Getting specific about why you want to lose weight and how creating healthier habits can benefit your life can get you quicker results. Answer these questions honestly to understand your starting point, so that your endpoint can be easily mapped-out.
1. What is my personal preference for food?
No surprise here: we make our food and drink choices largely based on taste. Do you prefer sweetness of sugar or savoriness of salty foods?
2. Am I eating based on habits? What am I eating solely out of habit? Another big one for a lot of us.! Maybe it’s a bagel with cream cheese and coffee with cream in the morning, sweets or dessert after dinner, or snacking mindlessly late at night watching Netflix.
3. What am I eating because it’s my tradition or heritage?
How you grew up eating or what country you live in can have a major impact on your food choices. Sixty percent of restaurants in the US have an ethnic-based cuisine. These aren’t necessarily unhealthy choices, but awareness around this can help you frame your plan of action.
4. What kind of eating choices do I make when I’m socializing?
Sharing drinks and dinners with friends makes life better! Also, preparing meals with others and eating together may improve the level of nourishment you get from a meal. But mindless social eating and drinking are a common red flags for downward weight and nutrition spirals.
5. Are availability, convenience and budget top factors when I’m deciding what to eat?
These factors limit our choices, especially in our fast-paced ready-made food culture. If these apply to you then food preparation will be top-notch when creating an actionionable plan.
6. Do I have positive/negative associations with foods I eat or don’t eat? Think specifically about processed versus unprocessed foods, or foods that come in a bag versus those found in the fresh, outer-lying aisles of the grocery store. Maybe there are foods you were forced to eat as a child or foods you don’t like because you associate them with being sick. On the other hand, you could associate foods with happy memories and be more inclined to eat them.
Do I eat my feelings?
This has turned into a bit of a laugh for some of people, but identifying why you are propelled to eat a whole sleeve of Oreos or drink half a bottle of wine can be a tough cycle to break! It’s not just about sad feelings, either; consider if you eat when you feel really happy or need to break out of a sleepy sleepy slump and that you can’t rest until you eat that white bread with peanut butter and jelly (speaking for a friend…)
Do my values and beliefs play a part of my eating?
Answering this will help cater to your one-and-only personalized nutrition plan. If you have strong religious beliefs, political views or environmental concerns are connected to your nutrition, we can balance these guidelines with a nutrition plan that fits. Life doesn’t go away when you set a nutrition goal. If you want life-long results you need to consider reality, and understanding how your values and beliefs factor in will lay out an actionable plan for faster results.
Do I eat based on my body weight and image of myself?
No surprise here: this is a huge one today with social media and pop culture. It’s “normal” and can be ok to eat based on what you feel will improve the way you look, or based on the way you think someone else eats and looks the way you want to look. But if these decisions aren’t based on sound nutrition and fitness facts, it’s not ok. Start thinking about the fad diets you’ve tried to begin answering this question.
How often am I eating for nutrition or a specific health benefit?
Do you eat to improve heart or lung health? Maybe you choose foods to improve sleep, immune system or even skin health. Whatever the health benefit you gravitate towards, getting honest about the functional foods in your diet and how often those are incorporated will frame a solid action plan.
One or maybe all of these resonate with you, but no matter which strike a chord, it’s a good first step to understand that your food choices influence your health. We want to find a balance that works for you. Truly understanding these ‘why’s’ will help you feel the change you need to make for your body, your life and your goals!