Steps to Adapt a Food Behavior for Health
Many conversations about health start and end with what we eat. Think about the last time you heard your favorite actor talk about how they lost weight for their latest role. Or the last time you glanced at the front cover of a health magazine, while waiting in a checkout line. Dieting is almost certain to be one of the themes. If you’re trying to optimize your health, you’ve probably tried or thought of dieting yourself. If you’re thinking, “Diets don’t work for me,” or “I don’t know which one is best,” then you may find some value in reading on. I will not attempt to tell you what to eat, or which way of eating is best. Instead, I’ll provide a few steps you can take to eat for better health.
The first step to adapting a diet plan is to not think of it as a diet at all. In fact, I suggest that you consider dropping the word from your personal dialect altogether. You may be thinking that it is delusional to not label a fixed eating plan as a diet. However, thinking of eating as dieting, usually infers a few negative meanings. One, that you are going to be making an abrupt change to how you eat. Second, is that you will be performing a chore. Third, you may think of dieting as a temporary, quick fix to something that is broken. At this point you may be asking, “how do I rename and rethink dieting?”
Going forward I will replace “diet” interchangeably with “food behavior,” or “lifestyle change.” I suggest you do the same when you think or talk about the way you eat. When thinking about eating as a lifestyle change, it removes the negative connotations associated with dieting. Instead, it puts the power in your hands to make intentional and positive changes that you can believe in. Only once you have decided that you’re ready to make this positive lifestyle change for your health, should you move on to the next step.
Next, is choosing the food behavior that is best for you. But how can you know which is best? This important question requires research. It will only take the amount of time you would need to eat your favorite guilty pleasure meal. In your research, your foremost goal should be finding a food behavior that you’re most confident you will enjoy. Of course you may have unhealthy preferences, i.e. cookies, bagels, or pizza. But I assure you, there won’t be many nutritionists or health blogs recommending these foods for health purposes. While you will limit most of those foods, you’ll still eat an abundance of foods that you DO enjoy. Better yet, you will eat nothing that you dislike. Why eat kale if you despise it? Or quinoa? Or kombucha? If you dislike it, it’s not for you. Whether your lifestyle change is to be ketogenic, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, etc., if you choose enjoyable food options, you’ve chosen what’s best for you.
The final step before starting your new behavior, is to clean out your kitchen. This means ridding your pantry, refrigerator, junk drawer, etc., of the foods that will not be included in your new behavior. It is tempting to revert to old habits when they are right in front of you. If a smoker who attempts to quit, leaves a pack of cigarettes in the garage, chances for success are diminished. The same applies for food behaviors. When your only choices are the ones that fit your desired change, they all become favorable. Before beginning your new food behavior, you could donate the foods you will not be eating. Research has shown altruism helps both others and ourselves, by making us feel healthier and happier. Of course you could just eat it or throw it all away before beginning. However, only donation has a positive effect on your psyche. Whichever way you chose to do it, ridding your kitchen of foods that won’t be included in your new food behavior will help you to succeed.
Making a lasting lifestyle change is difficult. Choosing a new food behavior to better your health is one of these challenges. With these few steps, I believe that you’ll be in a better position to succeed. I challenge you to pick a food behavior that feels right for you, clear out the cabinets of the old way, and start eating. Be kind to yourself along the way as missteps are part of the learning process!
Dan D'Arrigo is a Functional Health Coach, working towards ADAPT certification, and RN. If he is not spending his time in the hospital or working with coaching clients, he enjoys the outdoors, traveling, learning, and reading. If you are suffering from chronic health issues that prevent you from getting outside, Dan would love to connect with you. His coaching practice focuses on establishing nutritional, movement and stress reduction routines to solve your chronic disease.
