There is only one golden rule that you must follow if you are going to eat a Nutrient Rich diet Successfully. This new rule is not common and it might even sound like a marketing tactic at first because it’s everything you might want to hear. But there is a very good reason why this new rule is in place and it’ s because of the driving forces behind the entire dieting industry that keep you stuck trying to stick to a diet program you haven’t transitioned to yet, vs. successfully transitioning to a Nutrient Rich diet style in a way that works for you.
The new rule is this:
You Can Eat Whatever You Want…
Now as you digest that and say to yourself, “there is no way that a Nutrient Rich diet can be that flexible, or something like that“; relish the possibility while you read the second half of the rule to put it in perspective.
You Just Can’t Eat Whatever, and Get the Results You Want!
What’s so powerful about this new rule?
- It acknowledges your capacity to make any choice you really want, and that is freedom.
- It reveals that while you can eat whatever you want, not every choice is going to give you the same results.
- It gives you the option to live with either set of consequences, the ones you want and the one you don’t want and the flexibility to experiment to prove it to yourself.
Having come from a background as a bodybuilder nearly 20 years ago, I was one of the biggest dieters out there, because during competitions we were so particular about what we ate that one slip up was enough to put you emotionally over the edge for the day.
Sound familiar?
I may have looked tough, but I’ll tell you, a bowl of honey nut cheerios which I loved at that time, would have sent me into a world of emotional hell.
Side note:
I believe that modern diet and fitness strategies were largely born of the body building-for-the-masses-wave that swept America for the past 50 years. As if everyone was getting ready for Mr Olympia or Ms Fitness competitions. We’re not, certainly not all year round and our lifestyle’s don’t support it.
Body builder’s and fitness competitors are judged on body fat % in part, so you can imagine, they will do anything to lose bodyfat and including trading in their health by eating predominantly foods “nutrient poor” foods.
This feeling of emotional hell, when you slip up or “fall off the wagon” because you didn’t “stick to your diet” and all the “diet speak” (the language of dieting) that surrounds the idea of following a diet program perfectly without fail, is what keeps people stuck.
You are dieting (trying to rigidly stick to or manipulate what you eat to lose weight or even get healthy) the second you say “I can’t eat that”. Now I don’t mean “I can’t eat that because it will make me sick or not feel good”, I mean “I can’t eat that because it’s not on my program”.
That!, is a major reason why you are unsuccessful in your attempt to change your eating habits, whether it’s eating better or less.
You have to know that you can eat whatever you want, but that you choose to eat Nutrient Rich foods, at least 90% of the time or more.
First, eating less of foods that are nutrient poor and not serving you to begin with is a failing strategy. You can’t expect to eat less “nutrient poor” chocolate chip cookies (there are Nutrient Rich ways to make such a cookie) and expect to be successful. It will never work!
Second, you can only eat less by eating better first. The better you eat, the faster you meet your nutrient needs, the less you will eat because you will not be driven to over consume.
But in this process, the most important concept to know is that you can eat whatever you want, so that you are free to eat what you choose. And psychology demonstrates, that if you know you can eat a certain food, but you also know it’s not serving you or it doesn’t make you feel good, and you are empowered to make that choice, you are far less prone to eat it.
And also keep in mind that there will be times, where you just want to eat a nutrient poor food for some reason and you need to be able to do that, without throwing yourself into a downward spiral.
I remember my friend Howie, once calling me up all our of sorts that he ate a Kit Kat. I said, “Howie, all you did was eat a Kit Kat”, now let’s move on. He was like… that’s it?. Yes, now carrie on with seeking out those foods that you grow to love, just as much, only you look, feel and perform better after you eat them.
Develop your mindset and master the art of making choices. The Golden Rule is the most successful place to start if you want to be psychologically healthy at the same time you start transitioning from nutrient poor to Nutrient Rich!
Get addicted to that!