Lottery Wins, Stop Fad Diets and Outlawing Foods, and Create a Healthier Future
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
What would you do if you won the lottery? Don’t wait for the lottery, start doing things you want to do NOW.
Stop with fad diets and outlawing foods. Make nutrition changes you enjoy, and ones you can follow, and you will be well on your way to finally succeeding on healthier food patterns.
Focusing on more than one aspect of health will lead to a healthier future you. Follow up some good nutrition changes with some movement!
Starter Mindset Tip: What Would You Do If You Won the Lottery?
Daydreaming can get a bad rap sometimes, but it is a great activity to shift your brain from constantly thinking about your to-do list, your work, and your responsibilities. This activity gives your brain a break, and it also allows you to think about things you really want to do. If you won the lottery, would you still work, and if so, would you want to do a different job? What activities would you love to do if you had more time thanks to the new money? Are there specific friends and family that you would like to go on trips with to spend some quality time with? Are there any specific charities or causes that you would like to get involved with? Are there aspects of your health that you would be excited to focus on more? Come up with some other questions that you think apply to you. Write out the questions, and write out your answers. Now, here is the fun part. Think about how you can start incorporating your answers into your life NOW. Are there ways to pare down your answers into smaller chunks so you can start doing what you want to do now? You shouldn’t have to wait for a lottery win to start doing the things you want to do. Obviously a lottery win would bring more possibilities because of the amount of money, but there are a lot of aspects of your life that you can improve without needing that money. Start doing the activities that you said you wanted to focus on, start spending more time with the friends and family you said you wanted to travel with, start making small changes to the health aspects you said you were excited to focus on, start helping out a charity or cause that interests you now, take a look at your job and think about ways to improve it or make you happier. Set aside time in your life to day dream, think about the different possibilities available to you, think about what would make you happy to spend your time on, and don’t wait for a lottery win to make these possibilities a reality.
Health Recipe: Stop With the Fad Diets and Off Limit Foods
Timing: A little time to set up a new nutrition plan
Level of Difficulty: Start with small, easy changes for success
Serving Size: Start small, grow from there
Spiciness: Mild - spicy depending on the changes
INGREDIENTS
Yourself and the foods that you like to eat
REASONING AND BENEFITS
When you make foods forbidden, what usually happens? “Dieters who suppress thoughts about certain foods will have the least control over their food, and science is proving that restricting a food will automatically increase your cravings for it.” (McGonigal, 223) Then when you eat that forbidden food, you often feel guilty, and feel like your diet has been destroyed. Whereas if you did not make it forbidden in the first place, you probably would have just eaten a little bit of it when you were craving it, and then moved on. Then there are the fad diets which often lead to “yo-yo dieting,” which is when you end up gaining back all the weight that you lost when you were on a diet. This can be worse for you than ever going on a diet in the first place. According to one study, we last on average around 5 weeks before we give up and revert back to how we used to eat. This is because we often completely overhaul our eating habits when we go on a diet, and a lot of these changes are ones that we don’t actually enjoy. When you don’t enjoy the foods you eat, or the way you eat them, then it is no wonder that diets fail. What you need to do to succeed with healthier eating is by making small changes, by eating the foods that you want to eat, by limiting unhealthy foods, not outlawing them, and by creating healthy patterns to follow that are realistic for YOU. There is no one size fits all when it comes to dieting, so do not go on a diet just because your friend is. Make nutrition changes you enjoy, make changes you can follow, and you will be well on your way to finally succeeding on healthier food patterns.
INSTRUCTIONS
If you have had a habit of trying different fad diets and outlawing foods, put a stop to it.
Be real with yourself. Think about what healthy foods and meals you actually enjoy, and create a plan to incorporate those foods throughout your week.
Do not overhaul your whole diet. This will most likely lead to failure. And if you do, and it does lead to failure, that is okay too because you can learn from it. Think about where you went wrong, but also think about the small things that did actually work, and throw those in your next plan.
Do not overthink how you eat, you have enough on your plate in your busy life. Do not make nutrition a stressor. Pick foods you like, pick meals you enjoy making and eating, start small, and be honest with yourself about what has worked and what has not and learn from it.
PRO TIP: This is a great recipe to do with a friend. Get together once a week to make a good meal together. If you can’t meet, choose a meal that you will both eat separately, and hold each other accountable to follow through with it.
* For every 2 pounds of weight you lose, your brain will unconsciously ramp up hunger and causes you to eat about 100 more calories. Our brains developed this mechanism to survive. Be aware of this, become more comfortable with allowing yourself to be hungry. (Easter, 139)
** Next time you crave a food that you are trying to limit, just have a little bit of it and move on to teach your brain that it is okay to have it.
*** Work at getting better sleep for 7-9 hours a night, and try to reduce your chronic stress. This will help you follow your new nutrition plan.
Dessert Quote:
“In 400 BCE when Hippocrates said, “Eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise… And it is necessary, as it appears, to discern the power of various exercises, both natural exercises and artificial.” — Hippocrates (From book “Built to Move” by Kelly and Juliet Starrett)
Now we want to hear from YOU! Please let us know what you think of today’s newsletter, and send us an example of how you applied the health recipe to your life! We would love to share how you introduced this week’s recipe into your life’s unique menu. Thanks and have a great Sunday!
Sources:
Learn more about avoiding fad diets and outlawing foods:
Easter, M. (2021). The comfort crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Rodale Books.
McGonigal, K. (2013). The willpower instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. Penguin.
Learn more about focusing on different ways to move:
Starrett, K., & Starrett, J. (2023). Built to move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. National Geographic Books.
