How We Transitioned to a Healthier Lifestyle Without Restrictive Diets

Our Journey to a Healthier Lifestyle Without Restrictive Diets

I’ve always considered myself a healthy person. I eat my vegetables, I avoid fried or overly greasy foods, and I don’t have dessert too often. So, you can imagine my shock when, after one of my family member’s visits to the hospital, they were told to work on their diet. My family and I eat almost every meal together, so if one of us needed to work on their diets, we all did.

After lots of analyzing, we came to the conclusion that restriction wouldn’t work for us. Last time we tried to change our diet, we implemented a keto diet, which is extremely restrictive. We felt choked by all the restrictions, and slowly we started to rebel against them…

So, to hopefully be successful this time around in making a real positive change to our diets, we decided to do it our way. First, there would be no restrictions. We would try our best to stay within the guidelines we had set for ourselves, but we wouldn’t bend backwards or make ourselves miserable. Second, since we wanted this to be a change in our lifestyle, we needed to take these changes slow and be realistic. Finally, we made sure to follow experts’ advice and get our information from reliable sources. And with that, we started our journey to transition to a healthier lifestyle.

After this family member’s initial visit to the doctors, they were referred to a nutritionist. One of the main takeaways from that visit to the nutritionist was this piece of simple advice she gave: make sure that for each meal you have, you fill half your plate with protein, a quarter with carbs, and a quarter with vegetables. This piece of advice was just simple enough for us to implement on a daily basis. I started reducing the amount of rice I was making and increasing the veggies, whether they were roast vegetables or a salad. It has also helped simplify meal planning for me, giving me a guideline to structure my meals around. I just pick a protein and then sides that would complement it. This has helped a great deal in our transition to a healthier lifestyle.

Now that we had a template for our meals, we started to think about other things we were consuming, particularly sugar. After watching this episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast, we woke up to the effects of sugar on our health and just how much sugar we were consuming. In that episode, the guest star, Robert Lustig, mentioned that most of the sugar we consume comes from our drinks. As someone who drinks a lot of caffeine, I knew I needed to make a change. But I’m also someone who does not enjoy coffee or tea without sugar. So, for my coffee in the morning, I stopped adding sugar to it and started having it with dates. The sweetness in the dates complements the coffee perfectly, and I’ve always been one to enjoy the flavor of dates. As for my tea, I make sure to measure out the sugar I’m adding to it and am slowly working on reducing it. Another way we consume sugar is through our post-dinner desserts. We now try to limit these desserts to once or twice a week, and instead have fruit when we are craving something sweet after dinner.

One more thing we are working on is limiting takeout. We realized that we were always disappointed with the quality of the food, and most times it would arrive at our house cold or be the wrong order. We decided that we would much rather go out once or twice a week to restaurants we love than order takeout. That meant cooking at home on the weekdays and going out to eat on the weekends. So, to make sure I could cook dinner 5-6 days a week, I needed to plan out my meals for the week and keep in mind my schedule. On days when I get home late, I either have most of the meal prepped or I make sure to double the recipe the night before. I plan on sharing my meal planning system very soon, so stay tuned.

Embracing a Healthier Lifestyle, One Step at a Time

Our transition to a healthier lifestyle has been a journey of small, sustainable changes rather than restrictive diets. By focusing on balance and moderation, we’ve found a way to improve our health without feeling deprived. Whether it’s adjusting our meal portions, cutting down on sugar, or cooking more at home, each step has brought us closer to our goals. As we continue on this path, we’re excited to see the positive impact these changes will have on our overall well-being. Stay tuned for more tips and insights on maintaining a healthy lifestyle that’s both enjoyable and realistic.