3 Sneaky Villains

We talk a lot about our meals.

We say to eat a balance of Quality Protein, Colorful Vegetables, Smart Carbs, and Healthy Fats.

To use your hand to portion your meals.

To eat slowly and to 80% full at meals.

This is all rock solid advice.

However, many people’s issues lie outside their meal times. Perhaps they eat pretty healthy meals, but are still struggling to reach their goals.

Today, let’s take a look at 3 sneaky villains that lurk outside of your 3 meals a day and what you can do about them.

Villain #1: Daytime or Nighttime Snacking

A handful of pub mix here, a few pieces of candy there start to add up.

If you find yourself snacking throughout the day or at night you can run into a few problems:

- Usually snacks are not the healthiest (especially unplanned snacks)

- Snacking between meals does not allow your digestive system to rest and digest.

- Oftentimes we are unaware of how much we are actually snacking, leading to a higher caloric consumption than we realize.

So what can we do?

1. Eat a set number of meals a day - Let’s just say 3 for example. Allow yourself to eat a good amount of food at each meal, but don’t eat in between.

2. Control your environment - It’s harder to snack on food that isn’t there. Much harder.

Villain #2: Sugary Drinks

This is a sensitive one, so before you unsubscribe, understand that I am not making you do anything :)

If you drink sugary coffee, soda, energy drinks, or juice you are getting a lot of ingredients that aren’t helping you toward your goals.

So what can you do:

1. Limit - In an ideal world, you would drink none of the above. However, maybe that’s not realistic for you yet. If you drink 3 sugary drinks a day, could you bring that down to 1?

2. Use a more natural substitute temporarily - Instead of Splenda and creamer could you try milk and stevia in your coffee? Instead of soda could you try a flavored sparkling water? While these alternatives are not perfect, they are a step in the right direction. Over time your tastebuds will change, and drinking a sparkling lime water will taste like a Sprite to you. It just takes time.

Villain #3: Foods You Think are Healthy That are Not

There are so many packaged foods out there parading as “health foods” that are not. Marketing is powerful and if it tastes good, and we think it’s healthy, it seems like a win win. However, if we are fooling ourselves we end up losing in the end.

So what can you do?

1. Read ingredient labels. While food manufacturers can market an unhealthy product as healthy, they can’t change their ingredient label. Read labels and make sure you are not getting any ingredients you don’t want.

2. I encourage you to check out this infographic to see what foods are best to eat more, some, and less of.

These sneaky villains can quickly sabotage your best of intentions during meal times.

Once you have your meal routine down, it’s time to start improving your eating around your meals.

Little by little.

Small changes, over time, lead to big results.

If you want someone to help you get back on track, encourage you, and help you achieve your health goals, contact me about becoming a coaching client.

If you are new to the blog, I want to encourage you to go back and check out my previous posts, as they serve as the foundation for what we talk about each week.

Here's to the best version of you!