Make Your Diet and Nutrition Easy with these 4 Mindset Shifts and Hacks

It requires having an open mind

A lot of “food” that you find in grocery stores doesn’t deserve to be called so.

A Harvard study shows that as globalization continues to expand to traditionally poorer nations, rates of obesity go up. In the U.S. about 4 out of every 10 adults are considered obese.

Having higher levels of body fat or BMI isn’t always associated with chronic disease and illness, but they certainly lower one’s quality of life more often than not.

You already know to eat whole, nutrient-dense foods. You know you need to limit your caloric intake.

The problem is that so much of modern life is centered around convenience. On top of that, corporations have a financial interest in keeping us consuming highly caloric, low-nutrient foods that are inexpensive to produce.

Success in transforming your diet largely comes down to your mindset and the strategies you choose to implement.

“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”

-Buddha

1. Create your nutritional haven

Do you give in to temptation too easily? You can’t help but to go to the pantry late at night and grab the Chips Ahoy and all the other processed snacks.

Taking control of your diet and health starts with what’s inside your pantry.

If your home is full of all the chips, candies, and other low-nutrition treats, guess what — you’re 100% more likely to eat them as opposed to if they weren’t there at all.

To eat clean and nutritious food, you first have to make sure there’s clean and nutritious food in your environment, to begin with.

I’ll take it a step further — when you go shopping at the grocery store, don’t even go over to the aisles where you know you’ll be tempted to buy unhealthy “foods”. Have a list with you, get in, and get out before you go to where you’ll be tempted.

2. Follow this ratio

You need to have a strategy if you’re trying to change the way you eat.

Any challenging endeavor we take on is going to require some semblance of a plan.

As such, stick to the 80/20 rule — 80% of the time eat healthy and nutritious foods while allowing yourself to veer from that 20% of the time.

Keep in mind, 20% ought to be the minimum you allow yourself to deviate from your nutrition plan. You don’t want to be popping frozen pizzas in the oven every other night of the week.

Strategy:

Eat clean and healthy for the majority of your typical work week. Let’s say however that you know you know you have a birthday party coming up over the weekend. What you do is plan for that event to be a significant chunk of that 20% of enjoying yourself.

You know that Saturday is the party where there will be more unhealthy foods, so in the days leading up to Saturday, you eat clean.

When you do it like this, you’ll notice that you enjoy yourself more when you do have a fun event where food is central.

3. Simplify

I’ve already mentioned that you want to make sure that you’re eating almost exclusively clean throughout your typical week, and there’s an easy way to utilize this strategy.

For the most part, you want to try to eat the same foods daily.

Find the healthy options that are satisfying to you, and stick with them throughout your week.

I eat the same lunch and dinner basically every day, but I never feel like I’m depriving myself.

I genuinely enjoy my Greek yogurt bowl with fruit and peanut butter, my eggs cooked in butter with avocado, and my large Mexican-style bowl with rice, beans, veggies, protein, and homemade salsa and guac.

Eating the same types of meals regularly also gives you flexibility in your life since you now don’t need to think super hard about what you’re going to eat. It makes shopping easier (and less expensive). I tend to default to my staples, and that’s totally fine by me.

Eat (mostly) the same foods and enjoy them.

4. Change the way you relate to food

Many people have a terrible mindset when it comes to food, nutrition, and their diets that totally sets them up for failure if they ever do try to change the way they eat.

One big problem is that D word — diet

People hear it and automatically think that diet and healthy eating mean depriving themselves.

I pause to even use the word because “diet” also implies a short-term fix to what’s really a long-term problem.

Nutrition > Diet

I’m not trying to suggest to you that you should be eating bland and unsatisfying food, not at all, you should enjoy your food.

So many people though are particularly closed-minded about the prospect of changing the way they eat. They can’t entertain the idea that healthy food (when prepared right) can also be tasty, satisfying food. The only thing they care about is having some form of mouth pleasure, as they are accustomed to having.

Changing the way you eat requires you to have an open mind. If you keep an open mind, you can surely learn to love eating clean and healthy.

Summary

If you regularly eat low-quality food, the chances of you living a lower-quality life are much greater. Start by implementing these strategies for a more suitable quality of eating.

1. Don’t keep highly caloric, low nutrient foods in your home, and stay away from the center aisles when you go to the grocery store so you aren’t tempted,
2. Follow the 80/20 rule and strategize for the moments in life when you know you will be letting loose a bit.
3. Eat primarily the same foods daily. Find healthful foods you enjoy and simplify your routine and your shopping by sticking with the same meals.
4. Keep an open mind and understand that your attitude about changing the way you eat is going to be critical to the success you see — It is possible to learn to enjoy a healthy and wholesome diet.

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