Why does this healthy eating thing have to be so hard?

Being a health coach is definitely an advantage when I go to work at the doctors office.  It’s not that they all eat healthy there because they don’t.  Snacks and goodies are brought to the office all the time either by the office staff, the patients or by the drug reps that come in.  So eating healthy there isn’t necessarily the norm.  However, they expect me to have something healthy in my lunch and of course I don’t want to disappoint.  In fact, I will bring healthy treats in when I can.  Or, let them try out one of my latest new recipes.  You see, when everyone knows you eat healthy or advocate for eating healthy, they will expect you to bring something healthy to eat. This can actually work to your advantage.

Have you ever heard the thought that “you become what you say you are”?  If you repeatedly say, “I just can’t seem to eat healthy” or “Its just to hard to eat healthy” then thats exactly what’s going to happen.  However, if you say, “Eating healthy is important to me” or “eating healthy is exciting with all the new foods I get to try” then it will be!  If people start to count on you to bring healthy things to work and perhaps share your latest and greatest new recipe, you will actually gain more benefit from this expectation than if nobody expected it of you.

What we think about something or what our attitude is about something will bring about a change either for the good or for the bad.  Making small, simple, healthy choices everyday will add up to be a big change in the future. Making small, simple unhealthy choices everyday will add up to be a big change in the opposite direction in the future.

I used to just eat what everyone else ate for lunch, like a quick run to a fast food place. But by working at the doctors office for over 17 years, I saw all the negative effects of the unhealthy food choices patients made.  At one point I saw the blood test of a patient that had just eaten Kentucky Fried Chicken and actually saw the triglycerides floating in the test tube!  Yikes!  Seeing that caused me to think about what might be floating around in my blood after one of my fast food lunches.  At this point, I became my own little health advocate. And over time, my attitude about it being difficult changed.  The more I talked about eating healthy and making sure I was doing it myself, the easier it became over time until it was just the way it was.  Which was when I decided to go back to school to become a health coach.

Planning any meal takes time as does anything in life, like planning a vacation.  But of course planning a vacation is fun!  Well planning your menu or your lunches can be too!  It’s all in the attitude.  And it really will make a difference.

Good choices are just as easy as bad choices.  If you find you need a little more cheering on your side to prepare healthy meals, don’t hesitate to contact me at devi@simplywholebydevi.com.   I can help!