6 Ways to Transform How You Eat in This New Year 🥳

First and foremost, I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May 2021 be a year of peace, prosperity, and many blessings for you and your family! This is the perfect time to turn over a new leaf, to start fresh, to reinvent your life in ways you want to see yourself grow.

I'm here to help you start that process...

My goal is not to change the way you do things when it comes to your health. Change can sometimes seem temporary. As a transformation coach, my aim is to guide you along the way to transforming your health! Transformation is a permanent adjustment and starts with our mindset. Instead of just “eating healthy” you ARE healthy because you have a healthy mindset. That’s another blog post to come…

Many of us make resolutions every.single.year. But how many of us stick to them? I will be the first to say that I don’t lol. We all want to be our absolute best self, right? The hard part is not knowing HOW to. So, with that said, let’s start with how we eat! Notice I didn’t say what we eat? No, I’m not here to tell you to give up your morning coffee or your guilty pleasure meal (thank God). What I will provide you with is a 6-step process to transform your eating. It sounds like a lot, BUT it’s EASY to implement. Technically it’s 4 steps, because two of them take little effort in my opinion.

Let’s get into it!

The Transformation Process....

Discover Your "Why"

Everything we do has to have a purpose for us to be fully invested. Without a self valued purpose, there’s no meaningfulness and therefore it’s easier for us to quit. When reflecting on why you want to transform the way you eat, ask yourself these questions:

Identify Your Support

You will need support to get through this transformation process. Think about what who you know that has your best interest that will be a great support system for you. WARNING: do not choose an enabler! You need a truth-telling person who will push you towards your goal. Then think of type of support you may need through the transformation process. Will you need a daily check in? Will you need someone to help you cook your food? I’m not sure, but you know the best ways you can be supported!

Learn the How-To

One thing you don’t want to do is jump into a new way of eating without doing the research. You don’t have to be an expert or scholar, but you’ll want to know the main aspects of your new way of eating. Be sure to gain knowledge on health concerns that may affect you or even check with your doctor just as a precaution.

Determine & Make the Change

Determine if your best way of this process is to do it gradually or immediately. I generally suggest a gradual transformation. Maybe start your new way of eating with just one meal for the first week. For example, eating your regular way for breakfast and dinner, but for lunch, eating your new way. From the first week you could work your way up to breakfast, then dinner. Eventually all of your meals will be transformed.

I know there are also people who would rather just start immediately or go “cold turkey.” I can relate, as I am also this type of person. My suggestion is to plan your transformation with ample time for you to get ready for the process. Maybe you will need to clean out some pantry items or purchase some items that will be staples in your transformation.

Evaluate & Adjust

After you have started the process of transforming your eating, take time to reflect on your thoughts about the process thus far. For your evaluation, you’ll want to ask yourself:

What went well?
What results did I notice?
What didn't work well?
Do I want to continue with the transformation process?
Do I need to adjust something or start a different process?
Would I rather go back to normal?

Once you answer the evaluation questions, make your adjustments (assuming you still want to continue). One example of an adjustment is changing the way you prepare your food because you didn’t really like the way they turned out before. If your body responded well when you increased certain food groups, start to increase your intake of those foods.

Appreciate Your Efforts!

The fact that you tried is to be recognized. This is not one of those “everybody gets a trophy” philosophies. This is more so about what appreciating yourself does for your body and health. When you appreciate yourself and give yourself props like “Wow, I didn’t know I could do that!”, your body responds by relaxing. When you’re relaxed, your mindset is in good condition and you’re way more likely to accomplish your goal. If you berate yourself for mistakes you may have made or because something didn’t go your way, expect your body to stressfully respond. We all know stress generally is no good for the body and when you stress yourself out, you will not be able to transform. Then…back to square one.

One additional suggestion is to share the things that went well with someone, preferably the person/people in your support system. The more you tell, the better and your pride in yourself will likely continue to increase.

Give it a try!

Try the process! Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are or to keep me updated on your progress!