NUTRITION: ADOPTING A MORE FLEXIBLE MINDSET
TIPS TO HELP FIND LONG-TERM SUCCESSES
Are you someone who is either all in or all out when it comes to nutrition? Instead, try to shift your thinking to be more flexible. Nutrition and exercise are not simply good or bad; we don’t just win or lose. Our routines and habits around nutrition and exercise do not need to be perfect. In fact, overly strict nutrition and exercise regiments (which can be difficult to follow) can come with some serious trade-offs including limiting social interactions, damaging existing relationships and developing an unhealthy association with exercise and food.
HOW TO THINK WITH A FLEXIBLE MINDSET AND WHY IT WILL CREATE LONG-TERM SUCCESS
Foods are not entirely all good or all bad for you; they simply land on a continuum from the very best choice to the very worst choice. Each day we make many choices that impact our health, and all we need to do is begin to make choices that are just a little bit better than what we would normally make. Here are some things to consider:
- Look to make small, manageable changes. Over time your choices will continue improve and you will build confidence in your ability to make better choices.
- Making sweeping changes usually do not last.
- If you have a coffee every morning with 3 creams and 4 sugars, and you choose to change this to 1 cream and 2 sugars. This small success should be celebrated! In time the choice to further reduce the additional cream and sugars will be a smaller, more manageable, and most importantly, a more successful one.
- Avoid the “on/off” or “pause” buttons.
- Do not wait for tomorrow or Monday or after the holidays. Allow yourself to have a bad meal or bad day, but don’t be derailed by them. This thinking can sabotage many weeks/months of better decision making; and if you are prone to a fixed mindset, it can take you out of the game completely.
Don't strive for perfection; instead view each day as a series of decisions, you can look to make slightly better decisions more often, and you’ll begin to make better choices a habit. A flexible mindset will allow you to find much more quantifiable success, feeling much better about yourself and seeing that this way of thinking and acting is more sustainable.