How To Make Healthy Eating Fun

Aleigh: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the show. Today, we are gonna be talking about how to make healthy eating fun. And I think a lot of people just really hate this so much because we really deprive ourselves from the things that we know and love. And then we somehow just expect to, by sheer willpower, be able to do that forever. And truthfully, we just can't. And so, at some point, we decide to go on a diet and we start it and we start off strong. And then who knows whether it's a half a day or a week or 2 weeks later. We just can't really be miserable anymore, and we just decide to derail. Aleigh: And it starts with a cheat day. And then, I don't know if you've ever done this. I know I've done it. You then just throw in the towel and decide, okay. You know what? I can't do this. This isn't worth it and I want my life back. And so we're just gonna be talking about some ways on how to really make it sustainable and something that helps you actually enjoy life more. And I think the first thing that we should pay attention to is really knowing our why behind why we're doing what we're doing. Aleigh: I know that some people will change their eating habits because maybe the doctor said that it's something you need to do for your blood pressure, or maybe you wanna lose some weight, or maybe you wanna feel better. Honestly, there's a lot of ties between healthy eating and improving mental health. Maybe some people wanna enhance their relationships. Of course, when we have better mental health, then we also in turn have better relationships, so that's a huge reason. But, yeah, I think knowing your why is really important. I know for me, mental health issues run-in my family, and so I am on a mental health enhancement plan every day. And I also wanna be the best mom that I can be to my kids, and knowing that sugar and refined carbohydrates that process into sugar can trigger brain health issues and in turn, cause anxiety and depression, and other mental health issues that really negative impact people all over the world every day. Those are just things that I try to avoid. Aleigh: I wanna be an energetic mom, and I wanna be present. I wanna be there for my kids. And so, I really ask is what I'm doing aligning with my goals is what I'm about to eat, going to give me the energy to be the person that I want to be, or is it gonna make me take a step back? And so, yeah, knowing your why is super important. Another thing that's super helpful is practicing to prepare healthy foods. I know a lot of people just assume that they don't like certain foods, because maybe they haven't had them prepared very well in the world that we live in today where so many people have exposure to vegetation from a can or frozen bag or saturated in chemicals, obviously, the taste gets compromised there. And so, really, who wants to eat a big soggy glop of something that used to be a very beneficial, nutritious food. And so I would say that if you're wanting to go ahead and start eating healthy, really start to see what foods it is that you want to avoid and what foods it is that you want to consume. So for me, I like to stay away from sugar, because of the impact that it has, not just on the brain, but on all the body systems. Aleigh: It really depletes your energy, it causes mood swings, and can certainly trigger anxiety, depression, things like that. Another thing is I like to avoid refined carbohydrates, because the way that your body processes them is actually it turns into sugar as well. And so, it's funny because we'll give our kids some jelly toast, and then expect them to perform well at school, and really, that's just turning into a bunch of sugar in their body, and what goes up must come down. And so, really, it's no wonder that whenever we have things like fruit juice, or breads, or pastas, or things like that, we feel really tired afterwards. And we're really not able to perform or function optimally at any level. And so, that's another thing. I also do like to really consume dairy very minimally, if any, and that's because the way that the gut processes it, there's a certain enzyme that many people don't have, which is why a lot of people can experience really unwanted symptoms when it comes to eating dairy. And so, really, essentially, what's happening with dairy whenever we digest it for many people that don't have this enzyme is we're actually consuming the dairy, and then it's, in a way, kind of rotting in our stomach. Aleigh: And that's why a lot of people get gas and diarrhea and stuff like that. And so, you know, I just say avoid it altogether, and have something that I love this. Doctor Amen says this, to love food that is gonna love you back. It's like a relationship. You don't wanna be in a toxic relationship with people or with food. And so, just like you wanna love people that are gonna treat you well and love you back, and you wanna have them close to you. Let's treat food the same way. So maybe you have only had vegetables or fruits or meats in a very processed form. Aleigh: And what I would recommend is going on to some food blogs and go find some recipes that have very healthy ingredients. And take a trip to the farmer's market, take a trip to the store, get organic foods whenever possible. I was in a pinch, and I went through a drive through, and I got a sandwich with lettuce on it. And I took a bite, and I really tasted bleach. And I was like, oh, no. I think I just ate some foreign material. And, what I pulled out of my mouth was actually a piece of lettuce. And I could not believe how toxic it