Previously…  on this blog….   <Note the same type of narration from your favourite Netflix series….>.  We were talking about “The You Plan”.

Now, when I say the word diet, I should explain, I mean how you would basically regularly eat.  I am not saying that this “is a diet”.  How we eat IS our diet.  What we are working towards is having a regular and most optimal eating plan.  There can be times when you need to eat certain things based on health areas like having the flu, or digestive issues, etc.  

But in general, a diet should not be a temporary fix for something where one would then go back to their “normal”, and not so optimal, way of eating that likely caused the issue in the first place.  Going back and forth between extremes by going ON a Diet, may not be working, and can be actually problematic. 

So, the diet you land on is what is working best for you right now, and may change over time, based on season, digestion, and where you are and what you are doing, but the foundation of key optimal food concepts should  remain the same.  This is your regular and long term “Diet”. 

Those main foundation eating concepts are using mostly whole plant foods, closest to their source, with happily raised and treated animals.  In addition to that, limiting processed and refined foods that have added sugars, preservatives, and chemicals, that are not tolerated well by our bodies.  

We then take that food foundation and find what works and feels the best for each of us individually.  

Did you find your top 2 concerns that you may have right now?  Those 2 concerns can help to isolate what in your food foundations you may want to increase or decrease to help get to the root cause or allow your body to correct and feel better.  

Keep those 2 things in mind as you now look at your other lists of what you eat now, and what you want to increase versus decrease for foods and drinks, which thus starts your optimal food plan.   

Do you sense any connection to the foods you want to increase or decrease for affecting your top 2 concerns for your current state?  

Say if you have issues sleeping.  Habits like either eating too late, especially foods or drinks that causes a blood sugar spike, can cause sleep issues.  These can include caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate) or alcohol.  What is happening for food and drinks later in the day that may be a factor for you?  

Say If you want to lose weight.  Some of those same above items may be a factor there as well.  Eating/drinking later in the day is harder to metabolize and use for energy as we wind down and instead ends up as stored energy (fat).  Foods eaten earlier in the day will be easier to burn for energy and have less to store compared to what we consume later in the day.  Especially if we move less in the evenings versus during the day.

Take some time to reflect on your optimal food lists and you health challenges and see if you can sense any direct relationship.  Often, we don’t take the time to see how what we eat can affect us, and it can be a huge eye opener, even if we don’t understand why, if we can see a relationship of food and how it affects us, we have some idea of how to help ourselves.  We will do some more examples next week to give more ideas.

Your local Quality Greens markets has an incredible selection of whole foods to use in your optional you food plan!  And their prices are amazing!  I am thrilled at the low cost of the big box of produce that I walk out of the store with each visit!

Have a great week :)

Lisa.