Almost everyone has heard the saying about the glass being half empty or half full. Which person are you? Which glass do you see? It usually indicates how you approach things.
So to make your eating habits better, start forcing yourself to see the glass half full. In other words, concentrate on all the foods you can eat instead of the ones you can’t.
The hardest part of succeeding in permanently changing our bad habits is we often think way too much about what we feel we are giving up instead of enjoying more of what we don’t have to give up.
When it comes to eating however, fuss budgets are going to have a more difficult time. Should that be a surprise?
With spring and summer coming, we will have an easy time finding plenty to fill ourselves with from the healthier choice list. Fill yourself up with the yes list and you’ll think a whole lot less about what you might be missing.
Start seeing and feeling the benefits and it gets even easier. The saying is “old habits die hard” but you might be surprised at how this might not be so true when you start reaping the benefits of better health and mood.
The list of plenty includes all fruits and vegetables (unless you are on a doctor’s order to avoid), lean white meats from poultry, fish (especially wild caught Pacific Northwest salmon), legumes (dried beans), lentils, nuts (unless you’re allergic), whole grains, low fat dairy to name a few.
Actually it is certainly not ‘a few’ when you think about the complete list of all fruits and vegetables alone.
And did you know that eggs are great too? Complete protein from the whites and iron from the yolk. You only have to be concerned if you suffer from high cholesterol.
I cannot list every single food on the ‘yes’ or ‘plenty’ category just as I can’t for the ‘no’ or ‘avoid’ list but a few of the definite avoids are fried foods, buttery foods, high sugar goodies, red meat, white bread, white rice, ice cream, soda.
It doesn’t seem so bad until you really think about that complete list of ‘goodies’ that include cakes, pies, cookies, candies, pastries, etc.
Try sitting down and actually listing all the good for you foods you can possibly think of. Next, simply choose to buy and prepare from these foods. Avoid even having the ‘no’s in your house.
With only whole foods available you will find yourself developing new habits and really not missing the foods you’ve been avoiding. You may even discover new foods you never knew you would like, and that like you back.
If you find yourself constantly thinking about all the ‘no’ foods you shouldn’t have then consider yourself someone who just keeps seeing the glass half empty.
