Part Two: Our Journey to Healthier Living

From a “skinny” person’s perspective, trying to be healthy is just as hard as any other person. I am subject to the same cravings that you have. People around me will tell me that I can afford to eat unhealthily because I don’t carry the weight. But can I, really?

Does being "skinny" equal being healthy?

In the pharmacy, I see “skinny” people have high cholesterol and diabetes. Many of them are shocked when they’re diagnosed with it, because they are so-called a healthy weight. These people deal with anxiety, depression, heart disease, pain and cancer, just like the people who are heavier. It doesn’t give them the excuse to eat unhealthily.

I tried a “diet” once. I made big sweeping changes in hopes to be healthier. I had my reasons: improve my mood, hopefully prevent developing diabetes (I have a sweet tooth), don’t gain extra belly fat when I hit perimenopause. I reminded myself of these reasons daily, but I didn’t even last two weeks. A year later, I’ve made most of those same changes, but I made them one by one and gave myself grace when I was stressed. I was more prepared. I anticipated my challenges. I planned my counter attacks for those psychological battles. I did not focus on the days when I didn’t follow “the plan”. Every day was a new day.

My Practical Tips For Eating Healthier

Make a goal EASILY achievable. It might seem ridiculous. However, each step to a larger goal is worth rejoicing. Don’t think of even adding another goal for at least 2 weeks, and make sure you continue that first goal continuously.

My journey: My first step was a floret of broccoli with each meal. Sounds like a pretty measly goal, looking back at it, but it allowed my taste buds to become accustomed to the vegetable.

Examples:

• Eat one green vegetable per day

• Eat one apple per day

• Drink a glass of water with each meal

• Eat ¼ cup of beans per day

Making decisions is mentally tiring. You are usually good with keeping to the plan early in the day, but as the day progresses, your will power wavers. If you have planned the meals ahead of time, you don’t need to stand in front of the fridge hungry, scratching your head figuring out what to make for dinner (or reaching for your phone for takeout instead...).

My journey: I try to meal plan on Sundays when I’m not busy with work, writing it down for reference later in the week. If I haven’t done it that week, before I go to bed, I’ll figure out what I’m going to make the next day before I head to bed. (see my meal planner above)

Examples:

• Set specific meal types for each day, such as Pasta Mondays, Mexican Tuesdays, Stir-fry Wednesdays, Stew Thursdays, Rice Bowl Fridays, Curry Saturdays, etc. This allows for some variety every day while not needing to decide what to eat. It doesn’t need to be set in stone, but if there are no other plans, you can default to these types of meals.

• Prepare healthy snacks for the week: Nuts and dried fruit, Hummus with veggies or crackers, Yogurt with granola.

2. Plan ahead:

1. Start small:

3. Stop tempting yourself:

If you say something is off limits, then don’t have it around to tempt you. Tell people around you that it is not allowed in the pantry. If they want it, they need to stock it in a secret place so that it is not available to you.

My journey: I absolutely have no self-control. I can pour out a portion, but I will just pour more when I run out. If there are chips in the house, I will eat the whole bag in one sitting and then feel guilty at the end. So, when I said no more late-night snacking, I threw out all the chips in the house, and we were not allowed to buy anymore. For the rest of the family who had some self-control, only dill pickle chips were on the menu, because I despise dill and will not touch them.

There are so many other food related habits that I adopted throughout the years. I’ll continue to add them on the blog as time goes on. What works for me may help you. It may not. Do what works best for you. But remember, if it doesn’t work the first time, it was probably too hard. Make a smaller change. Make sure it becomes natural before you make the next change. Healthy living is a LIFELONG battle. It does get easier but not right away. Join me on the journey to healthier living!

Look out for a future blog post on losing weight and practical tips on how living healthier can help you do it.

A page from my food planner detailing my dinner plans for the week.

If you're looking for support with managing your weight, check out our peer support group!