Post holiday guilt has hit me hard. From what? Eating too much, eating too many sweets, and oddly enough, not getting consistently good sleep. Do I regret it? No way, I had a great time with family and friends. Taking a break from my normal routine has also recharged my motivation. I am primed to get back to training and be better than ever.
This brings me to January. To tighten up after eating too many empty calories, I am committing to eating super clean for the month. This means getting back to my normal full time diet of one ingredient whole foods, no exceptions. This will remove most of the inflammatory foods and help get my gut health back in check. In addition, I am going to cut out my cheat days for the month. No sweets! Nada. Sounds severe, but I know I will feel better than ever at the end of the month. After eating excess junk for a few days you build up a tolerance to what is acceptable in terms of bad food… much the same way you build a tolerance to alcohol. The best way to dial back and level set is to cut out the sweets, chips or whatever your guilty pleasure is for a pre-determined period. I am using January.
My sleep habits will get back on track once I get back to my normal work schedule. I do tend to stay up late and this cuts into my sleep. Limiting the iPad, phone, computer, etc. before bed helps me tremendously.
Big gains in nutrition and living healthy can come through elimination. Take the next step and remove something that is having a negative effect on your health. Do this for the month of January. You will likely feel better, create a new healthy habit, and get the satisfaction that you have the will power to succeed. Remove any of the foods on the list below and you will remove empty calories, chemicals and inflammatory sugars from your diet. You will also feel better and over time lose weight.
- Bread- way too easy to over eat. Loaded with gluten.
- Candy or sweets
- Artificial sweeteners
- Drinks with calories- soda, sports drinks.
- Processed foods- i.e. Spam, twinkies, deli meats
- Processed fats- i.e. vegetable oils and mayonnaise
- Cereal
- Dairy- Not opposed to dairy, however it is a common to have problems digesting dairy as you get older. Cut it out for a few weeks, if you feel better, great. If not, add it back in.
- Margarine
- Anything fried
The list can go on and on depending on your habits. I challenge you to take action and choose one thing and cut it out for the month. Small changes have big results if you are consistent. Good luck and let me know your progress.