tasted. Aleigh: And, so, this is something that's super important. It's just whenever possible, try to get local, try to get organic, because there really is a difference. It's not just something that people do to make extra money. There is actually a difference in the pesticide saturation that gets put on our food. And, really, unfortunately, even sometimes organic food, there are still pesticides that they do use on it. And so, I do try to go to the farmer's market and get pesticide free food whenever possible. But, really, organic food will still have really nutrient dense qualities. I just try to wash all my food pretty well. Aleigh: There are studies out there and you can go ahead and look it up. But, really, there is a very big difference in the nutrition quality based on how the food is farmed, and whether it's conventionally grown or organically grown. And, obviously, the pesticides are very important to pay attention to, and so this is something that can really make a big impact on, not only the flavor of the food itself, but the nutrition that you're able to get out of it. One thing that I have done that's super fun is get a conventional vegetable of your choice, whether it's a tomato or even a fruit like an apple, and then get an organic one and do a blind test and see if you can actually taste the difference. I know sometimes I can actually taste the pesticides that are used even after I've washed the produce. And so, it's really really crazy. But you will find that the fresher the food is, the better it taste. And if you think about it this way, really, when something is picked off of the source where it's grown, it begins to die. Aleigh: And when something begins to die, then the nutrients begin to deplete. And so, whether you have something fresh off of the tree or whether you have something that has been packaged for 5 years and, yes, that is a thing. It really dictates how much nutrition and how tasty the food actually is. Another thing that can be super fun is whenever you're starting to learn about different foods that you like, is start to make a list of things that you like. Because I know sometimes when we start changing our eating habits, especially in a really drastic way, we can get really burned out or really overwhelmed and think I don't even like any of this food because you just start to kind of want to go back to the old way. We are creatures of habit and our brains are lazy whenever we let them go in default. They will go to a place of comfort and habit. And so, eventually, eating healthy does become a habit and it does actually become a place of comfort. Aleigh: But, while we're on the way there, we have to find tricks in order to help us stick to it. And so, something that's really fun that I've done before is I will make different international themes. And so, maybe for 1 week, I will find whole food Italian recipes, and I will just cook a bunch of different Italian things with a bunch of Italian herbs and things like that. And then maybe the next week, I'll do Hispanic or Japanese or whatever it is. And it it's so fun, and it keeps it way more fresh, and it keeps me learning and doing new things. Another thing that's really helpful is making it into a family affair or getting friends involved is so fun. And it's also gonna keep you a lot more accountable. It's gonna help you to actually reach your goals and making this something that is a lifestyle and not just some short term thing. Aleigh: And a really cool trick that we do in order to help our kids to eat well is for 1, we eliminate all bad foods from the house. So there is really truly nothing that we would have to say no to, which is awesome. And it really helps with power struggle because there is no food there. The other deal is we live by example. And so, we're not gonna ask our kids to do something that we're not going to do. And a lot of times, we'll have people stop us at the park, or just people in the neighborhood or whatever. They see our kids munching on kale and random things. And they'll say, how do you get your kids see so healthy? And we say, oh, well, we healthy, and they're like, oh, never mind. Aleigh: I'm not gonna do it. It really, you have to live this message. If this is something that you want to pass down to your kids, it's something that you are gonna have to show by example. And you may have to take the hard road. Maybe you're the first one in your family to eat well, and you actually have no idea if there's any healthy food that you like. And I guarantee you that there is, because God made you and God made the food, and he wouldn't make us. It might be a trial and error process, and you may have to try a couple different things that you don't like. But I guarantee you that you are going to find it. Aleigh: And really, a lot of times too, when we fill our bodies with things that we are not really made to eat, Our taste buds and our brains will start to trick us, and we will start to crave those things. And what's crazy is that's why eating healthy gets a lot easier as you go along the way, because your taste buds in your brain actually start adapting to liking the food that you were really made for. And before you know it, you can't even imagine eating the food that ate before. And honestly, the thought is just disgusting. I can think of so many things that I used to love that were kind of my Achilles, and really, now, the thought of them is just so disgusting to me. But it's been a process of years of doing this. And so, something that I would recommend is just be really patient with yourself, but really commit to the process of