There are skills we can develop to make it easier to achieve our goals, and we’re talking with dietitian Nada Abualoon about what they are and how we can put them into practice. We’ll also cover why getting a meal plan or being told what to eat isn’t the answer for sustainable weight loss… and what to do instead!
Top 5 Takeaways from This Episode:
- Ms. Abualoon shares these tips for living a healthy lifestyle by:
- Preparing the majority of your food at home
- Prioritizing whole foods, and minimizing consumption of processed foods
- Filling half your plate with veggies at most meals
- Making water your #1 beverage
- Following your body’s hunger cues.
- If we set unrealistic goals and don’t achieve them, it can be very difficult to keep moving forward in our health journey. This is why identifying values that make us want to change is the better option. We need a reason WHY we want to change in order to lead a more meaningful life. Example of a value: wanting to be active with grandchildren.
- Recognize the times of the day you tend to partake in actions not in line with your values. Write down why it’s important for you to not engage in that behavior, and pull it out when high-risk times come around. Remind yourself of your values often!
- Anticipate setbacks, as they are a normal part of success. Many of us believe that setbacks are a sign that things aren’t working, instead it’s helpful to recognize that setbacks WILL happen. The key is how quickly we get back on track.
- Try to notice and challenge self-critical thoughts. For example, you might have the thought,“I am a failure.” A practice for questioning self-critical thoughts is this:
- Write that thought down. “I am a failure.”
- On a second line, write, “I am having the thought that ‘I am a failure.’”
- On a third line, write, “I am noticing I am having the thought that ‘I am a failure’.” This allows you to create space between you and your thoughts, helping you recognize them as just thoughts, not reality.
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This episode was sponsored by Novo Nordisk Canada. It was created independently by My Weight – What To Know with no influence from Novo Nordisk.