Stop Dieting & Start Changing Your Relationship With Food.

For all those who know me well, you know how much I enjoy a good beer, and pretty much anything fried or with cheese. So how do you give up these indulgences?! The answer is - I don't give them up. I stopped thinking that I was "dieting", and that I would be depriving myself of everything "good". Instead, I started to change my relationship with food. So where do you begin? I'm not a nutritionist or hardcore anything - but here are some tips:

1. KEEP IT POSITIVE
If you keep telling yourself that you "can't have this" or you "shouldn't have that" - you are setting yourself up for failure. Keep it positive, and start including foods that are better for you. You will find yourself more satisfied, and will actually get full before you can finish that beer, or that plate of fries. Try to make it a habit to add a 1/2 cup to a full cup of steamed veggies to your plate, and make it a habit to finish that. Try leaner meats with your meal, maybe switching to ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef. And if you MUST have something sweet - stick to sugar free items such as fudgsicles or sugar free jello.

2. WATCH YOUR PORTIONS
This is something we all have issues with. Who wouldn't want a second plate of home cooked goodness?! Pick one meal today to portion. Again, if you try and overhaul your entire routine all at once, you may get discouraged. Start with breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Choose a carb that will burn off easily such as brown rice or yams/sweet potatos...but mind your portions! Then go ahead, have your regular lunch meal - you will hopefully begin to see how different these meals make your body feel - and soon, you will be changing your relationship with food! Here are a couple of breakfast ideas, and please keep in mind that these measurements are for someone my size. My husband ate more than double these portions LOL!

Breakfast Idea #1:
2 egg whites and 1 whole egg omelette
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup diced mushrooms
1/2 cup baby spinach
Eat with 1/3 cup brown rice

Breakfast Idea #2:
4-5oz of lightly seasoned lean meat (ground turkey, chicken, etc.)
1/3 cup brown rice

3. HYDRATE OFTEN
Think you're hungry?! Try drinking a cup of water to see. Oftentimes, the hunger signal we perceive is actually dehydration. Hydration feeds our brains, our muscles, our entire body! If you're a soda addict, jamba juicer, etc. - add more water with your meal before you start sipping on that, and you'll find that you may not even need it. Again, keep it positive!

Still not motivated?!
\Well, if taking it step by step is not your thing - and you're either all in or all out, try a nutrition challenge. A great one is the "Whole 30" challenge. It's 30 days of your life, eating only the best, unprocessed foods on the planet. Here's a link to the program info: http://whole9life.com/2011/10/whole-30-v5/

Good luck Fit & Fab Mommas! I'll post more recipe ideas if anyone is interested. And please share your recipes on here!