It is really tough to be determined with our health and eating better is a massive big part of that. The struggle gets even harder when those around us, especially those we live with don’t focus on eating healthy and make us somehow feel “fussy” and difficult or perhaps even just plain “hippy” for wanting to eat better. We feel like we have to constantly “sell” the idea of eating healthy to them and they tend to laugh it off or make light of the need to eat healthy. The thing is, they are able to eat whatever they want and not suffer too many consequences (at the moment), whereas our health is dramatically affected by what we eat.
Here are ways to ensure you are able to stay on track and heal yourself, with the right nutrition to give your body exactly what it needs.
1.Believe it and get serious with it
I know for me, James used to often watch me go through different foods and try different things and be all strict one minute and then next minute, I was eating a slab of chocolate or having ice-cream. Until I became serious about my health and really healing, I wouldn’t really commit myself and he could see it. It has now been months of sticking to my liver diet and he knows I am serious. He also notices on the few occasions when I deviate from it, that I feel it immediately (Christmas was really a good test for this one!) This shows the merit in it all and it makes it all worthwhile for him and me!
2.Ultimately they do want the best for you
Believe it or not, they do want the best for you. They do love you and want you to be better. You just need to prove to them that eating makes a massive difference on how you feel. When you make a commitment to your health and what you eat, you will not notice an improvement immediately. It may take months to really notice things. Once you do feel better, your partner will notice this too. The hardest part is sticking through those initial months and then your partner won’t question your “hippy” eating any longer.
3. Cook things you can both enjoy
Depending on who does the shopping and the cooking, you can make better decisions for both of you. It is easy to add the stuff that he might enjoy to a meal afterwards. James loves his meat and he adds steaks, sausages and all sorts of things to our meals at the end or as an accompaniment. That way, your partner is still getting some great nutrition but can have their meat too!
4.Make your meals tasty
When I read many of the books out there on eating healthy, they just sound nasty. Thing is, if food tastes bad, we are not going to enjoy it, which is not going to help our digestion of these foods anyway! There is a way to cook healthy and nutrition food but it is still incredibly tasty. Grab some of Jamie Oliver’s books or get some vegetarian books that are newly released and you will be amazed at how much one can do with healthy foods! – even just Google some great vegetarian dishes!
5.Educate rather than preach
Eating healthy is often seen as I guess perhaps computers were seen many years ago. Only nerds used computers and figured them out. Eating healthy has that same negative connotation. It is only for people who are sick or have a problem that need to eat healthy. It is a sad way of looking at it. The inevitable fact is, that if more people keep eating junk foods and fried foods they too will become unhealthy. There are amazing shows, DVD’s and books written on the subject. Try Food Inc., Food Matters and various others – check out YouTube and you will be shocked at what you have been eating and what your partner may be eating! Your body’s ability to cope with these foods is commendable!
6. Be determined in yourself
Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, people just don’t understand. They don’t understand your personal pain with Endometriosis and they don’t understand your desire to get better through eating better. I guess this is where you have to be determined in what you want for yourself and make the decision for yourself, regardless of whether that makes you “difficult” or perhaps unpopular. Being “difficult” is way better than being stuck in bed for days with pain – in my opinion anyways! I know for me, being emotional and being in pain often puts more strain on my relationship than being fussy with foods.
7.Do it slowly and progressively
There is no point in coming home one day and announcing that you have decided to do a whole new diet and start a fresh! You are asking for trouble! If your diet has not typically been containing vegetables and fruit and you suddenly decide to eat them all in a complete change over, you are likely to not only fail but feel really terrible. The new diet will be a dread and you won’t enjoy the meals. It is simply that your body is not accustomed to these foods and changing from one day to the next is not going to help that. Add the “good stuff” in slowly and gradually. If it is simply eating an apple a day, to begin with and then gradually adding more fruit or vegetables, that is a great start. By doing things slowly and progressively, your body will adapt and learn to enjoy these foods – not just you but for your partner too. When the body is used to heaps of sugar, fruits just tastes boring. Once you learn to slow down on the sugar content in your diet, you will be amazed at how sweet fruits really are!
Eventually, you will learn to enjoy the taste of these foods more than the stuff that you think is “can’t have” foods. The stuff that you found so hard to resist before will just not hold the same appeal. I know it is hard to believe but hey – try it!
I honestly don’t miss any of the following foods anymore: Meat of any description and I loved my bacon! Chocolate. I know you are going to laugh at this one since I used to eat a slab a day of this stuff. Well, over Christmas I had some cos it was there and all that and wow, I found it waaaayyyy too sweet! Amazing! I actually just didn’t enjoy it.
I know you are probably thinking – weird hippy chick but hey I feel much better for it!
At the end of the day, this is your body and you can determine how you want to treat it. The healing powers within food are amazing and you can truly benefit by really defining what you eat and how you treat your own body. I know this road seems hard when you are at the start of it but at the end of it, it will seem really worthwhile!
This Post Has 3 Comments
I guess it depends on how you see it. To me, when I eat badly my body reacts instantly and I totally regret it so it is not really hard for me to “stick to it”. I just look at pizza and fatty things now and think – yuck! I don’t want that in my body! Ice cream is a whole other story 🙂
This article gives me hope. I’ve cut out most added sugars, and most products that contain them. I’ve also completely cut out coffee, and most caffeine. I thought those would be my biggies, my hard to accomplish ones. But they are not. I don’t really miss the coffee, I just drink orange juice or tea of a morning. I don’t miss the caffeine really either, although I have had some tea with caffeine, so I’m not completely off it yet. But I have slipped up a few times. I tried to switch all at once. Didn’t work. I have cut my bread consumption by at least 75%. I have cut caffeine by at least 50%. I have cut sugar by about 90%. I have cut red meat out almost 100% and Dairy by about 90%. But I have had ice cream once (small cone), and pizza twice (one piece each time, not my normal two), and I had a steak once. When I slip, it makes me think I’ve failed. Now I see that I should maybe be easier on my self, and look at what I have accomplished so far. I just have to keep at it.