The Importance of Mindset in Healthy Eating

Laura is going to talk to you about one of the most important things behind healthy eating, if not THE most important thing. It is all about our mindset. Oh yes, our mind has SO much to do with our eating. In fact, it has so much to do with literally everything we do. If we expect to make a change in our lives, or in our health, or in our eating habits, we need to work on our mindset first before we do anything else.

Links Mentioned

New Mama Energy Guide
Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project
2022 Food Planning
The Life Coach School Podcast

Transcript

You’re listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast, episode number 12. I want to talk to you about one of the most important things behind healthy eating, if not the most important thing. I’m talking about our mindset. Mindset in healthy eating. Oh yes, our mind has so much to do with our eating. In fact, our mind has so much to do with literally everything we do. I can’t wait to dive in.

Hey, this is Laura Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New Mama Nation and host of The Love & Lettuce Podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic so they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and does not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your healthcare provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show!

Could you use more energy, mama? I mean, who couldn’t, right? Get my free New Mama Energy Guide, where I’ll give you 10 tips to increase your energy stat. Go to bit.ly/newmamas to get your free copy. 

Mindset in Healthy Eating

If we expect to make a change in our lives, or in our health, or in our eating habits, without taking our mind and mindset into consideration, we are not destined for great success, that’s for sure. That’s just a fact. We need to work on our mindset first, before we do anything else.

Now let’s talk about why that’s important. Just why is our mindset important in life? Well, first of all, you have the power to dictate how your day will go by choosing the things your mind focuses on; by choosing your thoughts. And yes, you have the power to choose your thoughts. More on that later.

The other thing is, when you have the right mindset, you are way more likely to choose healthy foods and lifestyle choices, and it becomes way easier to do. So just think about how different your day can go based on how you’re feeling on any given day. And those feelings are based on the thoughts you’re having that morning, which, remember, are your choice, even though it may not feel like it. And think about the thoughts you’re choosing to focus on when you’re feeling particularly negative one day, and notice that you’re focusing on, well, a bunch of negative, stressful thoughts.

How does your day go? What food choices do you make? Not usually very good ones, right? And even if you attempt to make healthier choices, it is way harder on those days where you’re just feeling negative and crappy.

On the other hand, though, think about a day when you just felt amazing. Those thoughts in your head were primarily positive ones, and it made you feel fantastic. How were your food choices then? Pretty awesome, right? It’s a lot easier to choose healthy foods when you’re having a positive day, you’re feeling great and your thoughts are pretty good, pretty positive overall.

Our mindset is everything. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, and others, says, “By acting as if you feel a certain way, you induce that emotion in yourself.” So this means, act the way you want to feel. You want to feel happy or motivated or on fire, like you’re having an amazing day, where you are just killing it, act as if. Act like that is already your reality, and then those emotions will be induced to make it your reality.

Mindset in Healthy Eating is Everything.

Brooke Castillo (love her), Master Coach Instructor and founder of The Life Coach School, created what’s called the Self Coaching Model. The premise is that our thoughts produce our feelings, which dictate our actions, which then create our results. That’s it right there. Our thoughts produce our feelings, which dictate our actions, which then create our results. And as Brooke says, our circumstances are the only thing out of our control. We can’t control the external things, the circumstances, around us, but we can control our thoughts about them. Those are completely in our control. And that is the best thing I could ever think of, really.

I mean, think about it! It doesn’t matter what’s going on around us; that’s irrelevant. The only thing that matters is our own thoughts, since they are what control our feelings. Pretty profound, right? At least I think so.

So how do we go about changing our mindset in healthy eating?

The first thing is to almost force it out; first, act as if, right? Say the words: It’s a beautiful day. I’m excited to ‘blank’ (get the kids ready for school, make my breakfast, etc.). I love ‘blank’ (cooking, I love choosing healthy foods for my body), and so on.

Celebrate your wins and how you feel about them.

Like: I usually leave all the dishes for the morning, but I just did them all tonight. And I feel fantastic! I got up early this morning, and I had one hour to myself before the kids woke up. Living the dream. (I mean, seriously, right?) When I eat healthy foods, I feel so good and proud that I’m giving my body the fuel it needs. I ate the best lunch today. And I feel energized and ready to take on the rest of the day. My mind is clear and focused, and I’m motivated to continue eating healthily.

Make a plan and stick with it.

The very act of sticking to the plan you’ve made feels so good. It helps you foster a positive mindset so that everything else, including choosing healthy foods, is easier and way more likely to happen. So maybe your plan is to get up half an hour, one hour before the kids wake up. That’s a great plan. Honestly, you have time in your morning for whatever you want to do. I usually use that time to work, but you might use that time to just sit and read a book. How amazing would that be?

Eat breakfast on your own, without having to get up and go to the fridge every two minutes to get something else for the kids, am I right? Maybe it’s doing yoga, maybe it’s doing a five minute meditation, whatever it is for you… having that time in the morning is, for me, unbeatable.

So maybe that’s your plan.

Maybe your plan is to have eight cups of water a day. Right now you hover around four or five cups a day, and you know you could do more, so your plan is eight cups a day. That’s an amazing plan. Decide that, make that plan, and stick to it. That feels so good for our mindset, and that helps us continue that plan. It makes it easier and easier to continue that plan ongoing for a long time, forever if you want to.

Maybe your plan is to eat breakfast, because you often skip out, and then you find yourself craving all day long. So that’s a great plan. Maybe your plan is to have all three meals a day, maybe your plan is not to snack anymore. So whatever your plan is, make it, decide that is my plan, and then stick to it.

And finally, really think about your thoughts. In my opinion, this is the most important part of today’s episode. Remember that you can decide what your thoughts are. You have complete control over them. No matter how your day is going. No matter the external circumstances in your life, you get to decide your thoughts. And those, in turn, produce your feelings, which then dictate your actions, like eating healthy foods, for example, which then creates your results, like having more energy, a more stable mood, a more focused and clear mind and simply feeling amazing.

Isn’t it awesome that all of these are up to us?

It’s so freeing because it means that we don’t have to wait for our circumstances to change before we make a change in our lives, before we feel better and do better. We can choose to start eating healthier, literally at our next meal; that’s our choice. And starting from our thoughts and working to influence those for the better is what will help us get there and stay there.

I hope you’ve seen how important our mindset is in not only healthy eating, but literally every part of our lives. And I hope it’s given you something to think about, something to look more into, perhaps. If this is the kind of thing you love to learn about, all about our mind and the fact that we can control it, basically, then I highly encourage you to go check out Brooke Castillo’s podcast called The Life Coach School Podcast. I’ve gotten so much rate and interesting info there. So be sure to check it out if you love this kind of stuff, too.

Alright, have a fantastic day today. Don’t forget you are in control of that. And I will talk to you soon. Bye!

And don’t forget to get your free copy of my New Mama Energy Guide. Just go to bit.ly/newmamas for instant access. Thanks for listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast. To find out how to work with me and for more great info, check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura! Until next time, love and lettuce.