My Top 7 Healthy Eating Breakthroughs

I’m often asked what the major breakthroughs were on my journey to eating a super healthy diet, what tipped the balance so that I live this way every day. I was thinking about this as I washed the dishes last week and realised that I could pinpoint 7 major changes from which all other changes seemed to stem. May this post encourage and inspire those of you who think that a change of diet is radical and nigh on impossible.

It goes without saying that to let something new in, whether physical or emotional, one needs to let go of some of the old stuff that’s holding us back. More often than not we don’t realise what we’re holding onto and what’s holding us back until something is said, done, seen, heard or experienced that brings that all-important ah-ha moment that propels us onward and upward.

Like many women, I always had a troublesome love/hate relationship with food, enjoying it, then beating myself up about it, weighing up my various options before biting into whatever it was I’d decided on, eating around a craving until I finally had to cave in and eat that too. I definitely enjoyed eating and never managed to diet. That said, the ‘fat’ feelings, guilt, self-blame that came with it just wasn’t serving my happiness at all. To be honest, it’s just boring to analyse food before you eat it, after eating it, simultaneously judging yourself before and after. Along with the liberation of my food complexes came the liberation of a few extra brain cells which I can now use to my full benefit and enjoyment!

I’ll stop rambling and get to the point. Here’s what I let go of:

• Should eat healthily: eat this, not eat that etc changed to want to eat this, not that because it makes me feel better
• Rules: this has got to be one of the most boring aspects of ‘healthy’, which is quite simply why I don’t do it. Rigidity leads to cravings and constant battles with that part inside of you that wants the forbidden fruit (our first sister on this earth showed us that that’s impossible, even for the ‘purest’ of us!). I love chocolate. Always have. Always will (well, who knows, but I’m guessing that’s not going to change any time soon). So, instead of banning chocolate, I upgraded and made sure I only ate 70% + dark chocolate. Guess what? I don’t crave it anymore (due to a balanced diet, not just the upgrade). I eat it out of choice when I feel like it. To drive this point home a little more, I was a ‘Mars a day helps you work, rest and play’ kinda girl. I do not even bat an eye-lid walking past a Mars bar now and could not imagine even taking a bite out of one. That, my friends. Is a miracle!
• Results. Focusing on certain foods according to how much weight you might or might not put on keeps the focus on, you guessed it, the weight. I ditched my bathroom scales. I started to feel how I felt in my body instead of what was looking back at me in the mirror and what I though other people were seeing. I got rid of my ‘agent’ and came out as me.

One of the first things I tell my clients when I start working with them is that it’s what you start by putting in that’s going to make a massive difference to your health and ultimate success in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Putting good stuff in automatically leaves less space for the ‘bad’ stuff. Over time, the balance tips significantly and ta-da! you’re eating at least 80% health & energy rockin’ stuff and 20% ‘oh, is that’s what’s available to me right now’ guilt-free enjoyment. Eating this way allows you to eat foods you wouldn’t usually without any guilt attached as you know that this is an exception to the rule, rather than the other way around. It’s what you do most of the time that counts, not what you do some of the time.

Here’s what I added in:

• 2 liters of pure water a day. Before I ‘became healthy’ I was a camel. Seriously. I can’t remember ever going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Only the Universe knows how I made it this far without cracking and flaking into a heap of dust on the floor.
• made friends with a juicer. My brother and I used to live together. He bought a juicer. I am not a gadget woman. That thing looked scary to me. No joke. Brother Charlie went on holiday. He came back and my first words were ‘I’ve made friends with the juicer’. Although said juicer is now in Germany, it has been replaced by a just as loved cousin and we remain firm friends. Amazing.  Or a blender, I could have started with a blender. But I just happened to start with a juicer. Getting those vitamins and minerals in in one glass makes a massive difference.
• I made my own muesli. For someone who practically used to wake up with a spoonful of boxed cereal in her mouth (Rice Crispies as a child, Special K, Fruit n’ Fibre as an adult) before being able to face the day, this was a massive change. I didn’t like muesli. Not at all. I made my own. I thought it was the most delicious food on earth. Why? Because I had lovingly made it. It is so simple, believe me, but to me this was massive. It made me realise that preparing healthier options does not have to take more time or effort. If I can ‘cook’, anyone can cook.
• learnt to cook quinoa. Keen-wah? Yes, keen-wah, that’s how you pronounce it. I had no idea what it looked like. I could barely cook pasta correctly. I bought a pack, read the instructions. It’s now one of my favourite foods. It (and it’s fellow gluten-free cousins such as buckwheat and millet – I still haven’t mastered the amaranth yet) allowed me to ditch the gluten and find a flat stomach. Another miracle.

Of course I have made many more changes but these stand out as making the biggest impact on me at the start of my journey. It’s all about placing one foot in front of the other. One change here and there leads to massive leaps in faith, effect and benefit. With the appropriate knowledge and support anyone can do it. You deserve the best. Like I did, and do. The power of food over our entire lives is really quite astonishing.