Is Eating Healthy a Challenge?

Eating should be easy, right? 

Step One: Find food

Step Two: Open mouth

Step Three: Eat food

Soooo easy, right? But I'm willing to bet if you've faced health challenges in your life, somehow, eating became something that is quite complicated, confusing, and frustrating. For women, this frustration is compounded by the fact that we're typically the caregivers in our homes…as in the ones who cook and feed other people. Never mind that we also have to consider our schedules, our family's schedules, and our family's individual health concerns. At this point, when do we even have time to eat?

I'm addressing these challenges in my FREE Easy Eats 5-Day Challenge. 

When it comes to eating, especially if our goal is to make healthier choices, I've seen a lot of disturbing trends over the last few years. 

1. Questionable diet protocol - many different diets out there claim to be "the key" to successful weight loss. Or, these diets claim to be "the key" to health transformation and the cure for all ails. When one doesn't work, what do we do? Well, we often jump to the next protocol that sounds like the holy grail. This is a clear path to yo-yo dieting. It may help in the short term, maybe a few pounds here or there, but then we are right back where we started. By the way, those few pounds may not be true weight loss at all. 
   
2. Questionable supplement protocol - as someone that suffers from chronic illness, I am a huge fan of supplements. I believe that supplements are a great addition to any protocol or medical treatment plan one might be on. However, many health and fitness influencers are jumping on the supplement bandwagon and shilling every product imaginable for instant results. Do they work? Well, have they ever worked for you? Successful supplement protocols not only target your specific issues, but they should also: be as clear as possible on what is included in the ingredients (remember, the FDA does not clearly regulate supplements); be okayed by your doctor if you are on any type of medical management protocol or taking prescription medications. 
3. Questionable lifestyle protocol - in the information age, there is a LOT of misinformation floating around. But even when we can see through the smoke and mirrors, sometimes the tips that are given just don't work for US. They don't work for how we operate in this world and leave us feeling bad about ourselves rather than understanding that it's not you but the protocol. I see this a lot for anyone that suffers from executive dysfunction. The Cleveland Clinic defines executive dysfunction as "a behavioral symptom that disrupts a person's ability to manage their own thoughts, emotions, and actions." Nothing about this screams the ability to stay on schedule, does it? The trouble with executive dysfunction doesn't just end with the inability to plan ahead or stay on track, it can also interfere with the actual act of eating. Yes! The actual opening of your mouth and eating can be very, very difficult for many people! 

To be clear, staying stuck in a shame cycle of eating, holding onto arbitrary "rules" made up by someone else, hopping from one protocol to another, and being out of alignment with who you are as a person isn't "dieting" and certainly isn't nutrition. It's disordered eating. It's a problem. 

My goal with the Easy Eats 5-Day Challenge is to take the first step in developing a simple plan to take the guesswork out of eating optimally, for YOU. Let's bust through some of the myths and start creating an eating plan that is in alignment with you. Get signed up today!