carbs, no more sugar, no more eating after 6pm, etc.).
In my previous life as a clinical health educator at a national health and weight management company, our program was driven by research in the field of obesity, human behavior, nutrition and neuroscience. We saw in our research and from many outside researchers the same findings:
Taking a "Not-to-do" approach does not work for long-term behavioral change. In fact, time and again we saw from countless studies that actually focusing on practice, repetition and essentially seeking out "To-do" behaviors was far more effective in getting people to make long-term changes in their health and lifestyle.
So, why do we always seem to choose solutions or programs that still focus on what not-to-do or what to take out?
Hint: It's because we're influenced by the diet industry that does NOT have your back.
Maybe it’s not as sinister as I’m imagining, but for me most diet programs are out really for the quick-fix and their bottom line.
If they were truly concerned about the consumer, why would they support old, worn-out strategies such as eating less and restricting calories, carbs, fat or otherwise, when there is ample data to support how harmful this approach is? It’s harmful from a physical perspective and emotional and psychological one as well.
Stay with me for a sec as I move through this dark, dank narrative…
Could it be, perhaps, that some diet programs WANT you to have that quick win, but long-term failure to keep you coming back over and over again?
More recidivism = more $$$.
A To-do approach on the other hand, puts the power in the consumer’s hands. It provides a road map of “yeses” to pursue over and over again. Make no mistake, our brains love abundance, not scarcity as I wrote about in the first post in this series. So, if I recommend to you to find a way to ADD 2 veggies to your diet this week, wouldn’t that feel freer, more fun and more motivating than if I said “Find 2 more things to say no to today?”
One more thing...you will have a much easier time working towards adding 2-3 specific things a day or week than focusing on avoiding or saying no to the thousands of foods you could feel guilty about.
Try this essential mindset shift this week.
Pick one thing to add to your healthy routine this week. It can be an extra walk, adding 1 more vegetable to your plate at night or even committing to meditation each night.
When you consider what you truly want and desire in 2020 - doesn’t it really stretch way beyond 2020?
Aren’t you really looking for a natural, easy and long-term solution? I know, I know...the quick fix is so enticing - it ends the pain right away! Or does it just delay future pain?
Mindset work is a key foundation in my Eating Empowerment Method. Learn more about this Empowered Eating Essential and 3 others by watching my free online class,
The Empowered Eating Method:
End Food Obsession, Eat Mindfully & Find your "Feel Like Myself Again" weight.
In this 60-minute Masterclass you’ll learn:
+ THE ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION THAT DIET EXPERTS WILL NOT TELL YOU ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS