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One Simple Change

South Beach Diet. Atkins. The Master Cleanse. NutriSystem. Weight Watchers. Whole 30.

They all have something in common. They are all temporary.

Not a single one of these was meant to be a long-term fix for your health. I've never met anyone who has followed any of these diets for more than a week, a month, or maybe a couple of years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you feel good while they're doing it (minus the Master Cleanse - don't do that to yourself). However, as soon as it's over, your "old ways" creep back in and at that point, you not only feel all your old symptoms coming back, you can add "defeated" and "frustrated" to the list next to headaches, gas/bloating, allergies, weight gain, low energy, and irritable.

When did diets become the answer? When did we lose our ability to eat for nourishment while enjoying the process of actually preparing the food and consuming it? When did we decide that eating food had to be such a difficult task?

If you've ever decided that you want to have a healthier lifestyle, I bet one of the first things that happened was that you went to Google or Pinterest for ideas and quickly realized you didn't know where to begin. I see a lot of people start with food, which is great, but what happens there is people get overwhelmed with all the suggestions, recipes, and ingredients to incorporate for their new and improved lifestyle. If it's overwhelming, I promise 0% of anything will happen or change.

Our defense mechanism in situations where we feel overwhelmed goes something like this: I AM PUMPED! Let's do this! It's time to get my butt in gear. (We google it, search Pinterest, and then...) It's too much. Where do I begin? I can't. I'll probably fail. I choose not to even attempt.

I get it! I found out I had a severe gluten allergy in my late 20s, and I swear, y'all...it was like someone told me I had to figure out how to get to Mars without NASA's help. I saw food in a whole new light, and I felt like everything had wheat in it. Like someone had gone through the grocery store and sprinkled wheat dust on every single food just to see me cry out of frustration. Luckily, I had good friends who knew what they were doing, and I am pretty good at adapting to change.

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The biggest lesson I learned was ONE SIMPLE CHANGE at a time. Get to know that change, so you can decide if you love it or hate it. If you love it, make it a habit, and if you hate it, throw it in the (metaphorical or literal) trash. It's okay to hate something. I hate chia pudding. I won't eat it. Stop talking about how good it is. It has the same consistency as boogers. There are other things that I can eat for fiber, protein, and Omega-3 fatty acids. With that said, this chocolate chia pudding actually looks kind of good (and the other chia recipes this girl has make me want to try a few this weekend)!

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See how that works?

When you find one simple change that you like and it becomes a habit (i.e., your new normal), you have now set a new foundation from which to begin a new health goal.

Maybe you used to drink diet sodas and energy drinks to make it through the day. Now...you replace a soda with LIVE Kombucha, and you replace an energy drink with a 12 oz glass of water with lemon which adds flavor, cleanses your body, and gives you natural energy.

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Maybe you used to scarf down your meal in (literally) 5 minutes. Now...you look at all the colors of your meal, take a few deep breaths, and pay attention to your chewing and how your food tastes, which extends it to a 10-15 minute meal.

Maybe your old habit was to look at the nutrition label to see how many calories or fat grams there were per serving. Now...you only look at the ingredients to see how many there are and if you can pronounce them.

Maybe you ask your significant other (or your neighbor) to do a 15-minute post-dinner walk once a week.

It's not about changing several things at once. It's not about making huge changes. It's about simple change that becomes HABIT CHANGE. It's about finding things that are going to be long-term goodness for your body, mind, and spirit.

It shouldn't be frustrating, it should be fun. I hope you can find one thing to experiment with this week. Change one thing to better your health in some way. Do it every day for the next 7 days, figure out how you feel, and then decide if you want it to become your new normal.

I want to hear all about it too! Go to my Facebook page and leave a comment telling me what you tried and how it turned out! Here's to your one simple change - cheers!