CS-TOP-TIPS #2 - Little Changes - Food

Michelle Bridges says it all the time - make small changes. And it's true.


Here are some of the little changes I made to my diet before I was ready to go whole-hog, and little tricks you may consider for your own eating (some of these don't apply for me as of today as a paleo eater).

• Have breakfast every single day
• I know, an obvious one, but do it.  Prepare it the day before if you need to...and you will benefit if you can manage to mix it up a bit...try savoury/sweet/fresh/cooked breakfasts as keeping them interesting will make them an event for you and you'll relly feel like you've ~eaten~, and, you'll get a better range of nutrients.
• Switch your morning juice for a morning Berocca - Every day!
• Even if you dont drink juice in the mornings, I took a friends advice and gave myself 1 week of berocca before I left for work, and woo my energy went through the roof! People, it's not just for hangovers!
• Switch regular soft drink for diet softdrink
• Obviously water is King, but if you just cant handle the switch yet, or if you're out and want something else - don't be scared of artificial sweetener. Again and again the science tells us - it's not dangerous! Everything evil you've heard is rumour...except for a SMALL minority.  Again, use it as a transition to soda/mineral water/water... and don't have it all the time (pretty salty) but if it saves you TWELVE TEA SPOONS of sugar per bottle, it's worth it.
• Cut the butter/marg out.
• Your toast, rolls, sandwiches, veggies will taste FINE, gorgeous, fresh without spreading on FAT.  People very close to me did this one change alone and lost 4kg in a month! WOO!...and EW!! Would you tip the little tray of drippings at the bottom of your George Forman grill on to your sandwich??
• Limit the oil in cooking
• You can get your oils from awesome things like nuts, avo, home made dressings, meats, but most of the time you don't need anywhere near as much oil in cooking as people generally seem to use.  Olive oil spray will be all you need for 90% of frying purposes and for making the pan extra-nonstick.  For a lot of stirfrys, or cooking down veggies before you add others, get the pan super hot and chuck in just a bit of water! when you add the veggies they'll be like...flash-steamed and you can cook them further from there. Yum, so much fresher.
• Switch Full FAT milk for Skim
• Full fat milk does not have any benefits for you if you are trying to lose weight. You'll get your calcium and your protien in skim..and honestly honestly you won't notice after a very short time (start with half-half if you struggle).
• Transition your coffee 1 week at a time
• From your Mocha, to a Skim-Mocha, to a Skim Latte with artificial sweetener, to a Skim Latte with no artificial sweetener...then if you can handle it, a long black with a dash of skim (add back the sweetener for a week if need be)...then give a straight long black a crack and go the lattes on the days you need the protien.
• Some other little ones:
• Get the best quality grainy bread you can afford [buy it on special and freeze where you can
• Make your lunch every day (makes you the boss)
• Smile, coz you're doing something for you and that's pretty awesome.

Now, a few disclaimers - I have just found these things from my own experiences and conversations with others who may have more experience than me. If you disagree, or your body disagrees, or you have specific circumstances of course yo are an adult and should follow what feels right for you.
Also, I wouldn't change all at once...would you pick 2 maybe? then add 1 or two the next week and go from there?


These are the super basic introductory changes I made to my food habits before kick off, I'll chuck in some on introducing exercise later on.


Smile, it's a gorgous day.


ClaireS
xx
p.s.  Day 1 of paleo eating today... eep/woo!