Thursday, March 31, 2011

A Year Of Healthy Habits: Changing The Way We Eat

I shared last month how I've chosen to work on developing one healthy habit each month. In February, it was walking for 30 minutes every day. In March, I started drinking adequate amounts of water.

I had made a list of the months with one habit beside each one. Four of them were:

  • Drastically reduce sugar intake. 
  • Limit grains.
  • Eliminate junk food.
  • Focus on portion control.
Well, two weeks ago, my husband and I began drastically changing our eating habits to where our diet is now composed mainly of meat/protein, vegetables and fruit.

No pasta, bread, potatoes, donuts and cookies means I am drastically reducing my sugar intake. 

No pasta, bread, potatoes, donuts and cookies means I am limiting grains. 

No pasta, bread, potatoes, donuts and cookies also means that I've eliminated junk food.

And because we're focusing on weight loss, I'm also focusing on portion control. 

So much for one change at a time!

We are quite far from perfect and are still eating a few bread items while we use up what we have. Also, what we eat when dining with other people will look a bit different than when we're at home with complete control over the meal. We may eat a dessert or some bread or pasta. And as we go along, we'll most likely be a little more lenient and allow ourselves a junk food meal on occasion.

This is where self-control comes in.

My new mantra has become "Self control is a fruit of the Spirit." I chant this to myself whenever I am tempted to indulge.  We've made it a practice to eat one plate of food at each meal. Occasionally the meal will be lighter so if we think we may still be hungry, we're trying to wait a little while to see how we feel after the food settles. Usually, we find that we don't need another helping.

For April, I'm focusing on our new eating style as my healthy habit for the month!

I really don't recommend working on 4 different things at once like I find myself doing... so if you'd like to join in, choose one of the habits I mentioned above.  Or you can pick anything else you'd like to work on. Let me know in the comments!

Incorporating exercise, plenty of water and now changing what I eat have left me feeling much better! How are the rest of you doing with your healthy habits?

1 comment:

~katie~ said...

Inspiring Mary Ann!!! (You might want to skip another cupcake post at my blog today ~ ha!!) All in moderation, right? =) We are trying to eat healthier too but haven't set specific goals like that. Maybe we should!! Have a great day!