Vegetables and Protein Diet, Part 1: Setting Yourself Up for Success

April 10, 2013 5:16 pm / Posted in Blog, Nutrition, Personal Training Studio

In keeping with the spirit of three part series, I’m going to walk you through a more advanced habit that will do just tons of good for your overall health: eating a vegetables and protein diet.

It might sound like a simple habit, but it’s harder than it sounds. Those who have tried adding more vegetables or more protein will tell you that changing your diet takes mindfulness—that is to say, you need to give more thought to what you are eating, because you now have nutrition goals.

Adding both vegetables and protein to your diet turns up the dial a little bit, but I know you can do it!

In part one of this series, I talk about how you can set yourself up for success by preparing your kitchen and choosing the best options for convenient snacking.

This article is for you if:

• You are consistently eating 5 to 8 servings of veg every day “click here for the Veggie Habit”

• You are having a lean protein with almost every meal (80% compliance minimum) “click here for the Lean Protein Habit”

• You are making progress in Mind Full Eating Habits “click here for Eating Slowly and Stop at 80% full”

If this doesn’t sound like you, don’t worry—work towards 80% compliance with all your meals and you will be moving towards this habit soon enough!

Snack Smart

 When it comes to eating well, a lot of people stumble on being busy:

• “I’m late for a meeting, I’ll just grab a quick bite.”
• “I don’t have time to make a lunch, I’ll pick something up on the road.”
• “I’ll just work through lunch today.”

These things happen in the lives of busy professionals, so it’s important that you set yourself up to succeed.

If you’re always on the go, consider adding pre-packaged veggies such as carrots or cherry tomatoes and a portion of hummus. This requires no preparation and makes a great replacement for whatever processed snack you might pick up in a convenience store.

Positive Change

 As I said in my article on Mindful Eating. you will find more success if you focus on adding to your current habits, rather than on substracting from them. You have already adopted a number of positive habits, so continue with that forward momentum by adding to the meals that are perhaps a little lacking.

Positive changes in eating habits are not only more effective at adopting good habits, they also encourage you to displace some of your left-over bad habits!

Change the Way you Shop and Cook

Because you know you will need a certain amount of protein and vegetables every day, it’s time to be more conscious of the way you shop. For a lot of people, lists work very well. Plan your snacks and meals ahead of time and buy the ingredients you need to make them. If you own a recipe book, pick four or five healthy recipes and buy more ingredients than you need to make them. You will often find you have the ingredients necessary to make even more delicious, healthy meals!

You can also set up a “prep day”—any day where your schedule is more open—to prepare the healthy foods you will eat on your busy days. Imagine: instead of having to stop by a store on the way to work, you can just take something from your refrigerator.

Healthy living starts in the kitchen and setting yourself up to achieve your goals is half the battle. Of course, maybe the problem is that you never really had to cook for yourself with fresh ingredients. In part 2 of this series,[link] I talk about some basic cooking techniques that can help you cook just about any ingredient—whether it’s a vegetable, or a protein.

 

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Nutrition Coaching and Personal Training

 

 

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Category: Blog, Nutrition, Personal Training Studio

Posted by Burke