5 Tips to Reset your Diet This Spring
Hey Angels and Alphas,
During the winter, we always tend to enlist warm, comforting foods so that we can ride out the colder months. And studies have actually shown that we consume more calories overall during the cold seasons.
At best, these dishes may include homemade stews, casseroles, chilis, and more. But when it’s dark and cold outside, it might be tempting to get food delivered directly to the cozy confines of our couch… without any cooking required.
If you pair these heavier-than-usual meals with the basic fact that most people work out less during the winter, you can find yourself feeling less than your best when spring rolls around. But hey, that happens. The key is to not let a few months of indulgent eating turn into a few more.
Today, we’re here to explore the five sure-fire ways you can reset your diet this spring and turn the rest of the year into the best of the year.
#1 START MEAL PLANNING
If you’re hungry around 7 p.m. and you don’t have a dinner plan, even your best intentions will tend to go awry. You should avoid hunger-induced decisions by always planning your meals ahead of time.
So buy groceries and do some meal prep on Sunday (or whenever you have the time) so you’re always equipped with healthy options for every night. Healthier decisions are easy when you have a full fridge and you’re equipped with a game plan.
#2 TAKE THINGS ONE MEAL AT A TIME
Between all your duties at work, with your family, in your social life, or in your other obligations, something has to give. Unfortunately, the expense is often our health.
If prioritizing your diet feels a little intimidating, you should try starting with one meal every day. You could try making your oats overnight so you can bring them to work and make sure you have a healthy breakfast to start the day.
If your dinner is the one meal you want to target, simply create a weekly menu of what you’ll eat every night. Once you can just get one of your daily meals under your total control, you can begin to address the others. But, you might notice that this relatively small step is enough to make a drastic impact on your entire health and diet.
#3 FOCUS ON ADDING, NOT SUBTRACTING
Denying yourself all your favorite foods is a recipe for disaster. You’re likely going to start craving these foods and you’ll sabotage all your hard work by simply overdoing it. Instead, think about adding new healthy options to your daily menu and plate. If you want to eat a pizza, eat a pizza.
But don’t go heavy on the garlic bread and pair that pizza with a large salad. This will ensure you get plenty of fresh, healthy produce at every meal and filling your stomach with greens might mean you eat less pizza overall.
#4 START LOGGING YOUR MEALS
Tracking what you’re eating is the perfect way to understand how many calories and nutrients you’re getting on a daily basis. You can use apps, notes, journals, or anything that allows you to keep track of a database in which you can list all the individual foods you eat.
Beyond all the eye-opening intel that comes with understanding your daily calorie consumption, logging your meals will help keep you accountable and achieve smaller, short-term goals you set for yourself.
#5 USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM
Everything is easier if you’re doing it with the support of someone close to you. So find someone near you who wants to make a similar, positive change in themselves… and do it together!
There’s really no one way to describe this approach. For example, if your spouse is along for the ride, you should trade-off the grocery shopping and cooking. If it’s a colleague of yours, you can bring healthy lunches to the office together and keep yourself accountable. And if you’re doing it with a long-distance friend, you should check-in periodically with encouraging texts. It doesn’t matter what approach you choose, as long as you’re not going to undertake this effort all alone.
