When it comes to changing your nutrition to lead a healthier lifestyle you are better off focusing on what you ARE doing as opposed to what you are NOT doing. I often hear the following things when it comes to dieting:

• I don’t eat ________ anymore
• I don’t drink ________ anymore

While it is quite admirable to give up something or things that you have been attached to for what seems like forever, it will not always lead to instant success. Unfortunately, there are ZERO calories in the things that you do not eat or drink and most people simply replace the things that they gave up with allegedly “healthy” items which may not even be the case. Also, going cold turkey will often lead to a time when you just can’t stand it anymore and crave what you gave up so much that you eventually run back to it even if it is just a taste. When that taste turns out to be an entire bag, box or bottle then the guilt trip sets in and pity party is in full swing.

On another note, if the topic of meal planning/prepping comes up it quickly turns into the following discussion:

• I don’t want to eat the same thing all week
• I don’t want to eat just chicken and broccoli all week
• I don’t like to eat leftovers!
• I want to be able to enjoy life!

There is a HUGE misconception when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet that you are forced to give up all of the delicious foods and drinks in life and reality. First, any meal is what you make it. If you decide to take the time each week to plan/prep exciting meals with different menu items than that is what you get. If you do not want to take the time to make things different, then you will be stuck with the same old things. Oddly enough the same people who don’t want to eat the same things are often the same people who tell you that they don’t have enough time to cook their own meals in the first place.

At the same time, we are not as exciting as we think that we are when it comes to what we eat each day. Prepping or no prepping, we eat things off of a similar menu with the slightest variations to make us think that we are living on the edge…NOT! Most of us would be so much better served to have meals that are prepared once or twice during the week to keep us from making terrible nutrition choices when we know better.

The focus instead should be more on what you ARE doing as it is much easier to track and be accountable for it in the long run. Keep it positive, keep it simple, keep it consistent and success will be yours!