There are many such diets based on calorie counting! It seems like a necessary step to lose weight … But intellectualizing food as much is not natural, nor physiological and even less tenable in the long term! Recovering your health and finding peace with food will go through the absence of calorie counting and the removal of scales, both for your food and for yourself! This is the first step to losing weight healthily and sustainably.
Dietary culture shows far too little vision of food by quantifying and reducing food to data and numbers. This paradigm cuts the innate connection between our body and food. Deprivation inhibits this link to intuitive eating and the pleasure of eating. Counting calories and weighing food only takes us away from a healthy, joyful life and a lasting harmonious figure. Restore power to your body. Trust him! It’s time to build a solid foundation for your health and well-being for life.
As a Nutritionist, here are the important steps that I share with my clients that will get you out of the diet circle for thus regain a feeling of fulfillment in your relationship with food and your body.
1. Observe and become aware of the patterns that repeat
The first step to lose weight permanently or create lasting change is to observe your behavior and put your finger on past similarities. What are the patterns that repeat year after year? Are you the type who constantly thinks about calories or always looks at the nutritional chart on food packages? Embark on the latest fad diet and tell yourself that this may be the solution you were looking for to lose weight?
2. Forget about dieting for healthy weight loss
Now is the time to give up dieting once and for all. Throw away or give away the books that talk about dieting. Unsubscribe from social media accounts that promote dieting, comparison and calorie counting. Put your scale away from you and stop weighing food. Remove the word “diet” from your vocabulary and with it the yoyos of excess and restrictions. Diets absolutely do not rhyme with healthy and lasting weight loss. Log on your appetite to find out when you are full enough to stop eating. Your body deserves this kind of attention!
3. Create New Healthy Routines
Sit on the terrace of a cafe with a nice tea or curl up on your couch and make a life decision. Commit yourself, starting today, to take the path of a healthy, balanced and intuitive diet and to stay there regardless of the difficulties and challenges of life.
Then think about the following questions related to your diet:
- How is your day and your week going so far?
- Are you satisfied with your diet and How do you like your days to go in an ideal scenario?
Highlight the difficulties around food that require your attention during the day and during the week . Write them down and try to understand what unconscious behavior you are adopting. Then take the time to create new healthy routines.
For example, if you tend to snack when you get home from work, plan an afternoon snack and get some fresh air! Do you tend to skip lunch or eat on the go? Instead, decide to give yourself 20 minutes to eat an easy, healthy and quick meal. You lack time in the evening to cook and you opt for the facility? Take time out of the week to prepare your lunches in advance!
Think about how to establish routines that are consistent with your life and sustainable over the long term. However, be careful not to turn everything upside down overnight! Focus on the food and the quality of the food. Eat every three to four hours to maintain a stable blood sugar level and balance your mood.
Your eating habits are closely linked to your sleeping habits, so make sure you get enough sleep.
Also increase the variety of nutrients: the goal is to add rather than restrict. When shopping for food, try going to markets or local producers and add at least one new fruit or vegetable a week. Also remember to select the most natural and least processed foods possible.
4. Sitting at the table with joy and pleasure
The state of mind in which we eat affects not only the amount of food we will eat, but also the ability of our body to digest it! Stress wreaks havoc. I remember eating when I was upset; 2 hours after the meal, I had not yet digested, my stomach was swollen and I felt a weight in the stomach. It was only after the problem was resolved and the annoyance passed that I felt like a knot that was untied and my digestion that finally started! In other words: our way of eating and the state of mind in which we eat are just as important as what is on our plates.
Before you sit down, always make sure you have positive thoughts about yourself. and the food. Take care of this special moment that is your meal. Whether you eat it alone, with family or friends, make sure that the meal takes place in relaxation, without screens, without shouting, without stress and without annoyance.
Be thankful and make the effort to sit at each meal. Eating mindfully is a process that leads you to become aware of each bite but also aware of your body’s signals during meals. This will reduce emotional eating and binge eating. Eat a diet that promotes self-compassion rather than self-punishment!
5. Change your vocabulary
By carefully selecting the words used to describe your meals, you will be able to create a softer and nourishing relationship with food and your body.
Although this is really ingrained in our cultures, the notions of ” good for health ”or“ bad for health ”have no place. However, the feeling of guilt or shame that accompanies the consumption of a so-called “bad” food is much more harmful for our body and our mind than the food itself. So let’s stop judging the signals from our body! We all experience a “type” of physical and emotional hunger that influences our food choices. Also think about the value of your meal; its social, emotional, friendliness, sharing and fun value. When you eat a sweetness, a pleasure, enjoy it with joy, detachment and without guilt. Savor each bite in reasonable quantity and always remember that your body listens to what you do, say and think. Take care of the thoughts that appear and if the guilt points the tip of your nose, say to yourself: “I trust, my body can manage this little pleasure as well as possible!”
6. Abandoning Perfection
Many of us, consciously or unconsciously, believe in perfection. Pay attention to this because it is the enemy of reality, the possible and pleasure. This aptly describes the effect created by the latest fad diets, which only create imbalance and possibly low self-esteem in the end. So experience reality, the possible and the pleasure during your meals!
Please give up the urge to weigh yourself and the desire for the perfect weight. To lose weight healthily and sustainably, direct your attention instead to being fit, having energy, being in a healthy body, feeling balanced, etc. Your weight will balance when you stop depriving yourself and restricting yourself. This peaceful relationship with food can only happen when we abandon the illusion of “perfect diet.” Take a gentle approach to food. Be patient and gentle with yourself and above all have confidence … I trust! It may take a while, I know, but now is the best time to start!
