- Make half your plate veggies: Vegetables are a high-volume, low-calorie food. This means that you can fill up your plate (and stomach!) with them, but you won’t be eating more than your body’s energy needs. Additionally, they are chockfull of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients which make you feel satisfied, as you’re getting in the proper nutrition that your body needs.
- Hold the Meat: Animal products are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol which cause weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. If that’s not bad enough, processed red meat is a class 1A carcinogen, alongside cigarettes, meaning that it causes cancer. Replace your meat portion with a serving of beans, peas, or lentils.
- Keep It Simple: Getting healthy doesn’t mean going on some crazy, nuanced diet and exercise plan. Increase your intake of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen making complicated recipes.
- Find Your Primary Foods: In my Slim on Starch Program, we emphasize the importance of primary foods. Primary foods actually aren’t edible. Instead, they’re the activities, hobbies, and relationships that nourish our souls and make us feel fulfilled. Many people turn to eat junk food as a hobby or activity to make them feel better, but this can result in weight gain and ill health. It is important to have healthy hobbies and interests outside of just food.
- Eat the Same Breakfast Every Day: Steve Jobs wore the same outfit every day. Why? Because consistency and a reduction in decision-making are key to success. Choose a staple breakfast, like oatmeal and fruit, and stick to it. It will set you up for a day of healthy eating.
- Make a Plan: Identify your goal, when you want to achieve it by, and who you’re going to have to help you to get there. Do you need a coach? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
- Meditate: Don’t let the word meditate scare you. Meditation is simply giving your brain a break from thinking. By calming your brain, you’ll be able to make food decisions from a place of calmness and clarity. With a racing brain, you’re more likely to make rash decisions, like going through the drive-thru for fast food.
- Schedule in Daily Movement: No need for crazy exercise routines or boot camps. A daily walk will suffice for healthy movement. Getting your blood pumping and body moving is key for heart health and mental health, too.
- SLEEP!: Lack of sleep wreaks havoc on our hunger and fullness hormones. When we don’t sleep enough, the hormone that makes us feel hungry increases, while the hormone that makes us feel full decreases… uh oh!
- Grant yourself grace: Improving your health is not the same thing as enrolling in a health class and trying to get an A+ on the course material. Drop the need for perfection, drop the black-and-white mindset, and be kind to yourself. We are still going through one of the most traumatic times in human history, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Progress over perfection.
Emmie reaches a global community consisting of thousands of followers across her social platforms and has over 6.7 million views on YouTube. She also has privately coached over 1,500 private clients through her Slim on Starch Weight Loss Program.
Life after quarantine is beginning to come into view, and that means many people are looking for solutions to get back to their pre-pandemic, healthy lifestyle. While diet and exercise are important, there is more to reclaiming our health than simply getting off the couch and eating more veggies.
Healthy Emmie is a plant-based nutritionist and founder of the Slim on Starch Program. She has helped thousands of people make massive changes to their lives and transform their mindset around food and health for long-term success.