allowing your body to reset. And I know for a lot of people, that really takes anywhere between, like, 14 21 days when you're really on a clean eating plan. Aleigh: And trying new healthy foods and just committing to filling your body with that, cleaning all the junk out of your home, making sure to clear out the sugar, the food dyes, the preservatives, and all of that stuff, and just allow your body to reset. Something that has worked super well for our family is whenever we just fill our house with good foods, we are able to kind of serve meals in a way that is kind of like a grazing table, honestly. Because there's nothing that we really could eat too much of. And so, for example, whenever we're having dinner, maybe we'll have a couple different types of vegetables, maybe some grilled meat, and then maybe some legumes of some kind, beans or something. And really, we our kids are 42, and we let them fill their plate with whatever they want. And we're not pressuring them to eat more or less than what they want, but this is what is for dinner. There's lots of different options on the table. And, actually, in doing this, it allows them not only to have the freedom to make choices, which is so fun. Aleigh: It gives them independence. It makes them feel that really necessary feeling of being in control that we have as humans, but it's also a habit that decreases the likelihood of eating disorders and obesity later in life. And how many of us grew up being pressured to eat certain amounts of certain things. I've heard so many horror stories of hearing parents have their kids blend whatever they didn't eat for dinner the night before into a smoothie for breakfast and all that disgusting traumatizing stuff. And the point is to make healthy eating a pleasurable thing, so that it's something that we wanna do. We're eating, we're knowing our why. We wanna treat ourselves well. We wanna love ourselves. Aleigh: And so that's why we're gonna fill ourselves with good things. And we're not gonna overstuff ourselves either, because that's not being kind to ourselves. So meal times at our house kinda look grazing table style. There's no pressure. It's one of those things if the girls are gonna eat a bunch of legumes and none of the meat, which never happens, then they're fine, because they've eaten really great stuff throughout the day as well. And it's pretty amazing, because I wanna say for the first lunch or dinner, maybe, of doing this, they were pretty hungry. And then, you know, after a while, and this works on adults too, you just start to get hungry. And so, then, you start to eat what's there. Aleigh: And it's actually birthday parties, graduations, weddings. So, birthday parties, graduations, weddings. So how do we navigate this in real world circumstances? One thing that is important to understand is you don't have to do what everybody else does in order to enjoy your life. And I'm just gonna say that again, because I think some people need to hear it. You don't have to do what everybody else does in order to enjoy your life. And I've heard so many people say, oh, I've been eating this way, but I want to enjoy my son's birthday party, so I'm going to do this and this and that. Or I want to be able to experience this joy with everyone, and so I'm gonna do this and this and that. And, truthfully, if we look at that in another perspective, in another context, we could say, okay. Aleigh: Well, because they're doing drugs, I'm gonna do drugs. Or because they're all doing heroin, I'm gonna do heroin. And really, many of us would never say that. And so, when we put it in more extreme cases, then it becomes easier to see that our life experience is not dependent on us doing the same thing that everybody else does. Because what we should be doing is we should be making decisions based on our goals. But the truth is, not everybody has the same goals in life that you do. And so, the way that I like to process this is, I ask myself, does this align with my goals? And really, so many memories and so many life events are centered around food. And we do wanna be a part of the event. Aleigh: So how can we be fun and not offend people and not miss out, but also treat ourselves well and reach our goals. So the first thing I'm gonna say is don't let yourself get hungry. Whenever we have low blood sugars, we feel terrible, and we actually don't make great decisions. Our ability to make good decisions and avoid impulse goes down. And then, I don't know about you, but I can be doing really well, and the minute I get hungry, I am savage. And so, what I like to do is I like to eat good things often, and I try to be prepared as much as possible, and try this experiment. Something that I realized is once I do get hungry, I start to fantasize about all these random junk that I wanna eat. And I make myself wait, and the minute that I fill myself up with something better, I actually feel less of the craving. Aleigh: And I'm interested to see if anybody else has experienced that or not. But I know that that was a really life changing thing for me once I realized the connection of that, and how it was, like, level a100. Craving something, and then I eat something really basic and not, I mean, really healthy. And then, the craving goes down to, like, 20, And I can handle a 20. So I'm gonna say be prepared, make sure you start with a good breakfast, make sure you have access to healthy foods with you wherever you go because you are going to eat. And if you're not prepared, then you are gonna eat whatever the street corner has to offer you, and it will probably not align with your goals. Another