Let’s switch it up for a moment and talk health. After all, my site is geared toward becoming a better YOU.
Wealthier. Healthier. Happier.
Most people know they should eat healthy. But the problem is, they don’t know how to eat healthy without dieting, and that’s exactly why their diets fail!
Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good
This is the mantra pioneered in the sports world. If you’ve ever played high school or college sports then you’ve probably heard it from at least one of your coaches. It sounds cool and catchy on the surface, but what does it even mean?
The thought is: if you look good, then you’ll feel good, which then allows you to perform better.
Makes sense right? But can looks really make us play better?
To a small degree, sure.
We tend to have more confidence in ourselves when we look good. That increased confidence can certainly lead to better performance. Not just in sports but in everyday life too.
But here’s the catch:
Looks can only motivate you so much and for so long.
Why Eating for Looks Doesn’t Last
Most people think of healthy eating as a way to lose weight quickly or change how they look.
Usually it starts with some big event coming up:
- Summer’s around the corner
- There’s a vacation booked
- Your best friend is getting married soon
- Maybe your doctor said something scary at your last checkup.
So they hit the panic button. Suddenly “it’s time to get in shape.”
The problem is, when you focus only on how you look, you ignore how you feel.
You don’t pay attention to:
- Your energy
- Your sleep
- Your pain
- Your focus
- Your long-term health
And guess what?
When looking good is the only goal, motivation dies fast. Because let’s be real, nobody cares about six-pack abs in December.
You fall right back into old habits because you’re not actually building a lifestyle, you’re merely suffering through temporary fixes to reach a goal.
That’s the pattern:
Diet → Lose weight → Quit → Gain it back → Repeat
That’s why it’s so important to learn how to eat healthy without dieting. Looks should be the side effect, not the goal itself!
The “Diet Food” Trap
When the goal is to lose weight and get in shape, the first place you start is “diet foods” to fast track those goals. The phrase “I’m going on a diet” seems to pick up steam in the summer months and just after the 1st of January for some odd reason.
But remember, a diet doesn’t = less.
A diet is just the eating habits that we all create for ourselves. That can mean eating healthy, or it can mean eating junk every day. Most people just pick the wrong version. They load up on:
- Fat free or Low fat
- Meal replacement shakes & bars
- Store bought salads
Because they think:
“If I eat less fat, less calories, or less food, I’ll lose weight”
But that usually backfires because many “diet foods” are just processed junk in disguise:
- Shakes, powders, and low-fat snacks full of chemicals and sugar substitutes
- The store-bought salads usually come preloaded with fatty, salty dressings, cheese and croutons
That’s why diets fail! They’re temporary fixes for long-term problems.
But here’s the kicker: if you ate healthy every day, you’d never need to diet again!
So What’s The Solution?
Simple:
Eat Good, Feel Good, Play Good
Once you realize the power that food can have on your body you will be hooked for life.
I think the problem with eating healthy is most people have no idea how good they’re supposed to feel. They’ve never eaten clean long enough to experience it!
A truly healthy diet can give you:
- Better sleep
- More energy
- Less pain
- Decreased risk of diseases
- Better focus
That’s just a small sample. I could create an entire website focused solely on the benefits of eating a healthy diet!
We need to stop thinking of food as something you check off a to-do list each day, and more like the lifeblood of everything you do – your energy, your mood, your longevity!
It’s not something we choose because it tastes good. It’s something we choose because it’s going to give us superpowers over the people eating processed food and takeout every day!
It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just consistent. Then you won’t have to do damage control after every vacation. You won’t have to start over every January.
The Cause of Disease? It’s Mostly Diet
Eating healthy isn’t just for the short-term benefits, it helps in the long term as well.
So many people tend to brush off their eating habits and really couldn’t care less if they are overweight, and at increased risk for diabetes, cancers, and heart disease.
Which is wild, because heart disease is the # 1 killer in America! And guess what, the leading causes of heart disease, according to the CDC are:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Smoking
- Diabetes
- Overweight & obesity
- Unhealthy diet
- Physical inactivity
- Excessive alcohol
So ya, half that list can be attributed to the things we eat!
Real Food = Real Results
One of the biggest struggles people have is just knowing where to start.
I’ll soon start getting into healthy recipes that are not only healthy, but also cheap! (I know, most people don’t believe those 2 words can go together)
But it’s not complicated. It’s not expensive. And it’s not some social media trend.
The healthiest foods are the simplest:
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Beans & Legumes
- Rice & Quinoa
- Nuts & Seeds
These are the basics if you want to eat healthy without dieting. All of these foods are 1-ingredient superfoods. And all are some of the healthiest (and cheapest) things you can buy!
No matter what your diet goal is, these are the foods that are going to help you get there. Eating wannabe store bought salads, diet shakes and “fat free” won’t do it, but eating from the list above will!
You want to be eating foods with as many vitamins, minerals and nutrients as possible. We shouldn’t be relying on pills and vitamins in pill form to get our recommended daily doses.
Everything we need can be found in the foods we eat.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, healthy eating shouldn’t feel like punishment, it should feel like freedom.
Freedom from the crash diets.
Freedom from constantly starting over.
Freedom from relying on willpower alone.
You don’t need to starve yourself or give up every food you enjoy. You just need to build realistic healthy eating habits you can actually maintain.
And once you stop chasing short-term results, you’ll start seeing long-term change.
Learn how to eat healthy every day by keeping it simple: real food, eaten consistently, with a focus on how it makes you feel, not just how it makes you look.
The goal isn’t to “get fit for summer.”
The goal is to feel amazing every season, every year, for the rest of your life!
Let me know in the comments below what has worked for you when starting your healthy eating journey!
