Day 6: When and Where to Start
Have you ever heard of the phrase Paralysis by Analysis?
Sometimes we overthink things and, in the process, fail to implement our plans. So today is Day 6, and it’s time to begin. These past days, we’ve been mulling and pondering over past victories and mistakes. We’ve seen patterns. And now we start to see a roadmap for better health. When do we begin?
I say today.
Today, let us set our spirits free and allow our inner selves to take hold of our bodies. If our bodies have been dragging us to the road of laziness, procrastination, excuses, and inconsistencies, today, we take hold of ourselves and commit.
Today, we commit to a healthier lifestyle. Today, we pin a photo of our ideal perfect selves. Yes, do it. It can be your photo when you were 20 years younger or 20 lbs. lighter (if applicable).
Today, we write our vision and mission, and goals. Something as simple as these examples will help:
Today, we say, “the old me is gone, the new has come.” Today we rely on the power of the divine within us, the one that has called us to an abundant life—to live our true, beautiful, good, and noble existence.
Today we commit to our healthy, happy, and holy (whole) destiny.
Let’s begin today.
We are about to embark on a food journey. Hopefully, by the end of this forty-day adventure, you will have a sustainable Food Rx that you can live with and love.
Sometimes we overthink things and, in the process, fail to implement our plans. So today is Day 6, and it’s time to begin. These past days, we’ve been mulling and pondering over past victories and mistakes. We’ve seen patterns. And now we start to see a roadmap for better health. When do we begin?
I say today.
Today, let us set our spirits free and allow our inner selves to take hold of our bodies. If our bodies have been dragging us to the road of laziness, procrastination, excuses, and inconsistencies, today, we take hold of ourselves and commit.
Today, we commit to a healthier lifestyle. Today, we pin a photo of our ideal perfect selves. Yes, do it. It can be your photo when you were 20 years younger or 20 lbs. lighter (if applicable).
Today, we write our vision and mission, and goals. Something as simple as these examples will help:
- Vision: Happy, healthy, holy me or fit and thriving at (specify your age)
- Mission: To pursue an eating lifestyle that will improve the quality of my well-being
- Goals:
- To assess my current eating pattern using the Mediterranean Diet scoring checklist
- To increase my score by 2 points in 6 weeks
- To monitor my health parameters regularly (daily or weekly)
Today, we say, “the old me is gone, the new has come.” Today we rely on the power of the divine within us, the one that has called us to an abundant life—to live our true, beautiful, good, and noble existence.
Today we commit to our healthy, happy, and holy (whole) destiny.
Let’s begin today.
We are about to embark on a food journey. Hopefully, by the end of this forty-day adventure, you will have a sustainable Food Rx that you can live with and love.
Where to begin?
Maria von Trappe from the movie, The Sound of Music would sing, “When we read, we begin with ABC. When we sing, we begin with Do-re-mi.” Now, where do we begin when it comes to our customized Food Rx?
We begin with our basics—our macronutrients, the primary food groups our body would rely on to thrive and survive.
We’ll review the building blocks of nutrition, and I’ll share a diet that does not tell you what NOT to eat but WHAT to eat.
The Mediterranean Style of Eating.
You may have heard about the Mediterranean Diet, a classical diet that has stood the test of time. I’d call it the mother of all diets. If you can’t stick to this most basic diet, it will be tough to stick to the more challenging ones skewed to be low in fat or carbohydrate or high in fat or protein or whatever. Heaven knows the highs and lows have brought so much confusion to so many people.
In Culinary Medicine, we advocate for a sustainable diet that you can marry for the rest of your life. Some diets are just flings. Some are a joke. Some can’t sustain us for the long haul. Our bodies need something consistently reliable to provide the best nutrition as we age. As we learn the basics of the Mediterranean pattern of eating, re-visit the principles, and correct false notions, we can slowly build a customized diet fit for our health conditions.
We can start creating our personal Food Rx based on the pain points we’ve identified. If we have diabetes in our genes, we may be more sensitive to sugar and carbohydrates. If our family has a history of cardiovascular diseases, we may be more at risk for adverse events from eating saturated fats. If our family history is positive for cancer, we may rethink eating protein in the form of charred red meat. We’ll have more on these details later in our food journey. For now, we scrutinize what the Mediterranean diet is all about.
A tool we use is the Med Diet Scoring System.
You can download the pdf version here: https://www.inspiredcopywriting.com/foodrxchecklist.html
As I mentioned, we don’t tell you what foods to avoid, but rather, what foods to eat. Whenever you eat one of these foods in the correct serving and frequency, you score a point. If you fail, then you don’t get a point. I’ve added a bonus point at the end of the list for good measure.
Studies have shown that just by scoring 2 points over your baseline (current) score, you will decrease your risks for chronic diseases and their consequences by 25%.
