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7 Ways to Unclutter Your Life to Lose Weight and Eat Healthier

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on January 15, 2017

7 Ways to Unclutter your Life to Lose Weight and Eat Healthier

All of us are experiencing the beginning of a new year and the demands that this takes. For some, this means taking down the decorations, throwing away wrapping paper and dusting away the remnants of another holiday season.

Many people are holding on to the magical moments of Santa with our children and grandchildren. And watching them open up presents with delight and glee. Others are more melancholy thinking about time spent with special people who might not be with us at next year’s celebrations.

But one thing is clear, starting a new year is not easy or effortless. Many of us have made our New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier or lose weight. Some have resolved to exercise more. But despite our sincere intentions our busy lifestyle makes our lives feel cluttered and out of control.

To eat healthier and lose weight, we need to think of ways to manage our busy lives more productively. It is not necessary to go on low carbohydrate, low gluten, or fat free diets. It is necessary to look at our lives and figure out how to balance our time more effectively and think through how to fit eating healthier into daily plans.

The first step is to make small, steady changes so that they will stick. The rule of thumb is if a change lasts over three weeks it is more likely that it will stick.

So let’s look at 7 Ways to Unclutter Your Lifestyle to Get Healthier

1. Look at your physician’s recommendations for dietary changes you need for
better health. Is your cholesterol, blood pressure, or blood sugars elevated? Is your physician concerned about your weight, bone health or gastrointestinal issues?

2. Ask your physician for the name of a registered dietitian to guide you towards a healthier eating plan. This will allow you to work with “ a nutrition expert” to come up with a reasonable plan that you can follow.

3. Keep a diet diary daily of everything that you are eating. People who keep diet records are more likely to successfully follow their plan.

4. Plan out your meals for a week. Make an attempt to restrict your eating out, if possible, and plan for more bag meals if you need to eat away from home. Plan your meals out weekly for 3 more weeks so you have a template to use throughout each month. This will save you time each week. You can then make seasonal changes with new foods available and use foods that are on sale weekly.

5. Use a shopping list that you can use weekly. Changes can be made weekly, but most of us find that we are eating many of the same foods throughout the month.
Shopping without a list causes haphazard shopping, running out of necessary items and selecting unhealthy foods.

6.Watch your snacking and plan snacks 100-200 calories each dependent on your individual needs. Buy snacks in pre-portioned sizes if restricting portions is a problem.

7. Start out exercising at least 3 times weekly. Find easy ways to incorporate up to 3 hours of exercise weekly as you begin to make daily schedule changes.

Remember that eating healthy and exercising take planning and commitment. But it does not happen overnight.

One thing you might consider is getting a copy of Too Busy to Diet. It is available at Amazon.com in Kindle or paperback form.

It is full of diet plans, meal plans, snack ideas, and quick and easy ways to make meals at home. It also guides you to eating healthier when eating out. One important thing to remember is that Too Busy to Diet has a special where you save $6 if you buy both the paperback and Kindle books together. So, you can buy one for a friend or family member and save the other copy for yourself.

Too Busy to Diet is  a quick and easy to manage information. Because if your life were not so overscheduled you would have more time to pick up a book and read it cover to cover. But Too Busy to Diet can be read in free moments. You decide what questions and issues you need help with and go to the chapter that answers these issues with easy solutions.

Jacqueline King, MS, RDN, CDE, FADA
Author: Too Busy to Diet