Keep a blog, they say.

In my experience, when it comes to learning how to eat healthy and making those decisions-especially for those of us who are emotional eaters or who have any kind of food trigger-it’s better to not restrict yourself.

I don’t label foods foods as “good” or “bad” there are no “cheat” foods or “cheat” days. Because when you get into that mind set when you are trying to establish a good relationship with food-that is setting you up to keep those dangerous mindsets still in place of punishment and reward.

What IS working for me-is incorporating MORE healthy foods into my daily diet. Adding more fruit and vegetables, nuts, etc into my meals.  

Can’t live without your M&M’s??-Make a trail mix-use M&M’s and add a few tablespoons of walnuts or almonds and raisins to the mix for a healthier snack.

Slowly start to cut back on the sugar in your coffee by cutting back a little each day (or week)-and try flavored coffees to help wean out of the need to have to use sugar into it-you don’t have to give up your milk in it (same for tea)-I used to never drink coffee or tea unsweetened and now it’s the only way I take it-just go at your own pace-but eventually you’ll get to a point where you prefer it (and unsweetened tea is MUCH more of a thirst quencher and counts towards water intake-sweetened tea does not-black coffee too)

I’ve recently gotten OBSESSED with overnight oats and that has been a super easy way to add fruits and nuts into my breakfast. (I was scared and skeptical of these too-no you don’t need fancy mason jars to do this-no they don’t taste like cold oatmeal–yes they are delicious. :D-and the possibilities are endless!!!

If pop (yeah, I refuse to call it “soda”-I will not apologize for this lol-try to incorporate some flavored fizzy water into your life. I broke my pop habit a long time ago-and now I usually “treat” myself (I don’t hate the word treat-to me it’s similar to the word dessert and therefore not as triggering as “cheat”)-anyway-back to what I was saying-I usually treat myself to a pop when I go to the movies or out to dinner-but even out to dinner I prefer tea-because I just love tea. If pop is a big vice-it might take a while-so work on baby steps and don’t beat yourself up about it-you’ve had these habits a long time-they don’t go away overnight. And I love flavored fizzy water-I’ve recently gotten into it-and even that I don’t drink all the time-that’s more a “weekend” beverage for when we’re having tacos or something more fun to eat-which we (bestie and I) have “fun theme foods” that we eat during “TV show season”

In the very beginning don’t even worry about deleting from your diet (other than trying to cut back on sugary drinks)-just ADD healthier things-strive to ADD more veggies. ADD more fruit and healthy fat-let the other stuff happen naturally. And stay in this place as long as you need.

Concentrate the MOST on accepting your body and YOURSELF AS IS-I cannot stress that enough-even if you do want to make actual physical changes-and you do want to lose weight-you HAVE to love where you are NOW. ACCEPT and love yourself NOW and respect yourself enough now before you make that next step or it won’t stick-I PROMISE YOU-I have been there-I KNOW!!

Ignore body shamers. Block them-do not engage, do not respond to them, do not listen to them-they are likely to trigger you-especially in the beginning.

Also sweetener (artificial or stevia - if you like the taste - you can buy them granulated, fluid or in pill shape) can be a real life saver. Many people are a bit scared of them but they are pretty safe to use and soothe my sweet tooth a lot. 

In my country we have pretty calorie rich cream in our coffees. I bought a milk foamer and used regular milk or skim milk to put in my coffee instead. Much better taste because it was foamy, much less calories. Sometimes simple little ‘food hacks’ can make a huge impact. And home made lattes, yeeeeeee :D

Overnight oats are amazing! Done in a jiffy when I heat them in the morning (I’m always very cold when I wake up so I like a warm breaky) and tasty af. Tried a bit of cinnamon in it yet? Its delicious! (another!)

Have you ever heard of ‘if it fits your macros’? I use it as a nutritional guideline and it works really well. Cheat days aren’t needed and I’m also not boring bromeals every day (I never eat them, now I think about it). To me it is the most balanced way to eat and work on my goals without depriving myself. Balance being the key word.