How You Know You’re Normal!

As humans, our default setting is to strive to be the best version of ourselves.

As we do, we have a tendency to focus on being perfect, to go all in, to make a year’s worth of change in 6 weeks… I know, because for a long time, this was how I approached my own goals in life.

Making a change with our nutrition is no different.

We think about cutting out everything, about going cold turkey, how we’re going to show the scales they are wrong…

That is stressful, and for most of us, really unproductive.

And completely normal.

 

When we talk about change, we talk about long-term, meaningful change.

 

– Creating healthy relationships with exercise and food.

– Taking a long term approach, adopting healthy habits over our lifetime

– Removing the expectation to be 100% accurate 24/7, 365

We are imperfect, and as such, we are subject to making mistakes

To having one too many chocolates or a few extra wines.

The good thing is that this means you’re just as normal as everyone else!

Part of being who we are is accepting that we won’t be perfect.

This is especially true when we are making efforts at improving our nutrition.

Here are 5 signs that you are normal, and how you can make positive changes to your habits:

 

1- You get hungry when you don’t eat for long periods of time.

Despite our best efforts to meal prep and plan for a busy day, sometimes we struggle to eat enough food.

Here are a few strategies which you can employ to feel successful.

– Make the best choices possible when on the go. Often the service station or dairy will have healthy options like fruit or yoghurt for a quick snack.
– Tell yourself that being hungry is not an emergency.
– Being hungry and failing to plan out a meal or snack is not a ticket to KFC land! Don’t use this as an excuse to eat unhealthily and overeat.
– Feeling hungry can be a dehydration giveaway. Get 350-500mls of water into you, wait 5-10mins and then see how you feel.
– If you do mess up and find yourself really hungry, remember that as we said before, you’re only ever a mouthful away from your next healthy meal.

Don’t let one slip up ruin the rest of your day.

 

2- You have nutrition slip-ups.

No-one expects you to be a monk! We all overeat or over-drink, overspend or over-commit from time to time.

What is important is what to do when this happens.

– Using a journal can be a great tool to track how or why you slipped up. Having a living record helps you to look back and avoid making the same mistake twice.
– Don’t use this as an excuse to binge eat for the next few hours or days.
– Avoid being too tough on yourself. You’re fallible. Deal with it and move on.
– Use the 80/20 rule. Seeing long term consistency 80+% of the time is going to see you experience immense success.

If you do err, and then come good, give yourself a pat on the back. Positively reinforcing your successes is gold in the long run.

 

3- You love dessert and all things sweet.

Sugar is amazing!

When we unwrap our favourite magnum, put a spoon through our favourite slice, or crack a can of the finest fizz, we experience a short term euphoria.

This “high” is dopamine, which is the “pleasure and reward” chemical in the brain.

When we have something sweet, your brain recognises this response and asks for more, quick sharp!

Needless to say, it’s not hard to develop a “habit”!

Here’s a treat that should placate your cravings but not break the bank:

Banana Ice Cream Delight:

Slice 2 ripe bananas, and freeze.

Add bananas to the blender and blitz until smooth, approx. 3-5 minutes.

Add a small dollop of your favourite nut butter, a sprinkling of unsweetened cocoa and you’re in chocky peanut butter ice cream heaven!

 

4- When you are stressed, you don’t crave broccoli.

Our soul plays as big a part in our nutrition choices as does our brain.

When we feel low, overwhelmed or just dead tired, we default to our particular comfort foods, things that we know make us feel good.

These are often foods that are high in sugar, high in calories, or high in fat.

Challenge yourself to pay attention to these patterns, so you can avoid the temptation to have these unfavourable foods in your house if life happens.

 

5- You feel like you need someone to keep you accountable to your goals.

We get you.

This is why we offer a program that has a nutrition coach available to help you map out short and long term goals, and develop a plan that is individualised to you.

Best of all it comes with a coach to keep you stay accountable for becoming the healthiest version of yourself.

To get your individual programme started, here’s a link to book your free intro session.