Week 4- Start your food journal!

This is a goal I wanted to work into the program, but I wasn't sure where to fit it in.  There are so many important pieces to the puzzle that I wanted to get you started on from the beginning, that it was hard to decide what needed to come first!  So I'm going to go ahead and add in a second goal for this week that I want you to get started on.  In addition to the fruit and veggie goal for this week, you're going to start keeping a food journal.  You can jot it in the notes app on your phone, you can snap a photo of everything before you eat it and save the pics in a food journal album, you can use the MyFitnessPal app or something similar, or you can go the old fashioned route and just write everything in a notebook.  You can even make notes on your meal plan.  It really doesn't matter where you record it, but you must write down everything you eat AND drink every day in a place where it won't get lost.  Make it as easy as possible for yourself so this will become effortless.  It doesn't need to be complicated!

Food journaling is going to be an important part of the process as we move along.  Recording what you eat will help you to be aware of everything that you're ingesting (or not ingesting!) and will help you hold yourself accountable.  It's also vital to know exactly what's going in, in order to know what's working for you and what  you need to change.  Your food journal, along with your progress stats (your initial weight, measurements and photos) will be your keys to unlocking what good nutrition means for you.  

Week 2- Slow down!

Before we can even begin to discuss WHAT you eat, we need to fix HOW you eat.  Everyone seems to be speeding in on two wheels everywhere they go these days, and none of us have any free time for "fancy" stuff, like eating.  Seriously, though, we all tend to treat meals as an afterthought, and don't give the nourishment of our bodies the respect it deserves!   How frequently do you scarf food while checking email, driving down the road, or rushing between meetings?

The problem with eating at warp speed is that it causes you to override your body's natural "I've had enough to eat" mechanism, and you wind up eating far more than you need.  Your gut and your brain "speak" to each other, but this communication takes about 20 minutes to happen.  It's as if you have a feeble old man living in your gut, and when your food gets down to him, he slowly starts climbing the steps to your brain, where he knocks on the door to let it know your belly is full.  Often, by time the old man finally gets word to your brain that your belly has had enough, you've already eaten far too much and need to change into your Thanksgiving stretchy pants.

Since you can't get the old man in your belly to climb the stairs to your brain any faster, the only way to fix this problem is to eat more slowly.  Sit down at a table to eat your meals, set your fork down after EVERY bite, thoroughly chew your food, taste it, and enjoy it.  Also, stop eating when you're no longer hungry... don't wait until you feel FULL.  Meals should take about 15-20 minutes to finish, and you should stop when you feel about 80% full.  

Slowing down and stopping when you notice that you're 80% full can make a huge impact on greatly reducing your consumption while increasing your satisfaction.  Beginning on Monday, September 12, your new goal is to focus on this every time you eat; eat slowly and stop at 80% full.  Of course, you'll be adding this to your goal from last week, which was the weekly food prep.  So get your prep for the week done by Monday night, and start slowing down your meals!