Deciding to eat better is one thing, but how do you go about doing it? First, you have to set some goals and then create a strategy for achieving those goals. The goals I set are:
- Improve my numbers, like cholesterol, glucose, heart rate, weight, etc. My numbers have been creeping upward into the high range over the last several annual check-ups.
- Reduce inflammation in my joints. At least once per week, I would wake up with a swollen joint requiring ibuprofen, either a knee or finger.
- Improve digestion and reduce bloated feelings following meals. Multiple times during a given week, I would feel uncomfortable and bloated following a meal. Do I have to get into bowel movements? Let’s not.
- Must be sustainable for the planet and my lifestyle. Reducing meat and animal by-product consumption as well as switching to whole foods are easier on the planet’s limited resources. That is admirable but it also must be something I can enjoy and commit to daily.
Why do you need goals before starting a program? Without goals, you will not be able to measure success. This is why so many diets fail. They focus on one area, typically weight. If that number goes down, they claim success and, if it doesn’t change, they feel like a failure and quit. Health is much more complicated than that.
SPOILER ALERT! I lost weight in the first couple of months but I have plateaued and have not made the target I set for myself in January. But, that does not mean I have failed. Some of the other goal areas have been very successful and I use the positivity there to keep me motivated to keep trying and working.
Once you have your goals written down (yes, do it in writing and put it on your fridge), you need to determine your strategy. Where are you going to shop? What foods will you eat more? What foods are you going to eliminate? What are you going to stock in the cabinet for when you have a weakness? What will you just not allow in your house?
Here is my strategy for meeting my health goals via eating:
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- Reduce or eliminate dairy, red meat, gluten, soy. Limit corn and beans
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- Reduce animal protein to a much smaller portion of any meal and go meatless several days every week. Note: For the first three months, I did not eat any meat.
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- Do not replace foods I want to eat with foods created to taste like those foods, like vegan cheese
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- Increase plant based portion of all meals
- Snack on whole foods and eliminate “pantry raids”
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I am happy to say that 9 months later, these continue to be my goals. I have not always been successful but these continue to be my vision of a healthy eating plan. If my only goal was losing weight, I would have become discouraged after the first month but I am glad I didn’t and I continue to make strides to refine and improve.
In future posts, I will share how I got started, what I learned and how my test results changed from the previous year. Stay tuned!