Diets are typically short-term. My wife and I have experimented with different types of dietary and nutritional plans over the years and we have read dozens of books and articles touting the benefits of different dietary approaches. We haven't yet encountered an appealing long-term solution and so we are crafting our own.
My wife successfully completed the Whole30 challenge recently and had a positive experience, but she realized that it wasn't a sustainable or long-term dietary approach. I also tried the Whole30 for about a week and quickly realized that it wasn't what my body needed. I quit the Whole 30 diet after 7 days and welcomed back legumes, healthy grains, and dairy into my diet.
We have also participated in short-term health challenges with friends and family that created temporary healthy eating habits. Mostly everyone who participated in the health challenge noted how great they felt, both physically and emotionally. Despite these positive outcomes, most people, including myself, tended to revert to some or most of their old eating habits once the health challenge ended.
As we enter the holiday season and sugary foods are becoming more accessible and abundant, I am noticing how easily I succumb to eating treats and sweets when they are present around the house. My mind knows that most of these sugary delicacies are horrible for my health, but some powerful force hijacks my mind and I find my hand returning over and over again to grab another treat. I'm someone who will never go out and buy desserts, treats, and other sugary food, but I'm a sucker when the sugary food just happens to be there in my house. I'm also a sucker when I'm at work or a social event that has sugary junk food. I've learned that unless I have some self-imposed guidelines or structure, my default impulses will get the best of me.
Now that the holiday season is upon us, my wife and I wanted to preemptively create a sustainable "pre-holiday" diet that would create the necessary structure to combat holiday gluttony and overindulgence. We plan to relish a few carefully selected holiday indulgences, and we believe that by limiting our treats, we will actually enjoy them more.
We are calling this sustainable dietary approach the "Better 7 Diet".
Better 7 Diet Guidelines
Here are the 2 rules that we set to guide our nutrition and diet:
Rule #1. Eat real, natural, unprocessed foods
This includes unlimited access to real foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, dairy, meats, and seafood. Minimally processed and packaged foods are acceptable, although not preferred, as long as sugar (or any of the 56 other names for sugar found on packaged foods) is not one of the first 5 ingredients.
As stated above, any dessert, treat, or drink where sugar is one of the first 5 ingredients is avoided, although I allow myself 2 exceptions per week. Twice a week I can indulge in a dessert, soda, donut, pastry, ice cream, or any other treat that I want. Having a clearly defined option to occasionally indulge will help me avoid the impulse to eat low quality junk food and strategically savor treats that are worth it.
The rules above are simple, easy to follow, and allow for flexibility. Since my wife and I already eat relatively healthy, our main goal was to eliminate overindulgence, especially around the holidays. I appreciate the motive behind people who gift plates full of fudge and desserts to express their friendship and love, but I just wish the cultural norms changed to one where sugary treats where not the default gift.
My wife and I are committed to following these guidelines from now through the end of the year, and then we will reevaluate our dietary guidelines for the new year.
Comments
Post a Comment