Pitfalls to Avoid on the Path to Healthy Eating

I haven't posted in a while because I have gotten into the idea of becoming a wellness coach to help other people find their own path to wellness and have been researching that.  I also started doing hot yoga, which hasn't killed me yet! After just three sessions, both my acupuncturist and massage therapist have noticed a difference in my back!  While I'm still eating whole foods and grain free, I've shifted my personal focus a bit on getting regular exercise and stress management.

I've also been reading a LOT about nutrition and wellness!

Over the last year, I've noticed a few pitfalls on the paths to healthy eating that I have tripped over myself.  I wanted to share with those of you looking to change your eating habits.  They are relevant to anyone wanting to eat healthier, no matter what that looks like to you.

Eating too much of one food - When I first tried paleo eating, I went overboard on nuts and eggs.  Nuts seemed like a great substitute for grains, but it turns out they were never meant to be consumed in the quantities that we eat grains.  In fact, if you think about what a caveman would eat, the time it would take to actually get to the nut would make it very difficult to consume more than a handful in a day.  Some of the reasons to limit your nut intake can be found on Empowered Sustenance, my new favorite blog!   I've also heard of people developing an allergy or sensitivity to a food when they eat too much of it.  When I cut out nuts and eggs for the autoimmune protocol, I had what seemed like a possible reaction to them when I reintroduced.  Now I seem to do OK if I have them only in moderation.  If you think about it though, we were meant to consume a variety of foods, so avoid going overboard on any one thing.

Excluding or severely limiting one macro-nutrient - I have always felt more energy on low carb diets.  Now that I realize I don't process grains well, I wonder how much of that was low carb and how much was cutting out high carb grains.  Now I'm finding that I may need more starches to help curb my sugar cravings.  I'm still working on that balance.  Matt Stone, in his book Diet Recovery, describes his experience of initial positive results on paleo, but then a general decline followed after an extensive period of low carb eating.  Most of his criticisms of paleo surround the low carb version and the overly restrictive dogmatic interpretation of it.  Recently, I've been reading about the Perfect Health Diet, which seems like a better balance to me.

Dogmatic thinking - We are all different, so it stands to reason that one diet approach will not work for everyone.  Most people can agree that we should eat more whole foods, but outside of that, opinions vary drastically.  Integrative Nutrition has a free e-book available that discusses the importance of bioindividuality.    As they say in their book, "Nutrition is the only science in which two parties can comprehensively prove two different theories that are diametrically opposed to one another."  Start with a diet plan that makes intuitive sense to you and then experiment mindfully to explore how different foods make you feel.

Black and white thinking - I have always been an extremist thinker and it's easy to approach things with an all or nothing mentality.  When I'd try low carb dieting, I'd loose some weight for a few weeks, but then I'd go back to whatever eating habits I had before when I'd inevitably "fall off the wagon."  If you restrict your diet so severely that any slip makes you start all over again, then you will never be able to maintain new eating habits.  If, instead, you consider each time you eat how it will impact you and how it will make you feel, sometimes a little "cheat" now and then is worth the results.

Forbidding indulgences - If you can never have the things you love, you will never stay on the path to healthy eating.  Find healthier versions of those things if you can, and limit them to a special treat.  If you don't plan you indulgences, you are much more likely to eat highly processed and unnatural treats when you have a craving.

Don't stress about it! -  While it might be helpful to start with a restrictive diet while you figure out how you react to things, consider it an experiment and play around with it.  Stress negatively impacts your digestion and puts you in a fight or flight mode.  What good is the perfect diet if you're not digesting your food well!

So, the bottom line is, vary your foods, find what's right for you and above all, have fun with your eating!