🍽️New Year, New Diet? Please no.

May I give you permission to try something different?

“If you think you should, you probably shouldn’t.”

K. C. Ireton

Prefer to listen? Podcast episode here.

May I give you permission to do something different this year?

Not start a new diet*.

To not get geared up to invest in:

• a new diet program

• a new way of eating

• restricting carbs

• fasting intermittently

• (fill in the blank of the fancy diet that is getting much attention)

All of this is striving. And striving is. not. rest.

Striving depends on willpower. Willpower is dependable if, life is going perfectly.

But for me, life happens. My people need things that I can give. And I am the first to put me last.

A whole new diet will eventually become an afterthought, but the guilty thoughts of failure will be at the forefront. Taunting me.

What if instead of a diet revamp, we try a diet edit?

What if our New Year’s Nutrition goal is one tweak to the way our whole family eats?

And is doable long term. With no willpower required?

Did I hear someone sigh?

Ethically, I do not recommend weight loss diets. My heart just can’t. Even though it is a long time ago now, I still remember the mind space take-over of calculating what I had eaten, what I was eating, and what I would be eating. It stole my peace and left little room for emotional rest.

And I’ve witnessed too many relish in the positive comments after sacrificing too much to attain a weight they equated with happiness. Only to later, drop deep into heartache. Life happened, and the weight came back. And flattering comments switched to knowing looks.

Let’s capture the tempting chase of happiness and prevent guilty thoughts from sinking us. And try a different way.

Choose rest.

Choose Peace.

Choose Joy instead of happiness. That sustains and is sustaining. Rather than fleeting.

“I did the best I could with what I knew at the time.”

— THE BALANCED MOMCAST WITH SANDY COOPER Episode 205: Embracing Your UN-Perfect Life, w/Shelly Snead (Pt.2)

May I help you know more?

If you tried a diet in the past without long-term success, here is an

insider tip: It wasn’t you, it was the program.

We don’t need to find the right program for us to fit into. We need to start small and build from there. Gaining momentum as we go.

Choosing something doable.

And instead of depending on willpower, we are strategic. Working with our bodies’ design and our family’s ways.

This thought makes my heart rest vs. the thought of cooking or eating separately from my family. Ugh. I don’t have the mind space or energy for that from this day forward.

And it’s the total opposite of what we are encouraging here. We want to find ways to better gather together not start something that separates us.

What is one diet tweak that almost seems too easy?

Start there.

“A year from now, you will wish you had started today.”

Karen Lamb

I had really wanted to misquote this wise statement as: you will be glad you started today. Because I have faith in you. You can do this. You will be glad you started today.

Here are some tweaks I have made as my New Year’s goal in the past:

GOAL: Less processed meats as a family.

STRATEGY: Cook twice the protein foods on the weekend and mid-week if needed. Keep nuts, seeds, canned beans, boiled eggs, and tuna on hand for backup.

GOAL: More plant-based proteins.

STRATEGY: Look for opportunities to add on: add two cans of beans to our chili instead of one, serve hummus as a dip alongside our usual salad dressing, and plan meatless meals about once a week.

GOAL: Ditching juice.

Juice had slipped into the ‘chugging when thirsty’ category vs. the ‘juice-glass-amount at breakfast’ category. It became expensive and not a habit I wanted for us.

STRATEGY: No juice in the grocery cart. I’m not usually this extreme but we had tried other strategies and it was putting a dent in kitchen-peace, if you know what I mean. And I didn’t want to police it.

But I did want fruit at the breakfast table. So, instead, I intentionally slice whole fruit for a ‘help-yourself’ plate at breakfast time. It happens most days. But I’m not perfect.

GOAL: More vegetables at dinner.

STRATEGY: Prepare two vegetables. For example: one fresh and one frozen vegetable. Or double up the veggies in soups and one-pot dishes.

These are just examples that fit us at the time. Customizing goals just right for your family is key to success. And, maintaining flexibility and a tweaking stance as circumstances change.

Not sure where to start?

I wrote foundational posts to help. These are the core pillars of a diet that nourishes. The approach doesn’t promise flashy outcomes that require striving. But it does promote rest in the process of tweaking your way to where you want to go. And still have room for the things you want to do and think about.

Step 1: Your Best Diet is Right Here.

Step 2: Two Easy Tweaks to Create Balanced Eating (and Tone Down Cravings).

Step 3: Eating about every 3-4 hours (i.e. what to do about snacks?). Coming in January!

I hope that 2024 finds you making a fresh start of being gentle to yourself. Leaning into your body’s design rather than trying to fit into a generic popular media diet plan.

Let’s talk more. Pull up a chair at the Contented Table Community Chat.

What is your experience with New Year’s Diets?

How can we encourage another?

Want to share your diet edit for the New Year? Come join the conversation. I’ll be sharing mine.

A gentle reminder,

God wants you to know: I see you, I hear you, I love you.

Jane

*This is general information and not meant to replace the individualized recommendations or nutrition prescriptions by your health care practitioner.