When most people are looking to make nutrition changes, the focus is around what they should cut out. So they do their best to take away the foods they think they shouldn't eat, and try to overhaul their diet with healthy choices. This seems like a fair approach, but if you’ve tried this before, its probably not news to you that it doesn't work very well. The reason is that the approach is too narrow. Let me explain…
Psychology 101 will tell you if you focus on what you can’t have, you’ll create the “prohibition effect”, which gives unfounded power to the food that is restricted to you.
Anyone with kids understands how this works. Take a toy away from little Timmy, and guess what, that toy suddenly becomes sublime.
The same goes for food. If you mentally tell yourself you can’t have certain foods, the urge to eat them will grow, making it difficult to stay on your new diet consistently.
So whats the alternative?
Focus on Addition rather than subtraction.
As Socrates said thousands of years ago,
The secret of change is to focus your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
~ Socrates
This is not to say you won’t have cravings anymore, but because you haven’t prohibited certain things, you won’t give unfounded power to cravings that seem to control your life.
So what additions to my diet should I be giving all my energy too?
I’ll be writing about each of these in more detail, but pick one of the below foundational food habits to focus on.
#1 Include A Palm of Protein With Every Meal
*Photo Credit, Precision Nutrition
#2 Include 5-6 Servings (Cupped handfuls) of Fruits and Veggies in Every Day
Photo Credit, Precision Nutrition
#3 Eat Mostly Whole Foods
If you put all your energy into focusing on building New Diet habits, then the bad habits seemingly get “pushed out”. You just don’t have room for them anymore.
Try it and let me know how it goes!