“To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” – William Londen
When I started eating healthier one thing that confronted me was how people got fascinated with my food choices. Frequent comments were made such as, ‘gosh, you’re good’ or ‘why are you on a diet? You don’t need to lose weight.’ or ‘if you just have one it won’t hurt you’.
And these comments about my new healthy habits would make me feel uncomfortable. Sometimes I felt unsupported by the way I’ve chosen to live my life. I’ve realised that those comments just came from a place of curiosity or maybe even self-judgement about their own food choices. I’ve also realised that the more I’m OK with my choices, the more everyone around me is.
With more acceptance, I found it easier to embrace my new lifestyle and to put in place healthy changes more readily and permanently.
These are the 3 steps of acceptance that can help you with adopting a healthier diet and create a lifestyle change you are happy with too.
You Can Do This: 3 Easy Steps Towards Your Healthy Life
Step 1- The Only Approval You Need is Your Own
Change can be confronting. When someone close to you changes it can be challenging. Why? Because you think about the impact it may have on your relationship. For instance, by changing your food habits your family may think you’re going to give up family traditions centred around food. Or, perhaps, your partner and friends may think this will change the types of restaurants you enjoy dining in.
As humans, change can do something funny to us because we find so much comfort in staying the same. Yet, change is necessary if you want to move forward in your life, in any aspect.
For this reason, embrace change as an opportunity to grow. By embracing healthier changes you may also inspire others around you to become healthier too. Some people still may not get it, and that’s okay. So long as you are happy with the choices you are making each day that is all that matters!
Step 2 – Accept Your Body As It Is
Your body may not look or feel as you want it to when you first adopt a healthier diet. It takes the time to install new habits and it also takes time for the effects of these habits to show up on the outside. When you adopt a healthier lifestyle you are working from the inside out. Yes, it may take longer than a quick-fix diet. But you know what? It is much more sustainable when you make permanent changes.
It is important that you believe you will get there. True success happens when you believe in the process even before you have the evidence right in front of you.
When you wish to adopt a healthier diet to lose weight, it is important to appreciate your body as it is even before you have reached your ideal weight goal. Admire the process and the amazing intelligence of your body to change and rebuild itself with the right care. Every step of the way is vital to creating the end goal you have in mind.
Step 3 – Embrace Your Health
This step is essential to create a healthier diet as a lifestyle change, rather than a diet you do for 3 weeks and give up. To do this, find healthy foods you love and eat more of them. Don’t eat meals you don’t like just because it’s healthy – this can make healthy eating feel like a chore… and then it becomes something you resent.
Enjoy your food and re-teach your body to get a taste for healthy foods again. We weren’t made to live off burgers and fries or any unprocessed food – we develop a taste for these foods once introduced to them. (Our ancestors survived without processed foods and so can we.)
When you start eating better, the unhealthy processed foods would taste less appealing. And the healthier food would become more preferable. This doesn’t mean you never eat processed foods again. But it means that putting your health first is dependant on you. It’s up to you to nourish your body with food that fuels you for a vibrant, energising day ahead.
By following these steps of acceptance you will learn to embrace your healthier lifestyle and enjoy the foods you eat. You will also enjoy all the amazing benefits it has on your health and wellbeing.