7 Steps to Living a Real Life with Real Food

Keep a Diary

Keep a daily food, hunger, and mood diary. Oftentimes, the ability to keep a real food diet goes far beyond weight and the topic of food. Sometimes we may eat because we are truly hungry and other times because we are bored, stressed or upset. Our mood swings have a large effect on the ability to keep a healthy diet. Writing a daily food and mood journal, not only helps us to be more accountable to what foods we put in our mouth, but also helps us distinguish when we are eating because of how we feel in our minds versus in our stomachs. Writing a daily food diary is proven to help us lose 30% more weight in the short term, and adding the mood factor to identify true reasons why we are eating will help us to follow a real food diet in the long term as well.

Drink Up

Drink up! (Water, that is!) Drinking adequate amounts of fluid is an integral part of weight maintenance. A main reason is because our brain’s hypothalamus signals both our hunger and thirst cues. If we are thirsty we can easily mistaken that for hunger and overeat calories, which does not help our goals of weight loss. It is difficult to calculate how much water a person needs because many factors, including the fluid from foods and how frequently a person sweats or urinates, all play a role in determining fluid needs.

A good rule of thumb is to drink about eight cups of water per day, which can lead to other positive real food habits. As you read, my seven steps to living a real life with real food include topics beyond food. A calorie is not just a calorie, and weight loss by trying fad diets or simply slashing calories does not make a healthier you in the long run. Choosing quality food and making real world changes for quality of life help not only with weight loss and maintenance, but an improvement in energy, mood and overall health.