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The things you currently struggle with WILL get a lot easier.

I know it can be overwhelming to think of all the effort involved in eating the best food for your best body. It’s natural to weigh up if the results are really worth it when the actions required to deliver you those results are always a constant battle.

Those actions are going to become more of a slight scuffle – that you win! – than a constant battle though.

In todays Tuesday Tucker show I’m sharing: 3 Food Habits I’ve Struggled With That Are Now A Lot Easier.

One: Emotional Eating.

This one has the potential to undermine an entire weeks clean eating and diligent exercising in a single sitting.  Even worse it’ll leave you feeling guilty and disheartened.  

The solution is 2 fold:

1. You have choice and clarity in the moments before you’re home alone with that packet of tim tams or whatever it is for you. When you’re at the supermarket – before you reach for that packet of guilt inducing self belief reducing crap-o-la remind yourself of the emotions you’re setting yourself up to endure AFTER a binge. 

Being led by your ‘in the moment’ emotions is guaranteed to make every best action for your health feel like struggle-street.

Instead focus on how you want to feel for the rest of the day, week, month. 

2. There are plenty of foods that you can demolish if that really is all you want to do without the detrimental effects to your results and to your mental resolve.

The approach you choose will build on itself.

If you insist on letting the fake stuff into your house then that is what you will continue to crave in your next emotional binge.

If you take the time to find the food alternatives that are less detrimental – the kale chips instead of regular chips, the protein ice-cream or pancakes or biscuits… then you’ll discover how delicious they really can be and you’ll gradually experience less and less cravings for your old danger foods.

Two: Portion Control.

I know I’m not alone when I say I struggle with this one. Or at least I used to. The thing that has made it so much easier for me is to ensure that a lot of what I eat actually requires zero portion control.

I like to see a huge plate of food. I enjoy eating until I’m full. I find measuring and calorie counting restrictive and highly UNfun. So I build my meals around the stuff that really requires no portion control.

That leaves me much better placed to exert just a little portion control around those super high caloric density foods I still consume like nuts, pesto and oils.

The 4 considerations to make portion control work for you:

1. Build your meals around a super generous, colourful variety of fibrous veg. This stuff is not only chocka full of craving fighting micro-nutrients it’s also really filling.

2. Add satisfying lean protein and good fats. When you skip these elements is when you’ll struggle to feel satisfied. In the same way that the skipped meal will come back to bite you, the overly light meal will absolutely leave you over hungry and vulnerable to a fake-food-attack at some point down the track. Whether it’s at afternoon tea or after dinner or tomorrow – it will happen… you’ll find yourself mindlessly devouring 6 serves of something rubbish because you decided to skip the avocado and protein with your salad.

3. Buy only the portions that you’re happy to consume in a sitting. Yep, it’s tedious… however is it as tedious as not being your goal shape? It may also be a little more expensive however again it’s likely not as costly as the hours wasted trying to work-off double portions of high caloric density foods.

4. Become a freezing fiend! So here’s your slightly less extreme alternative to consideration #3… banish your lethal left-overs to the freezer asap. Treat the tempting food you buy in bulk with the same no-nonsense go straight to the freezer approach. I know I’m not going to be carving the edge off fresh baked bread once it’s been relegated to the freezer… if’s it’s just hanging out on the bench I’m supremely capable of powering through the entire loaf – yes, it’s happened many times before I wised up to myself!

Three: The Food You Consume When Drinking.

My most favourite vice: Alcohol got a show of it’s own way back at #010. Let’s purely focus on what you eat when you drink as it’s something I see a lot of people struggle with and that absolutely used to be the case for me.

It wasn’t always a problem… up until my mid 20’s I believed ‘eatings cheating’ however to be clear that is 100% not my advice or what I practice now!

If you find that having a few beverages regularly leads to a downward spiral in your eating then these are the steps that worked for me:

1. The facts are pretty potent. When you’re drinking – and alcohol has a high caloric density – your body will metabolise that alcohol as a priority over anything you eat.

So you want to be eating stuff that is less likely to be turned to fat and stored as fat.

Your body just wants to get rid of that toxic alcohol… it’ll happily store the carby fatty foods you’re eating and burn off the alcohol. This fact alone made me much more inclined to pass on those hot chips that create the perfect storm for fat storing and choose the lean protein and veg option instead.

2. You have less inhibitions when drinking. That means once you start with something – perhaps those hot chips… the little ‘ok, that’s enough now” angel on your shoulder is likely going to be shouted down by your “this is FUN I’ll do what I want!” devil on the other shoulder.

The solution is to have some foods as a no go zone and even prior to that decide on the foods that you can enjoy instead. Then the devil and angel don’t even need to face off.

I now have cashews to snack on and fish and veg for dinner when I’m drinking… and I honestly don’t miss the hot chips. It’s important to either know in advance where to source your best food option EASILY on the way home or to have it ready and waiting for you at home.

Let’s harness the spirit of focusing on your success’s in today’s action step.

What are 3 food habits that you used to really struggle with and now they are relatively easy?

I know you’ve got plenty, however it’s also super easy to disregard that progress and focus on all the habits your yet to create.

To get the ball rolling here are a few more of mine:

=> protein shakes with water not milk or soy is now easy.

=> zero refined carbs or dairy Monday to Friday is now easy.

=> no beer… ok I won’t lie to you, no beer is occasionally tough’ish however not nearly as struggle-street as it used to be.

Over to YOU, what are your awesome food habits that get easier each day?

That brings us to the end of Healthification #077. It’s been my pleasure spending this time with you.  I’ll be back tomorrow with the Wednesday Weigh-in show and: Why Frustration is FUEL. 

If you liked this you’ll also like: Weight Loss Success Habits.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.