“To be truly healthy you must EAT RIGHT!”
You must have heard this cliche a million times. Eating healthy is one of the biggest myths in modern nutrition. Why? Quite simply because what might be right for you, may not be right for someone else. No two human beings are ever quite alike. Their habits, preferences, dietary choices and a host of other factors set them apart from each other and this makes a STANDARD nutrition plan quite impossible.
1. Be open about your objectives:
Exercise and diet go hand in hand in helping you get to and maintain a healthy lifestyle. A good start to your diet plan therefore is to get your objective sorted. Your objective could be to lose or gain weight, or to be more active. In order to help you set your goals and map your objectives in a systematic manner, what works best is a nutritional consultation with your nutritionist or diet coach. An honest and open dialogue, regarding your schedule, your lifestyle and food habits then will help your mentor draw up a better plan for you.
2. Always consider food allergies:
Food allergies are often annoying, but in some cases can be extremely hazardous to your health. In many cases, food allergies are never truly diagnosed and can often spring up unannounced. So before embarking on a life changing diet plan, think about getting a food allergy test.
3. You are different from your spouse, so your diet plan needs to be different:
This one often confounds people, especially most Indians. We come from a culture where husband and wife often merge into a homologous organism. They eat, sleep and live each other’s lives, and while that may sound romantic, it isn’t right nutritionally. Men and women, need a specific and unique calorific content and quality in order to stay healthy, therefore, you need to ensure that if your spouse is getting on a diet plan and it seems to be working for him/her, you don’t just ape it blindly. Get your own unique and customised diet plan from a certified dietician or nutritionist.
4. Don’t jump the trend-wagon:
Dietary fads are extremely common. One day you’re advised to switch to skim milk and the next day you’re advised to lay off it completely. Atkins, GM, Keto, Paleo and the like are terms thrown about willy nilly, and the whole process can be extremely confusing. Don’t jump the next trending diet, without consulting an expert, quite simply because you can never really know if one fad or the other is actually suited to your case, body type, eating patterns and overall lifestyle!
5. Remember weight maintenance is an ongoing process:
First of all nutrition isn’t about weight loss, it is about a healthy lifestyle. Secondly, gaining or losing weight, is an ongoing process and shouldn’t be rushed. When consulting with your diet coach, listen carefully to their take on your ideal weight and let their focus be on a healthy, holistic way of life that is suited to you. Remember, haste makes waste and nothing good ever comes without a few struggles. So don’t be in a hurry!
So here are 5 things that I think you will need to do before embarking on a life changing journey of healthy living. In case of any queries or suggestions, or details you may want, do feel free to hit me up in the comments section below or on any of my social media handles.
Until next time remember, healthy living is a matter of small changes made consistently and not major shifts done suddenly.
