Add these things to your diet ASAP!

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What if, when you started your diet, you were given a list of foods that said “eat more of these?” Wait, what? “I get to eat more food?”

Have you ever gone a diet that listed out all the things you need to cut out to be successful?  And they just happen to be all of your favorite things?  You pull out the will power card, put on your big boy/girl pants and start it anyways.  You do better with rules anyways, right?

Depending on how much weight you have to lose your will power might just last long enough to get to your goal weight.  You even have a better chance of success if there are no birthdays, no anniversaries and no eating out.  Congratulations!  You made your goal, now what?  How do you add the foods back in and not gain weight back?  How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays?  How do you enjoy a beer or a latte?  You don’t.  Or, you gain the weight back.  

What if, on a different planet of course, when you started your diet, you were given a list of foods that said eat more of these?  Wait, what?  “I get to eat more food?”  It would feel awkward because you’ve never done it that way, but wouldn’t it feel better?  This method of helping someone overhaul their diet is a positive and encouraging way to increase the healthy foods that you already like to eat that make you feel full and satisfied and will generally displace some of the non-nutrient dense foods and habits.  

Are you ready for the list?

Fruit and Vegetables:

  • Add fruit to yogurt, smoothies or cereal

  • Add vegetables to casseroles, pasta or stir fry dishes

  • Add and extra vegetable to your sandwich or wrap

  • Snack on fruit with nut butter or yogurt

  • Snack on sliced veggies with hummus, guacamole or salsa

Healthy Fats:

  • Add chopped nuts to oatmeal or cereal

  • Top salads with slivered almonds or chopped walnuts/pecans

  • Snack on fruit with nut butter

  • Add vegetables with hummus to your favorite sandwich or wrap

  • Add nut butter to smoothies

Add herbs:

  • Season chicken, fish or shrimp with pesto

  • Use herbs, like mint or basil, to flavor your water

  • Substitute some of the greens in your salad with parsley, dill or basil

  • Mix herbs into pasta or potato salad

  • Use black pepper, paprika and rosemary to roast your favorite vegetables

Try it.  It’s certainly not going to hurt you to add these foods in.  The worst-case scenario is your diet quality improves tremendously and nothing happens to your weight.  The best-case scenario is you feel more full and satisfied, you crave and snack less and that results in weight loss without the rules and misery.

Weight ManagementBethany Villarreal