Take a look at the list. Assess your current diet. How did you fare? Give yourself a score. This will be your baseline. As we go through this food journey, aim to improve this score by at least 2 points.
In the next few days, we shall look at each category. We’ll identify ways to increase our score, find foods to substitute those junks that we feed our poor bodies, and enumerate tips to make it easy to adhere to this diet. And this is where we begin.
Do a 24-hour food recall and assess your score yesterday.
For today, continue to assess your score based on your routine food intake.
Do the same tomorrow.
Obtain your average score and from here you will know why your health is faring well or poorly.
In my opinion:
A score of 0-3 needs a lot of improvement. You are seriously sabotaging yourself.
A score of 4-7 can benefit from more food insight. A tweak here and there can jumpstart you to the right path.
A score of 8-10 is the way to go. Maintain this for the long haul and your quality of life will improve.
Again, download the Mediterranean Diet Scoring Cheat Sheet here and print a copy.
https://www.inspiredcopywriting.com/foodrxchecklist.html
Insert it in a plastic folder or laminate it. Use an erasable pen to monitor your daily progress. Or print as many copies as you want and secure in a binder along with your notes from these last 10 days.
You can also fill out the Google form to obtain your Med Diet score:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_mKw_m0Raia2CwR_GZHqPIHfD58pGrvP_LMtgr7KgmCysbg/viewform
Maria von Trappe from the movie, The Sound of Music would sing, “When we read, we begin with ABC. When we sing, we begin with Do-re-mi.” Now, where do we begin when it comes to our customized Food Rx?
We begin with our basics—our macronutrients, the primary food groups our body would rely on to thrive and survive.
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Fats
We’ll review the building blocks of nutrition, and I’ll share a diet that does not tell you what NOT to eat but WHAT to eat.
The Mediterranean Style of Eating.
You may have heard about the Mediterranean Diet, a classical diet that has stood the test of time. I’d call it the mother of all diets. If you can’t stick to this most basic diet, it will be tough to stick to the more challenging ones skewed to be low in fat or carbohydrate or high in fat or protein or whatever. Heaven knows the highs and lows have brought so much confusion to so many people.
In Culinary Medicine, we advocate for a sustainable diet that you can marry for the rest of your life. Some diets are just flings. Some are a joke. Some can’t sustain us for the long haul. Our bodies need something consistently reliable to provide the best nutrition as we age. As we learn the basics of the Mediterranean pattern of eating, re-visit the principles, and correct false notions, we can slowly build a customized diet fit for our health conditions.
We can start creating our personal Food Rx based on the pain points we’ve identified. If we have diabetes in our genes, we may be more sensitive to sugar and carbohydrates. If our family has a history of cardiovascular diseases, we may be more at risk for adverse events from eating saturated fats. If our family history is positive for cancer, we may rethink eating protein in the form of charred red meat. We’ll have more on these details later in our food journey. For now, we scrutinize what the Mediterranean diet is all about.
A tool we use is the Med Diet Scoring System.
You can download the pdf version here: https://www.inspiredcopywriting.com/foodrxchecklist.html
As I mentioned, we don’t tell you what foods to avoid, but rather, what foods to eat. Whenever you eat one of these foods in the correct serving and frequency, you score a point. If you fail, then you don’t get a point. I’ve added a bonus point at the end of the list for good measure.
Studies have shown that just by scoring 2 points over your baseline (current) score, you will decrease your risks for chronic diseases and their consequences by 25%.
Take a look at the list. Assess your current diet. How did you fare? Give yourself a score. This will be your baseline. As we go through this food journey, aim to improve this score by at least 2 points.
In the next few days, we shall look at each category. We’ll identify ways to increase our score, find foods to substitute those junks that we feed our poor bodies, and enumerate tips to make it easy to adhere to this diet. And this is where we begin.
Do a 24-hour food recall and assess your score yesterday.
For today, continue to assess your score based on your routine food intake.
Do the same tomorrow.
Obtain your average score and from here you will know why your health is faring well or poorly.
In my opinion:
A score of 0-3 needs a lot of improvement. You are seriously sabotaging yourself.
A score of 4-7 can benefit from more food insight. A tweak here and there can jumpstart you to the right path.
A score of 8-10 is the way to go. Maintain this for the long haul and your quality of life will improve.
Again, download the Mediterranean Diet Scoring Cheat Sheet here and print a copy.
https://www.inspiredcopywriting.com/foodrxchecklist.html
Insert it in a plastic folder or laminate it. Use an erasable pen to monitor your daily progress. Or print as many copies as you want and secure in a binder along with your notes from these last 10 days.
You can also fill out the Google form to obtain your Med Diet score:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_mKw_m0Raia2CwR_GZHqPIHfD58pGrvP_LMtgr7KgmCysbg/viewform
Watch my Culinary Medicine Food Rx video again and get some ideas.