Most of us were more than ready to show 2020 the door and cross our fingers that 2021 will be better. It’s time to reset, but where do you start?
For most of my patients, family and friends, the most useful resets need to happen in three areas. These areas are diet, stress and exercise. The pandemic has really shined a spotlight on all three of these areas and many, many people are struggling!
One action I have taken to help people at a low cost is to offer group coaching programs that address these three areas so that people can reset. Today, I want to focus a bit on how I approach a diet reset with my “Cut the Crap in 21 Days” program members.
I hope this information helps you hit your own diet reset button!
What are You Eating?
What I have seen is that people can really, really lose track of the food they are consuming. It is very easy to overeat, especially if you are stress eating. Who hasn’t started to eat a bag of chips or cookies and then, all of a sudden, realized they are finishing that bag off? I’m pretty sure this is something that has happened to a lot of us when we are stressed!
It is also hard to know what foods may be impacting your health in ways you don’t want. There are foods that could be making your eczema, joint pain, asthma, migraines or other symptoms worse. But have you taken the time to identify what these foods are?
Doing some dietary tracking can really help bring awareness to how much you’re eating, what you’re eating and what you need to eat (or not!) to improve your health. Often, the act of tracking your diet will lead you to make different choices because you feel more accountable for the food you are putting in your mouth. This can lead you to make healthier choices right off the bat!
What Needs to be Replaced?
Once there is more awareness around what foods are being eaten, we can start to identify what foods need to be removed from the diet and what we can add in place of the foods we’re removing.
Does dairy make your gout flare? (It totally happens to a patient of mine!) Do those crackers you love make your blood sugar go through the roof and cause you to crash later?
It can be very beneficial to know what foods aren’t great for your health as an individual. Then, we can work to find alternative choices for those foods that are causing negative health effects. And, breaking out of old patterns with new foods can be a lot less difficult when you know what you need to substitute and how to do it.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Being successful with dietary changes can happen in many different ways, but self-sabotage can happen, too.
Obviously, not having the foods in your house that don’t serve your health is a way to set yourself up for success. But, really, having a plan for your weekly meals as well as dedicating some time to meal preparation can make a healthy diet a lot more attainable. It takes a little dedication and practice to dial in a diet that stays in the healthy zone, but you will feel so much better if you do it.
Deprivation is for the Birds
I really don’t like focusing on what foods need to be taken out of someone’s diet. Well, if we’re talking about food substitutions, I’ll talk about it a lot. But I’d much rather focus on the positive!
Like, what about all the foods that you haven’t been eating that you can add into your diet to serve your health? Seriously, the options of what you CAN eat as part of a healthy diet are endless.
I love introducing people to new foods and, also, to foods that they thought they hated as a kid. Don’t like Brussels sprouts? Maybe you just haven’t had them cooked in a way that is pleasing to your palate!
And there is absolutely no reason why you can’t incorporate at least some of your favorite treats into your diet. It’s all about balance. And the longer you keep up healthy diet habits, the less appealing some of those treats become.
I hope that these tips help you if you’re looking to reset your diet. And if you need more help, look for my “Cut the Crap in 21 Days!” diet reset program that will start in mid-January. Happy New Year! FBN
By Amber Belt, ND
Amber Belt, N.D. is a naturopathic physician with sharp regenerative injection skills, a roller derby enthusiast, a business owner, an animal lover and a Flagstaff devotee. She has been performing regenerative injections for 12 years and can be contacted via aspenmedcenter.com or at 928-213-5828.
