Spring is here, and so is the time for Spring Cleaning. Your Diet, that is!
I’m won’t be talking about cleaning out your kitchen… nor will I be suggesting a detox diet or juice cleanse!
I’m talking about how your diet might need some cleaning up after spending months in hibernation mode. A time when we tend to eat a lot of comfort foods and high-carbohydrate snacks.
First, Let’s Just Think About Spring Cleaning
Winter…
Between multiple holidays packed with food and fewer hours of sunlight, we can easily slip into lifestyle patterns that are not the best for our health.
The early winter holidays are celebrated with an overabundance of high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods. Think about Halloween or Thanksgiving. These traditions likely began as an instinctual means of preserving life, since the winter months meant food scarcity. But, fortunately, and unfortunately, we don’t have these periods of famine, yet we continue the traditions nonetheless.
To compound the issue, winter’s short days not only leave less time for outdoor activities, but earlier sunsets can trigger our bodies to produce melatonin (a sleepy hormone) at times when we are still expected to be productive. As a result, we may reach to foods (high-sugar foods, mind you) for energy, leading to excessive intakes and additional weight struggles.
This pattern can last for months and leave us feeling puffy and in a rut. But, as the sun shifts and begins to fills our windows (highlighting all that dust), we may not like what we see.
The good news?
Spring comes with the promise of second chances and the opportunity to forge new paths.
So, let’s get to spring cleaning your diet! But first, let’s…
Start With Some Reflecting
Think about your food choices over the past couple of months and ask yourself these questions.
- Am I eating ‘healthy’ at least 75% of the time?
First, if you noticed the word healthy in quotes, then I’m impressed!
I did that because the word “healthy” is a relative term, one open to interpretation. We all define it a bit differently, but I believe, as a dietitian, that all foods can be part of a healthy diet because… it’s all about moderation and ratios. Of course, there are situations and health conditions that necessitate restrictions, but for generally healthy people, anything can go.
This concept will be important later as you begin to think about setting goals. This leads me to question number two.
2. What can I do to get that number higher?
Perhaps, after a bit of reflection, you think to yourself, “I need to stop eating so much junk food,” or, “I need to stop getting take-out for lunch.”
If you did, stop (pun intended)! You’re taking the wrong approach and need to shift the way you are thinking about foods and your diet.
Reframe it!
Think about this: The word “stop” almost always elicits a defensive response.
When you tell someone to stop doing whatever it is they are doing, they will inevitably push back, no matter how old, or versed in psychology they are.
This is also true of us. If we deprive ourselves of the things we want, the beast inside us will begin to push back; creating an inner struggle, a battle that must be won.
But battles only lead to destruction, and one side always retreats in pain (emotionally or physically). In the case of the internal battle of wills, the beast puts up a generous fight. Most likely (I hate to be so blunt), the one left hurting is you!
Further, failure can only lead to one of two things… It can either motivate you to try again, or it leaves you feeling defeated and hopeless, ready to give up entirely.
now, maybe you’re one of those people that’s just good at everything they do, and if that’s the case, lucky you. But for those of us who don’t succeed on the first try every time, it’s hard to persevere after several failed attempts.
Perhaps there’s another approach we can take?
Goal Setting
By reframing the way we think about how we can do better, we can bypass the power struggle and skip to the magic by making lasting changes that put us on the path to happiness.
So, here’s what you’re going to do…
To clean up your diet, you’re going to choose 1-2 small things to “add” to your life (not “stop,” or take away entirely).
Here are five ideas to get you started.
- eat one more piece of fruit per day
- drink more water daily
- “reduce” (not eliminate) portion of “less healthy foods” (using terms like this to describe food prevents us from demonizing them)
- try a new vegetable
- learn to cook something new
Cleaning is supposed to uncomplicate things, not make things worse. So, be S.M.A.R.T. about it and choose something small and manageable.
Related: Be S.M.A.R.T. About Your New Year Resolution
For example, if you want to drink more water, find a fun water bottle to drink out of, set hourly reminder alerts, or add flavor drops for encouragement.
MyPlate.gov is a website where you can learn more about balanced eating and find fun ways to make changes to your diet that will last a lifetime. It will also tailor the recommendations to you.
Like regular cleaning, spring cleaning your diet takes work. It will take consistent effort to maintain your new habit, but it should never feel overwhelming. If it does, it’s time to take a step back. Or down. Or over.
You might be trying to mop when you haven’t even swept.
Start Spring Cleaning Your Diet!
Once you have a simple and manageable plan in place, it’s time to act.
Just do it. Start.
You can choose to start now (in this moment), or you can pick a future date. Doesn’t matter when as long as you have the openness and flexibility to view this as a process instead of a hard, black-and-white obstacle to overcome. You might find that with each small success, you gain more momentum, and the motivation to try again and again becomes easier and easier.
Here’s the secret… If you forget, aren’t consistent, give in, or mess up, don’t say “fuck it” and walk away. Say “fuck it” and keep going. Practice makes perfect, or at least closer to it because there’s not such thing as perfect.
Doing something is better than doing nothing. Any steps you take move you in the right direction. If it’s really not working, just stop, breathe, think, and make a new plan. Perhaps you need to reel it back a bit, and that’s okay.
Cleaning things should leave you feeling refreshed and ready for what the next season will bring. Remember, don’t “bite off more than you can chew,” and be kind to, and patient with, yourself.
You got this!
Happy Spring Cleaning, Witches!