thing that I'm gonna say is if you're gonna cheat, then let's not do a cheat day. A cheat day is how people ruin themselves. Aleigh: Our goal is not to feel terrible about ourselves or end up in the bathroom for 2 hours. Our goal is to eat good food, make good memories, but also feel great about our bodies and about ourselves. And so I would say, if you're going to splurge, then go ahead and make that decision intentionally. Something that I did recently is I really wanted to make turtle cheesecake for my wedding anniversary. And so, I planned it a week ahead. I said, okay. I'm going to make this turtle cheesecake for the anniversary, and if I end up with too much, I'm going to give it to this neighbor, and that's exactly what I did. And so, it was really great because we had a wonderful memory together, and it was awesome. Aleigh: But, truthfully, if you consume foods that are not actually good for you and not adding to your quality of life, then it will take away from it. If you are feeling impulsive and you feel that you're about to make a bad food choice, but you wanna do it anyway, go ahead and think about this. Do something good for your body before you're gonna make the choice. And so if you've already decided in your mind that you are gonna go through the drive through and get a cheeseburger, then go ahead and do something good for your body, whether that's go for a walk, drink some water, go eat a healthy snack, call your mom, do something good for your body and your mental health and your relationships, and then make the choice. And that way, we're offsetting the impulse control and allowing our prefrontal cortex, which deals with delaying gratification and avoiding impulse decisions that are negative and don't align with our goals. It allows that to kick into gear. So that we can make a more balanced decision, and in turn, feel better about the decision that we're making. Another thing that is just a very practical thing is that, you know, honestly, we're in situations a lot of times where really not eating something can be a very socially awkward thing, or it can be really offensive. Aleigh: Honestly, I know that it's like this in some places in the US, but many places around the world where you're not gonna go over to someone's house for dinner and then not eat their food or bring something. That can be a very awkward thing and very offensive to the host. And so something that we do, we do a lot of missions work, and it's very important to us to prioritize relationship over anything else. And so what we do sometimes is if we're not sure if there's gonna be good options for us, which some of our health choices are based on pretty severe intolerances of my girls. And so, it's not necessarily only a preference, but what we'll do is we will fill up with healthy food before we go and eat beforehand. And that way, whenever we get there, we can eat a little bit of whatever the host has because eating nothing whenever you go over to someone's house is really not acceptable socially in a lot of cultures. But eating a little bit is just fine. And, honestly, people will understand the more they get to know you, that there are certain foods that don't really agree with you well, and this does go across cultures. Aleigh: There are people in every part of the world that get stomachaches whenever they have dairy, or have negative skin reactions whenever they have gluten, or their stomach gets upset whenever they have a lot of fried food. And so this is a universally acceptable thing, but there is a way that can be offensive to express this, but there's also a way that can be kind. And so like I said before, I think relationship is the most important thing. So just being open and honest with the people that you love and that you're close to is super important. But for people that maybe you don't know that well when you're in a social situation, especially if you're getting hosted, it can be super helpful to just see beforehand so that you are not necessarily super hungry when you get there, but that you can cordially eat something and and enjoy that time with them. Another thing that can be super important is just avoiding places that you know you tend to slip up. It is very similar to if you struggle with drinking alcohol or even social drinking, and drinking alcohol is something that you're trying to avoid because it is not a health food, you might feel much better in the moment, but it does not have positive impacts on the brain or on mental health long term, then something you might wanna avoid is places where you can participate in social drinking. If it's something that you can't avoid, then this could be another opportunity where it would be extremely helpful for you to eat something beforehand. Aleigh: Make sure you're very hydrated, and then drink some kind of fun mocktail whenever you get there. You don't have to drink the alcohol to feel like you're participating because you can still eat and drink with everybody. It's just all about making decisions that are going to contribute to progressing towards your goals. And like I said before, not everybody has the same goals as you, and that's okay. And, of course, we can all respect each other's goals and respect what we're doing to get to those goals. But really keeping our why at the front of our mind and then also keeping those tools in the toolbox to help us get there. I think is really the best way that we can achieve what we're reaching for and make healthy eating fun. And that's all the time we have for today, guys. Aleigh: Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time.