How to Improve Your Diet & Hydrate

This is a diary of the healthy lifestyle goals that my son, Chris, and I are making together each month.  Since it takes 21-30 days to develop a new habit, making a goal for the month ahead is an effective strategy.

The buddy system is one of the main ways to get motivated. I’ve always found that if I say out loud to someone what I plan on doing, I’m more likely to do it.  Because if I say I will, I feel responsible to follow through.  

Age doesn’t matter.  It’s never too late.  You can always make progress and actually reverse the signs of aging!

Last month, Chris’s goal was to try to find healthy foods most days (as he’s out in the big city every day furthering his acting career), and to only allow junk food one day a week.  My goal was to drink more water. Here’s what happened:

Chris’s Goal:  to allow junk food only one day a week

Instead of having a cheat day once a week, it turned out that Chris had a flex meal about once every few days.

In my last health diary entry, I shared a quote on the subject of using the word “Flex” instead of “Cheat” from When Is It Okay to Cheat? The Pros and Cons of Cheat Meals by Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, LDN.  Here’s what the author said in a nutshell:

“…since healthy eating is about balance, no food should ever be off limits. Allowing yourself to indulge in favorite foods helps prevent boredom and deprivation, which can spark cravings and a desire to binge. No matter what your health goals are, incorporating indulgences is the key to maintaining balance.

“To indulge without hurting your health and weight-loss goals, shift your mindset from negative to positive. ‘Stop calling it ‘cheating’ and call it a flex meal. Not every meal has to be ‘nutrition first,” points out Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN, author of the book Body Kindness. For this reason it’s important to allow yourself permission to eat all of the foods you love — and having a strategy is fundamental. Planning out your indulgence by portioning them in advance is a tip Tammy Lakatos Shames, RDN, and Lyssie Lakatos, RDN,  authors of “The Nutrition Twins’ Veggie Cure” and co-founders of 21-Day Body Reboot suggest. This approach allows you to indulge without completely straying from your goals.“

I, myself, have found it to work best if I enter the foods I’m planning to eat into My Fitness Pal app first, before I go ahead.  Very often, foods I’m looking at will be over my goals in some way…either too many calories, sugars, fats or carbs.  That happens most often towards the end of the day, depending what I had so far.  When I see the nutritional facts, I can make optimum choices.  I always end up with something I enjoy, too!

Chris said that his food intake this past month was atrocious in his mind in comparison with the healthy eating habits he had acquired over the last two years.  (That’s how long we have been making these monthly health goals together.)

In the past month, Chris hadn’t been as strict.  (But is being strict with yourself every day a good thing, judging by the above quote?  Is he being too hard on himself?)  For instance, he had dessert after dinner the last couple of days and he split a pizza with his partner recently.  But today he had quinoa with chicken.  He doesn’t do “bad” meals all day every day.  But last month he felt that he let slide more meals per week.  He said he hasn’t been putting on weight yet, so obviously he hasn’t gone majorly overboard.

He added that he hasn’t had enough time for the gym as usual, either.  It was just a busy month, and more business is coming his way.  Good for his career but hard for keeping up a healthy lifestyle.

I reminded Chris that the positive momentum he built up over the years is way stronger than the little things that put a drag on his healthy habits over the past month or so.  He had developed such excellent health habits that I was extremely impressed by his willpower and great food choices, and felt lacking in comparison!

What usually sets him back (and me, too!) is an overloaded schedule.  In fact, Chris’s New Year’s resolution was to pay attention to spending his time on prioritizing work projects so that he wasn’t wasting time.  He says he’s been doing well with this.  He’s just living a busy life and needs ways stay healthy despite that.

Chris has established such good health habits over the last couple of years.  So now, when they’re not as good, it feels bad to him.

Chris has My Fitness Pal app on his phone but hasn’t used it in a long time.  He started thinking it might be a good idea to use it over the next month so that he can strike a balance between healthy foods and good-tasting foods.

My Goal:  to drink more water

I have never developed the habit of drinking lots of water, so it’s about time!  The first day of the month, I had five glasses of water and was so proud of myself.  And then, I woke up four times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  I didn’t get enough sleep that night, and I was not interested in bringing that situation on again.

The result was twofold:  1) I took my time leisurely sipping water or tea in the evenings, and 2) I’ve only accomplished an average of four glasses of water a day over the month.

Since it wasn’t going as I liked, I googled how to get enough water each day.  That inspired me to dig out a pitcher from the cellar.  I filled it with water and frozen berries.  It tastes great!  We’ll see if it helps.

I had only been counting pure water or tea without honey.  And I had been trying to go back to black coffee, which is the only way I would have it when I first started drinking it.

But online I read on WebMD and on health sites that water comes in many forms.  Coconut water, sports drinks, even hot chocolate and watermelon are full of water.  These things have calories, though.  So although they count towards my daily goal, sticking with pure water leaves room for more food!

At least this new information freed me to count my tea with honey.  I drink tea most days, hot in the winter and cold in the summer.  I enjoy all kinds:  black teas, green teas, herbal teas, chai, matcha, you name it!

There are only a few, though, that taste good with nothing added.  I usually have some form of chamomile or relaxing herbal bedtime teas. Now I reach for the pure chamomile that is flavorful on its own.  During the day, I’ll have a second or third cup of peppermint or jasmine because they stand alone.  There was also a raspberry green tea at the dollar store that was great on its own.  I hope to find it there again.

Speaking of the dollar store, I recently restored my chamomile tea supply there and was surprised that it tastes and smells so fresh!  Oddly, it has more flavor than Celestial Seasonings, which definitely tastes dried.

Chris told me he has no problem guzzling down water because he’s always thirsty.  He suggested that I drink water with meals.  I already had been drinking Perrier water in place of soda pop at meals.  But I tried out regular water, as well, after he said that.

My conclusion is that I have made an improvement in the amount of water I drink.  I want to increase my intake to six glasses a day, though.  So that’s my goal for the next month.  I’m going to add a new habit of carrying a refillable water bottle with me when I leave the house.  

I hope I’ve inspired you to drink more water, if you don’t already!  Do you have any tips that work for you?  Any feedback on how to eat healthy when you’re too busy running around town to eat at home or cook?  Please share with us in the comments below.

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Thanks, Angie

Related posts:

How Your Friends Make It Easy To Be Healthy: Working on Exercise & Diet How Your Friends Make It Easy to be Healthy: Goals to Start the New Year How Your Friends Make It Easy to be Healthy: Sleep & Swim

Health Goal Diary, Lifelong Health