3 Tips for Sustainable Healthy Eating

If you’re over the diet mentality and counting calories or points, I get you. 

That system works for some people, but for many others it leaves you overwhelmed, stressed, and ultimately back at square one. 

Fad diets typically don’t work long term because they’re based on the premise of deprivation. 

You can only feel deprived for so long before you throw in the towel and binge on chocolate bars and a bucket of fried chicken to fill the void. 

Sustainable healthy eating may sound like an urban myth if you’ve been dieting your whole life, but I’m here to tell you it is possible. 

Here are a few simple tips for leaving the diet mentality behind and starting on the journey towards sustainable healthy eating long term. 

3 Tips for Sustainable Healthy Eating:

1. Don’t count calories. Focus on nutrients. 

Now, being aware of how many calories you eat can be useful information. It’s true you don’t want to eat significantly more calories than your body is burning. 

But focusing solely on calorie-counting on a daily basis often leads to stress. It can be time consuming to obsessively track everything you ate or drank, and it creates this sense of confinement when it comes to your relationship with food. 

Instead, I suggest focusing on how many nutrients you’re getting from your food. If you’re consistently eating nutrient-dense foods with a good balance of carbs, fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals, then you’ll feel satisfied for longer and probably with less food. So you won’t be over-consuming calories anyway. 

One thing to be aware of is how many empty-calorie foods or beverages you’re typically having in a week. These are foods that have a high amount of calories with little to no nutrients in return.

Wine is fabulous, but if you’re having a few glasses several times a week, that’s a lot of excess calories you’re not likely going to burn off. And those calories aren’t really doing much for your body in terms of nutrients. In fact, alcohol slows down your body’s ability to break down fat and increases your hunger hormones so you’ll eat more. 

At the end of the day, focusing on nutrient-dense foods that nourish your body will help you feel your best and brightest and get you closer to your weight and physique goals.

2. Start each day with a clean slate, rather than punishing yourself for a “slip up.” 

So often I hear new clients say that after a day of overindulging on “bad” foods they sabotage themselves for the rest of the week. They feel that all progress has gone out the window, so why bother? 

Totally understandable how frustrating that feels. But I want to encourage you to look at each day as an opportunity to start fresh, no matter what you ate the day before. 

Quit punishing yourself after a weekend of indulgence. The stress of that mindset is actually slowing down your metabolism. 

No matter if you feel like you’ve failed, you can always start fresh and keep moving forward with healthier choices. You haven’t ruined your progress. 

3. Listen to your body & trust your gut.

No two bodies are alike. Lean into those foods that make you feel really energized and satisfied without feeling overly full. 

Learn the cues your body gives you when you’re hungry rather than always relying on a set schedule. 

Anyone can tell you what you “should” eat or what nutritious options to consider. But at the end of the day, you need to listen to your body and decide for yourself what really fuels you. 

I hope these tips are useful and help you see the light at the end of the diet tunnel. 

Once you make these three things part of your don’t-even-have-to-think-about-it daily practice, getting healthier becomes so much easier. And don’t be overwhelmed because it doesn’t happen overnight. It can take some time to truly transform your mindset around food. 

It happened for my client, who I’ll call Sue for privacy. Sue just realized the other day that she completely dropped her sneaky binge-eating habit where she would eat loads of chocolate bars and cake and feel completely guilty afterwards. Instead the other day she ordered a salad for lunch because it looked like the tastier option, and she didn’t even think twice about it. Even in a stressful family situation she hasn’t snuck any chocolate bars or over-the-top treats recently, didn’t even have the craving. 

So it is possible and just takes a few steps to get there. 

If you need help with that and want to feel more confident in your body, I’d love to explain more in a free intro coaching session.

Let me know in the comments which of these 3 things you want to focus on first.