The 80% Rule for Food

This may go against the beliefs of many fitness "professionals" and maybe against what you believe about what it takes to be healthy, but I believe in a practical, realistic approach when it comes to health. In my opinion, for the regular, hard working American eating "clean" and perfect and only fruits and vegetables from the farmers market and grass fed meat from the local farmer is not realistic 100% of the time. I believe this, because as a person who strives to be healthy, I have fallen into this trap of trying to be perfect and then finding it impossible, many times.

I'm not into making excuses, so please don't think that's what I'm trying to do here. What I'm aiming to help us all achieve is the understanding that you can be healthy and still splurge, eat crap sometimes, get take out sometimes, and still be healthy.

If you have kids or a (more than) full time career or you hate to cook or you don't have time to cook or you are just getting started on healthy eating, let me tell you, healthier choices are better than not healthy choices. If you can make healthy choices say 80% of the time, you will be well on your way to health. The 80% is just a number. It's all about progression. If right now, you make healthy choices 10% of the time and already find that hard, don't try to change to 80% today. That's unrealistic and in most cases it won't last. Instead, aim for 15%, then 20% and so on. Progress slowly and experience the liberation of healthy choices, as you progress...Ahh...

The easiest times (in most cases!) is to eat healthy is at breakfast (when you're home) or at snack time, by packing  healthy snack. As a woman on the go, I find that some days, a healthy breakfast, a healthy snack and an attempt at a healthy dinner are all I've got. Ok. In my opinion, it's better to eat healthy when you have the option too, than to say, "ugh, this day is a waste, I'm just going to eat whatever junk comes my way, because I've already ruined the day." This is a lie we tell ourselves and I encourage you NOT to believe it.  A healthy breakfast doesn't mean you have to sit down, read the paper and cook french toast (for real, it's 2012!), but it does mean that you can grab and go a healthy breakfast or take less than 10-minutes to make an energizing first meal.

While driving through a fast food joint for breakfast can be appealing, it's way healthier and sometimes faster to make your breakfast sammy at home. Try cooking 1-2 eggs on a skillet over medium heat and adding to 2 slices of whole wheat bread, with a slice of cheese or a slice of deli ham. Add an apple and you will get a well balance meal of protein, fiber and sustained energy for your morning ahead! For other breakfast ideas, check out my blackberry coconut smoothie or  my feta and egg breaksfast burrito.

When it comes to exercise, so often we set a goal and try to go from no activity to running a half marathon or lifting a house in one week. I've been guilty many times. Why do we feel like the microwave, short term solution will give us long term results. Have you ever heated up coffee (or anything!) in the microwave. It's hot at first, maybe for 10-minutes, but it cools down quickly. Don't be a microwave product; increase your heat (time, effort, consistency) over time and watch your results fire up!!

So where does the 80% come in?!

As a fitness professional, I keep up to date on different blogs, articles (and comment on those articles), trends, and research updates. I often read comments or blogs that refer to the extremes. My post today was inspired by a comment I read two months ago from a woman who was responding to a social media chain about the childhood obesity epidemic. She said that if schools and parents would just feed the kids 100% vegan diets, the obesity problem would be solved. I was appalled by this. Not because a vegan diet is evil, but because to ask a child to become 100% vegan (or anyone else who has troubles with eating healthy foods regularly) is outlandish. What?! This kind of hit my core and made me realize that we need more people who promote a healthy diet, but not who promote extremes. I like being healthy, but I can't say that I'm ready to change my diet to 100% vegan or inflict it on a child. As a child I ate McDonald's and I drank huge sodas (which I biked to get--does this redeem it?!) I know what it's like to eat food and not know the negative affect on your body, but does that mean we make rules that kids can only eat vegan? Hopefully you agree, of course not.

So, today, I'm telling you that 80% pure healthy and 20% fast food, quick stops, etc. is ok. You can easily control the 80%. Maybe some weeks, its even 98%. You don't have to be perfect or extreme to hit your goals. Everyday or every week make one small change that moves you forward toward a hug future. I empower you to make the healthiest choices you can with your circumstances. Choose fruits, vegetables, beans, lean proteins like chicken and seafood, and healthy fats like olive oil, almonds, and avocados. Don't try to be perfect. Please.. Make a vow to improve. Maybe you add salmon to your dinner menu once a week to start. Maybe you start by making a green smoothie twice a week for breakfast.

Don't give in to information that you read telling you that you must eat a certain way all the time to be healthy. Extremes for food are silly. Limiting food groups is silly (in my opinion). Eat healthy most of the time and allow yourself indulges when you travel or when you're out and about with limited options. You'll be happier, less stressed about food, and more able to focus on issues that really matter.

Happy (and mostly healthy!) eating,
Monica