Don’t Skip These 5 Steps When Starting a Healthy Diet

When busy doing for others, we often disregard our own health.

~Tricia Daye

Here you are, overwhelmed and busy, getting everything done for everyone else, all the while shopping, cooking, and eating what's convenient. Because with your schedule, convenience is the name of the game. You've tried here and there to make healthy choices but keep spiraling back to old habits. Yet still, you strive to bring more nutritious food into your life.

To make lasting changes around eating healthy and get out of this spiral cycle, start by figuring out your personal baseline. The baseline acts as a foundation for your new lifestyle choices. It uncovers essential boundaries such as time, finances, and potential mental triggers like food relationships.

Yep, I hear you. You don't have time to do a mental deep dive. All you want is a guide on eating healthy without adding more to your already busy plate. 

However, walking through the baseline topics upfront will save a lot of time at the store and in the kitchen, and more importantly, it’ll prevent the wasted time spent on the desire-failure blame game cycle.

Don't worry. In another article, we'll dive into tips for shopping, prepping, cooking, and eating on the go. 

Determining your baseline 

Wanting to eat healthy without figuring out your personal baseline is like fishing without bait. The action is there, but you won't reap the rewards. 

Working through the baseline topics below can be done alone or as a group. If doing this activity alone, be honest with yourself – no one else has to see your answers. 

When doing this as a family activity, everyone collaborates in discovering their unique inputs, which feeds into a household baseline.

Take out a scrap paper and move through the steps below.

Step 1 - Where Are You Now?

This self-examination will be crucial to your success when making this lifestyle change. Taking an unbiased (guilt-free) look at yourself and where you are now – warts and all – will work as an anchor when you want to compromise your goals with old-habit choices by reminding you where you no longer wish to be. 

• With a compassionate mind, write down what it is about your - now - that you want to change around healthy eating. If something no longer serves you, add it to the list.  

• Then list your achievements and strengths. What goals did you achieve in your past? What powers did you use in reaching those goals? How can you actively lean in on these strengths while trying to make healthy choices? 

• Now identify points of failure. What are some of the reasons you may hesitate to make this change? Do you have any known sabotage triggers? Are there any fears about eating healthy (like FOMO)? 

• Lastly, take the opposing view to all of your hesitations, fears, and triggers by defending 'the other side of the coin' and write them down. For example, if a friend or teenager expressed one of these issues, how would you answer? How would you encourage them? Then, ponder how can your strengths amplify this new (other side of the coin) view?

Think Ahead: Does this item I'm reaching for keep me in the now or push me towards my want? 

Step 2 - Where Do You Want to Be? 

A clear picture of where you are now and where you want to be (the new healthy eating habit) will allow you to assess the gap between the two.

You'll see:

How much change is required.

What extra resources are needed.

How much time it'll require.

What areas of your life will be impacted. 

All of this knowledge lets you make a realistic plan for success that supports the other demands in your life without adding or causing stress.

You'll know:

Is the change feasible? If not, tweak it. 

If your busy schedule has room for that change. If it doesn't, rearrange things.  

If the change will cause stress in other areas of your life because it's too much at once. If it does, start smaller. 

• Write down all of the activities or actions that need to happen to help you reach your goal.

• Continue breaking down the actions into bite-sized pieces until they become feasible.

• For each action, note if additional resources are needed (people, utensils, memberships).

• For each action, notate if any research needs to be conducted (local co-ops, location of stores, mindset work, recipes).

• For each action, note if other areas of your life will be impacted (the time you wake up, changing your commute to avoid triggers).

• Decide which action or actions you'll do first. 

• Determine when you'll be comfortable adding another action.

Think Ahead: Remember, you may need to create room for the feasibility factor by rearranging your schedule, changing your day’s routine, or changing your perspective? 

Step 3 - How Much Time Are You (Really) Willing to Commit?

Any new habit or lifestyle change will require more time than usual. This will decrease as you get used to the rhythm. But to prevent frustration, add extra time to the initial estimates before committing.

• When determining how much time you're willing to donate to planning, shopping, meal prepping, and cooking, consider how much time you spend on them now. 

• Then, break down the individual estimated time requirements for each: pre-shopping, shopping, food prep, and cooking. Remember to add an extra 10-20 minutes to each. 

Hint: If you're going from a diet with highly processed pre-prepared foods, the time difference between where you are now and having a life of healthy foods can be drastic. If your time constraints can't make such a drastic shift, you can start small by focusing only on healthy snacks or making one meal processed-free. 

• How do the estimates align with your donated time? Are you over? If the time required for these actions align differently, consider options for shortening the time demand: shopping services, food delivery services, or pre-cut and frozen produce. 

Depending on the structure of your private life, there may be areas where you can 'share the wealth.' Turn prepping and cooking into family, friend, or roommate time. 

Think Ahead: Can I split these activities across multiple days? Is prepping for multiple meals at once helpful? Would cooking in bulk save me time in the long run? (clue: yes) 

Step 4 - What Are You Willing to Spend on Food? 

Determining your financial parameters is good budgetary practice and helps you plan your weekly meals. Knowing where you're willing to spend your money on any given week or month will save time in the grocery store by eliminating comparative shopping and unnecessary purchases.

When evaluating this step, know where your priority lies because you can't have all three at once.

Choice 1: Do you want quality food?

Choice 2: Do you want a cheaper food bill?

Choice 3: Do you want quick meals?

The best money-saving option is to DIY.

The ultimate time-saving option is to have a meal planning app, hire a shopper, and batch cook.

Remember, these patterns can flex weekly depending on holidays, visitors, business trips, and family activities. 

Think Ahead: Buying a garlic bulb is cheaper and more nutritious (fresh), but the jar of pre-minced garlic, which is more expensive, provides convenience without being highly processed. 

Step 5 - What’s Your Relationship with Food?

Our relationship with food can be tricky. It’s often deeply rooted in generational traditions, habits, and cooking styles. It can even be used as a self-induced silent punisher (like, over or undereating due to unresolved self-shame) or as an expression of your love-language. By identifying these associations, you'll begin recognizing the why behind your choices and how to move past them. 

Refrain from dismissing how sneaky or strong these associations can be. 

• Consistent journaling is best for people with deeply rooted relationships with unhealthy food.

• People who need minor mindset tweaks can do mental journaling on the fly by pausing and evaluating their actions when making anti-goal choices.

For example: When picturing a perfect summer's day cookout, which 'unhealthy' foods do you go for? Why? What is the association between this type of event, how it makes you feel, and which foods or drinks you reach for? How strongly would these associations in other environments or situations tempt you to reach for 'unhealthy' food?

This mental evaluation is not just relevant for events such as a cookout. It's also a helpful tool when shopping for groceries. Remember, our choices stem from somewhere, but it doesn't mean they can't be rewritten. 

Think Ahead: You may reach out of habit for the {insert favorite guilty pleasure}. Knowing your food relationship beforehand will activate this baseline and help you lean into your strengths. 

As you can see, working through the baseline topics gives you the foundation to make healthier choices. Incorporating each one at the right moment will take practice, but the good news is -  the footing is now in place by simply doing this upfront work. 

Now, transitioning into the shopping and cooking phase of your new goal will not only be more manageable, it'll also reinforce your baseline, which, in turn, feeds strength into your actions—causing a beautiful recurring cycle of change.