February 3, 2019
As I wrote in my last writings post – I am on a diet. A strict one too! But now that a month has passed and I feel really amazing and light and ahhh I wanted to share with you a few tips and tricks – how to make your diet easier?
It doesn’t matter what type of food you cut out or you are trying to stay away from. It might be sugar, gluten, fat, processed foods … I just thought the following ideas might make your life easier. They definitely helped me!
1. Healthy ingredients with strong flavor
When we eliminate the usual delicious food from our diet it might make us sad. But what if we work smart and try to add some ingredients with strong and comforting flavor to our meals to make them closer to our hearts.
Few examples that worked magically for me: raw cocoa powder, olives, capers, massaman curry paste, sesame, carob powder, plant-based milk, algae, nutritional yeast, fermented food (miso paste, kimchi), …
2. Spice it up
If you aren’t big on using different spices and herbs – this might be the moment for you. Play around with all the possibilities. I love cilantro and it helped me a lot with my oil-free salads and basic vegetable stews. It just adds such a comforting flavor that I love. For you, it might be chives or parsley.
3. Choose food that you love
Don’t forget about the food that you love and you still can eat. It is worth to take some time and make a list of those types of food and keep it close. Now that you have that list stack your fridge and pantry with those ingredients. Include them on daily basis. The list will also help whenever you are in a sticky situation - you can always treat yourself with something delicious that fits into your diet requirement. (Did someone say pomegranate? Yum!)
4. Take time with your food
You might have heard it a million times, but it is true. I am learning how to turn my laptop off when I eat, even if I eat alone. And not to scroll through Instagram – it leads to mindlessly feeding yourself.
Don’t forget about beverages. I make myself an acorn coffee between my meals almost every day and it just gives me a really pleasant feeling. Coffee, tea, sugar-free cocoa– maybe that could be your five minutes to relax and take it easy.
5. Plan it out
I really couldn’t have done all of this madness if I wouldn’t plan one day ahead. Sometimes I bring 3 meals to work (hehe). You will be really unhappy, pissed off and on the edge of throwing a tantrum if you will end up hungry with nothing near you that you could eat.
6. Why
And the last one – but it might be the first one because it is very important. Why are you doing this? Improving your health? Trying to lose weight? Trying to achieve a certain goal?
It is important to keep an answer to this in your mind. Because later you can always go back to it and remind yourself why you are doing this.
