How to Succeed with your Nutrition Plan
Success with nutritional habit changes is so much more than just changing how much protein you eat per day.
Those types of basic recommendations are so helpful, but there are some other variables to consider when contemplating what might be helping or hindering your progress.
Social factors can significantly influence not only your compliance with your nutrition goals, but also your perception of your progress.
We all want to find the balance between eating what we know is best for us AND eating the fun things. We want to be able to go out to eat with our friends or family, celebrate birthdays, go to barbecues, game day events etc… all with confidence when it comes to the food we’re choosing.
Below I’ve compiled a list of things to consider regarding your home environment when it comes to food! It’s a great place to start since so much of our habits stem from our home environment!
Your home habits consist of everything from who does the grocery shopping to what your family meal structures looks like.
Is your spouse or partner supportive and understanding of your goals?
Do you eat together as a family?
Is everyone able to choose what they’d like or does everyone eat the same meal?
Do you have the foods that help you reach your goals available in your home environment?
Things you can try:
Keep foods you know you’d binge out of your kitchen/pantry.
Make a plan to prepare foods that are nutritious and keep them in the fridge or freezer to make them easier to reach. Foods like protein sources and veggies are a great place to start!
Talk to your family about why it’s important to you to focus on your health, and be OK with everyone's plates looking a little bit different! Parents and children often have different palates and nutritional needs, it’s ok if you’re eating something a bit different or different portions than someone else in your family.
Recognize that eating healthier doesn’t need to mean restriction! Usually it actually means adding more things that support your goals and choosing more realistic portions of “comfort foods.
Often we find that if the goals we’ve set are far outside our current habits. Sometimes our support system needs to catch up with us. This can mean setting your own boundaries and reinforcing with those in your circle why your goals are important, how you’re going to achieve them, and how they can best support you.
Maybe that looks like working together as a family to go out to eat less.
Maybe that looks like working together to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diets.
These are all important things to consider when taking on new routines!
Elise Howlett
Nutrition Coach
PNL1, CFL1, ACE-CPT
The PATH Rehab & Performance
