Helpful Tips On Sticking With A Real Food Diet

When starting out on a real foods diet, it’s good to remember that it’s a balancing act. No one can completely rearrange their lives just to change their diet. You need to balance what would be ideal against what is practical.

Think Long-Term

Try not to consider your diet as a short-term strategy. It’s far better to see it as a new way of living – and one that you will ease into. See it as an ongoing series of continual upgrades to your diet.

If you ever slip up — accidently eat an entire package of Oreos in one sitting (or whatever your personal food demon is) — don’t beat yourself up over it. It isn’t a big deal. Just recognize it as a chance to identify a potential pitfall, and seek out ways to avoid it in the future. With that in mind, here are a few tips.

Healthy Fats and Protein Help

Understand that we are hardwired to favor fatty, sugary foods — and to steer clear of starvation! Those are two massive reasons that conventional dieting is so hard. The good news is that when you start eating a real food diet, you don’t have to deprive yourself – you just have to make healthier choices.

One example of this is trading normal low-fat diet foods for more satisfying alternatives. Real foods that are rich in protein and good fats – think eggs, grass-fed meat and dairy – will help keep you satisfied.

Once I switched my everyday breakfast from cereal and soy milk to scrambled eggs, it made an immense difference for me. My energy level during the day became much more stable, and the mid-morning crashes and sugar cravings vanished — and I lost some body fat. And my cholesterol is great, but that’s a story for another time.

Good Old-Fashioned Advice

A classic piece of dieting advice is to be mindful of your eating — especially paying attention to when you begin to feel full. As you follow a real food diet, you may well be eating foods with more fat and protein than you’re accustomed to. These foods will satisfy you much more easily than low-fat or high carbohydrate foods. Work on noticing when you’ve had enough, and your serving sizes will adjust all by themselves.

I know that conventional wisdom is to never go back for second helpings, but I don’t agree. I like to start a meal with one very small portion, and know that I can go back for more if I want it. Just make sure to stop for a moment between servings and notice how much more you really want. I think it’s a much better choice than heaping up your plate to start and then feeling obliged to finish everything you took.

It Gets Easier

Don’t get too anxious about cravings when you are getting started with a real food diet. Struggling against them will just make you miserable. Keep the vision of continuous improvement in mind, but give in here and there. As your diet improves, cravings will ease up and will become less troublesome for you. If you don’t find this happening within a few weeks, it’s time to revisit your diet and try some different things. Be certain that you’re getting enough good fats and protein, and keep working on minimizing the amount of sugar you eat.

Also — and this is important (at least for me) — be sure that you always have one thing that you can indulge in. Find one thing that you truly love (in moderation!), and invest in a good real food version of it. My indulgence is ice cream, and I can say that it works wonders in keeping me content and satisfied while I go about my diet.

You Owe Yourself A Healthy Diet

Finally, keep your purpose in mind, and don’t forget that you are worth the effort! You deserve to eat well, and you are worth the extra effort that it takes to enjoy healthy real foods. Also know that it will only get easier and faster with practice — hang in there!

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