Nutrition for Life
By Shawn Vint

For the unhealthy and the sedentary, food is merely a convenience and a comfort, often chosen at whim in the supermarket. For the fanatic, food is merely part nutrient, part drug, with taste and convenience afterthoughts to more important matters.

There is a middle road, both healthy and enjoyable, but few are on it. It requires a change of mindset that many will find difficult to make, in a culture dependent on instant gratification. Though many willingly embrace changes and advances in nutrition science, there is less fondness for the old fashioned virtues of discipline, and patience.

If you plan on making better nutrition a lifestyle rather than a series of diets spanning your length of years, discipline and patience are necessities.

The discipline to refrain from a favorite food indulgence, and the patience and foresight to look toward a future goal at the expense of instant gratification, is a good start. The more mundane disciplines hold value as well, such as planning and preparing meals in advance and shopping on a weekly basis so that the fridge is full. There are social implications to healthy living that can add a small portion of awkwardness, if you allow it. Over time, you will learn to simply but firmly say no to the offer of seconds at the evening meal, and most desserts, and alcohol and tobacco if that was a part of the old you. Each time you resist those who would test your mettle and you don’t waver (and sometimes the tempter is yourself), you will add to the armor that you’ll need for the next time.

If discipline is important, so is patience. It can be a frustrating experience as you implement discipline into the formula without the hoped for positive results showing themselves immediately. They will. And by making good nutrition a lifestyle, you end the frustration that exists when you veer continually between dieting-dearth and free-for-all-feeding-frenzy.

Spirals
Life is a series of ups and downs. For the majority, nutrition choices reflect that. When on a good stretch, it’s difficult to imagine falling off the good-nutrition bandwagon ever again. When overweight, sluggish, and eating horribly, it’s difficult to imagine exercising and making smart nutrition choices.

These negative spirals can be stopped, and turned. It is a matter of mindset, mission, and perseverance. Some start with small and manageable baby steps on a road to better nutrition, while others prefer a cold-turkey approach. Neither approach is wrong, but each must be prefaced with determination and drive. If the mindset has not been sufficiently conditioned to believe that you can be happy without a six-pack of beer every night in front of the television, or that the potato chips are a must-have item in the grocery cart, neither baby steps nor cold-turkey methodology will succeed.

An achievable goal and a reason to reach it are the basis from which an upward spiral can begin. I put the last sentence in bold for a reason. Over the years, I’ve witnessed far too many individuals fail in turning good nutrition intentions into a lifestyle because they have lacked both achievable goals and a reason (or several) for reaching it. Many individuals believe that you can ‘logic’ your way to good health, a kind of “I know it’s good for me so of course I can do it” attitude.

Logic alone is not sufficient weaponry against a mind that naturally seeks comfort, food, and rest. Logic must enlist the willpower that a good ‘reason’ brings to the battle, pulling discipline along to persevere when comfort, food, and rest beckon.

One Day at a Time
Like many things we encounter, sometimes we think too much about the future without first taking care of today. Dwelling on a life without ice cream is sure to bring failure, even before the starting gun. Focus instead on the day. There’s a reason the saying is well worn.

There is something to be said as well for living your own version of the old movie, ‘Groundhog Day’. By making consistently right decisions moment by moment, and day by day, a victory of sorts is achieved. The consistency of daily piano practice for the musician brings victory, just as the consistency of good eating brings victory. As you conquer each day and without knowing it, a lifestyle of victory will develop, and the reasons you had in deciding to join the fight will win most of the battles, and most certainly the war.

Shawn Vint, father of two, has been helping people find a path to better wellness for over 25 years as a nutrition and fitness consultant, writer and editor. Directing the team at Greenmaple Wellness Inc. he continues that role, helping individuals reap all they can from an active, faith based lifestyle, and by helping organizations become recognized wellness leaders in the communities they serve.