Building A Health Foundation Is More Effective Than Endless Dieting

You want to know the true key to changing your health and making it last? Go slow and take the time to build a solid foundation able to withstand anything life throws at you.

If you're truly committed to making changes to improve your health then run- don't walk away from "diets" or the latest trend that eliminates an entire group of macros (protein, fat or carbs), or workouts that expect you to jump into performing high intensity exercises without first building the stamina for it.

A forced get-through-it with-gritted-teeth-all-the-while-miserable restricted approach to improving your health is unrealistic, unsustainable, and will inevitably fail. 

The thing is, most people jump into the latest trend because they see how others have achieved great results, and I don't blame them. I've done it, and a few times if I'm honest, until I finally got it right by shutting out the noise, and started learning what I needed to become healthier and heal.

If doing something that has helped so many others looks promising, it makes sense that you would give it a go. But, the truth is, although those results may have happened for them, it may not work for you. Why? Because we all have a different genetic make up, unique DNA, and have lived different lifestyles with varying exposure to environmental toxins through food, products and locations.

When it comes to the latest and greatest diet it's all wonderful until it isn’t. It's all great until it's unrealistic. It's all working until life throws you a curve ball and it all goes out the window. Because one thing in our lives is guaranteed: you will be faced with challenges, problems, stressors, and events that make a rigid restrictive diet nearly impossible to follow.

Like this entire fricken year. Am I right?

This blog is a pivotal one because you're going to see how building a foundation - your foundation -  that includes YOUR needs, lifestyle, unique barriers/triggers, body type and environmental exposure, is the key to lasting change, which is part of Pillar 2 of the M|body Method. What most frustrated searchers do is put their trust in the latest diet trend that they've seen work for others that typically involves restricting entire groups of foods, limiting substantial calories, or performing workouts their bodies aren't ready for.

The result is feeling deprived, stuck, overwhelmed, frustrated, hopeless, and bound to inflexible rules that in the end are unrealistic to follow in the real world where life is messy. Food becomes the enemy, your body becomes the enemy, and you're more likely to give into temptation or binge eat, choose to not exercise because just the thought of it feels daunting, and give up altogether because you feel so defeated. But today I'll share a way that is an individualized approach based in reality that will fix all of that so you can stop the frustrating search and grow with intention into the healthiest version of yourself.

My method lays out an approach that is based on the idea that in order to attain health that lasts, is flexible, and can sustain the ebbs and flows of life, it has to be built on a solid foundation. Think building, as in the structure. As it is with a building in an earthquake zone that's engineered to withstand the quake and the wave of after shocks, it's the same with your body. Your body is the building that you are engineering to be healthier and withstand some quakes. One that you have built brick by brick, slowly and deliberately, with intention.

In my method I get into detail about how to get real when it comes to how to build a lasting foundation for living a healthy lifestyle and how to sustain the health changes you’ve worked so hard to achieve with ways to face the challenges of life with adaptable strategies.

So lets get into it-

How To Build A Sustainable Foundation Of Health

First: You have to take a look at your mindset. What are your beliefs about health? Where do they come from? This is an important piece because in order to begin laying the foundation you have to excavate your current views on how overall health and well being are attained and be open to changing them.

Two: What are your triggers and possible barriers? Taking a hard look at what your particular mine fields are as you navigate your path is critical. When you know what they are and get really honest about what can catch you up, you increase your awareness of them and are better able to come up with strategies that help you navigate them.

Three: Are you willing to really get honest about the state of your health, take it seriously and do what needs to be done? If the answer is no, then you're not ready. It's that simple, and that's ok. But you have to be willing to take responsibility for the state of things, to fully own it. Because if you don't you'll make it about others who you view as responsible for "fixing" you, when it's simply going back to the drawing board, evaluating what's not working, and taking the necessary steps to changing things one step at a time. Embrace becoming the expert on your health and empower yourself by taking responsibility for it. 

Four: you have to evaluate your current lifestyle, health concerns, and then prioritize. I cannot say this enough. You cannot do it ALL - all at once. No one can. If you're serious about taking the first step, then you have to evaluate where you are, really know your *why* that inspires you to make a change, and then start with one thing to dig into and integrate moving you toward your goal. You cannot fix everything all at once. It's too overwhelming and you’re more likely to give up. So ask yourself what is the number one thing I need to change? Start there. 

Here are just a few examples: eliminating or reducing the amount of sugar you eat, eliminating soda and switching to water, begin walking 30 minutes each day, starting to pay more attention to food labels, switching to using healthier cooking oils, cutting out fast food, experimenting with cooking at home more often, adding in a vegetable to every meal, or going without gluten for a few weeks to see how you feel. 

If reading that list made you feel overwhelmed, well........ that's my point- don' t do all of them at once. Just do one. Because trying to take on all of those examples when you've never done them before is a set up for failure .

Five: Then after a while add another, then another. The key is to integrate one new change into your current lifestyle, become accustomed to it, try it on, see how it feels emotionally and physically. Allow yourself the time to gain confidence so you'll be more likely to not only continue doing it, but you'll be inspired to add another. Not only that, keep in mind, just one small change can have a HUGE impact. This feedback is also incredibly motivating to keep going.

Integrate each step slowly one at a time and allow yourself the time to allow it to become a habit. There is no contest here. Remember, you're not competing against anyone but yourself. You’re most likely learning to do things you’ve never done before and it takes time to adapt, integrate and create.

So to recap, you start to build your foundation in these steps:

1. What are your beliefs about what health is?
2. What are your possible triggers/barriers?
3. Take responsibility for the current state of your health.
4. Prioritize - what is most important for your current health?
5. Try one thing, repeat it and integrate it

If you take it slow, come into making changes with realistic expectations, be forgiving and patient with yourself, allow room for trial and error, and make changes specifically aligned with your goals and current health needs, you'll make progress. And it will be on your terms, at your own pace, integrated into your lifestyle.

If you’re someone who’s already tried a million diets, trends, fads (no judgment here), but end up right back where you started, then you already understand that jumping in doesn’t work. If you’re serious about making LASTING change, then that means you already know investing in yourself is required. If you’re not going to fail like 90% of the others who try fads then you know you need something that is going to take your life and unique needs into consideration and teach you how to be your specific healthy, not someone else.

If you want a glimpse into my method and three powerful ways to get you started, then download the free handbook here.

xo