Finding Organic Solutions For a Healthy Lifestyle

You may be considering the often challenging transition from a standard American diet to a healthy organic or vegetarian diet. For some people, lifestyle changes will naturally arise from a reasoned decision to develop a healthy lifestyle. Your transition may come from experiencing health conditions that may be improved by dietary and lifestyle changes. You may be trying to lose weight or improve the overall health of your family.

Choosing to eat differently can elicit many challenging thoughts and feelings, which do not initially support the changes you are making. Making an unrealistic plan for change is a common way to ensure that habitual patterns remain stuck. Here is a transition plan destined to sabotage your beginning efforts!

If your normal diet includes fast food several times a week, as well as red meat, potatoes, and apple cobbler, then decide to eat no fast food, no meat, and no dessert. This decision will put you into an immediate mind-state of deprivation and your resolve will last about a day. In addition, the food choices you will make with a sudden change will be haphazard and confused.

The next step in our unworkable plan is to go to your regular grocery store to try to purchase organic and healthy foods. You may find a "health foods" section with odd foods that you don't recognize and a few bins with produce that appears more wilted, less colorful and less shiny. The choices will be more expensive and look less inviting.

As an alternative, to create actual success in a lifestyle transition, here are some ideas. First, write down your three key reasons for wanting to change the way you eat and the way you live. Write down the three most important losses or negative feelings you imagine experiencing when you change how you eat.

Take the time to notice and feel your discomfort at changing your life habits. It can be difficult to make life changes, even if you actually choose the path yourself. Giving a little room to the negative feelings will let you leave them behind more quickly. With no room, they will work hard to sabotage your efforts. At the same time, revisit your positive reasons for change several times a day.

Visit a natural foods grocery store locally or online. Take a look at the foods that are similar to what you are used to. Notice the variety and the range of choices available. Buy some organic fruit and try a taste test. Stop fast food, week one and keep it up. Choose organic meat or poultry if available. In the second week, substitute fish or vegetarian choices. Make the change to organic for one meal a day for the first three weeks. Cook something out of the ordinary, that you can imagine enjoying.

Find new foods that you find unusual and exciting. Interesting food selections could include gomasio (a seasoning made of roasted sesame seeds ground with sea salt), cinnamon raisin mochi (a delightful rice product in the cold foods case, that puffs up when baked), and baked organic apple, with cinnamon, served with vanilla soy ice cream.

Visit a local farmer's market every week. Choose healthy versions of frozen or prepared foods when life is too busy for cooking. Look for sales and coupons online. Gather information and buy a new cookbook.

Notice how you actually feel every day that you are eating in this new way. The best reinforcer for any change in lifestyle is the intrinsic reward of feeling better. Take credit for designing a lifestyle change and implementing it in a way that works for you. The path to success in lifestyle change is gradual, gentle, sustainable and easy.

Copyright © 2007 Annie Meyer. All rights reserved.