The hardest part of my job is recommending diet & lifestyle changes. When I do, I am often met with resistance when I suggest making a change or cutting out a food!
Here are the common phrases I hear and suggest it is an opportunity to move through resistance and emotional blocks that arise.
“It’s going to be so hard”
This is true. Anything new is difficult. But it’s not true forever and “we can do hard things”! (Glennon Doyle Melton) Lots of people have told me that by reducing processed sugar, they’ve come to really start to enjoy the taste of strawberries & cantaloupe. The taste buds actually change when we change our intake. Remember, cane sugar is not an ingredient in fruits or vegetables. Once it’s out of our diet, those foods from the earth taste that much sweeter.
“I don’t want to have to do that forever.”
The truth is, we don’t really want to do anything forever. But let’s try this for 3 months and see how you feel. If you’re struggling with diet related health issues, it would be worth it to see how much better you can feel in the short term. Or maybe not. Maybe you’ve tried something and found it made no difference at all. After that, you can make your choices from an educated place regarding how long you choose to keep this up. At least you have moved forward on your health journey rather than staying stuck in the unknown.
“I don’t want to have to give up things that I love”
First off, it is not always the “food that you love”, rather, you love how it makes you feel. Food lights up the reward center in our brain. When we eat fake sugar, the reward center gets falsely elevated. Then it drops significantly, which gives us that feeling of a crash. When we eat unprocessed foods, we also get a hit of dopamine but it’s not as drastic. The body is chemically always aiming for homeostasis so eating natural foods are the best way to stay in that green zone.
Also, note that if you continue to enjoy certain foods, but it’s having negative consequences, you must let your love for your SELF trump your love for the taste of food in that moment. It’s about making your long term health a priority and not letting the short term impulse win.
And finally, one thing I like to do to remind myself when I’m struggling is that these food choices are the way I show up for myself, my children, and the world. The healthier that I am both emotionally and physically, the better model I can be for the next generation. With less disease comes less waste and less financial burden on all of us. These big picture ideas help me to stay focused and feel good about it, rather than focusing on lack.
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