Ever feel like you have to do something dramatic to turn your diet around or get a grip on your eating habits? Like put a lock on your pantry or only drink green juice?
All that drama isn’t necessary. And the participants in my 30 Day Nutrition Upgrade program are proof: eating healthy doesn’t mean restricting yourself or being anywhere close to “perfect.”
Here are 5 takeaways participants had (along with extra resources) to help you bring balance into your own diet:
1. Perfection isn’t the goal. Awareness is.
“I weighed myself for the first time since doing the 30-Day Nutrition Challenge and was down 8.5 lbs, all because I was more aware of the type of food I was eating.”
A little awareness can go a long way. A lot further than a set of arbitrary rules which, once you break them, ultimately lead to giving up. If mindful eating sounds like a drag or a bore, check out this podcast episode on How We Get Mindful Eating Wrong.
2. You can stay on track without logging everything you eat.
“This approach keeps me mindful of what I’m eating without all the logging.”
Keeping a record of everything you eat can be a very effective tool for improving your eating habits. Most people start to drift away from the habit after a week or two–often, when they have a day they’d just as soon be “off the record.” And the benefits of that increased awareness and accountability gradually slip way.
The Nutrition GPA app was developed as a solution to this dilemma–a way to get the benefits of awareness and accountability without the burden of logging every bit of food every day.
3. Adding foods is more fun than subtracting.
“It hasn’t seemed like the ‘I can’t wait until this is over’ diet plan.”
Improving your nutrition isn’t just about eliminating unhealthy foods. It’s also about adding healthy ones!
4. Bad days don’t have to mean reaching for Ben and Jerry’s.
“I’m far less likely to succumb to bad choices in weak moments.”
Strict dieting rules often lead to an all-or-nothing attitude. One moment of weakness derails the entire project. Not so in the 30-Day Nutrition Upgrade. Although we use the Nutrition GPA app as a way to get feedback on our daily choices, perfection is not the goal. Cultivating consistent healthy habits means there’s room for a little indulgence too.
But if your sweet tooth is your weakness, here’s something that can help keep those sugar cravings from getting the better of you.
5. Remember: it’s a lifestyle, not a sprint.
“This is a lifestyle I intend to keep up.”
And when it comes to healthy habits, the ones we can sustain long term are the only ones that really make a difference. I’d rather see you cut your added sugar intake by 25% forever than to go 30 days without any added sugar at all…and then go back to your old habits. Remember: it’s not your best days or your worst days but your typical day that ultimately determines the quality of your diet and your results!
Congratulations to all the recent Upgraders. If you’d like to do your own 30 Day Nutrition Upgrade, you can sign up here.
In the 
You can save yourself a lot of label reading by looking for the 100% whole grain stamp. When you see this (or the words “100% whole grain”) on the front of the package, you don’t even need to flip the package over to see the ingredient list….that’s the golden ticket right there.
How many times have you abandoned a new program or approach because you broke a “rule” and ate something that you weren’t “supposed” to?
I’ve gotten several emails from readers asking me to respond to a viral video in which a Harvard (Harvard!) professor asserts that coconut oil is “pure poison.”