10 Ways To UnDiet Your Life Right Now

It’s too easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty details of how to live healthy. We overthink the water we drink, the best time of day is to exercise, or how we can eat the most food, while getting the fewest calories.

Here’s the thing: this doesn't work. This approach to health has never worked, and if it did, we’d all be throwing our calorie calculators to the wind and living life in perfectly awesome, vibrant health.

The answer, however, is simple. Really simple: UnDiet.

To UnDiet is to break the rules of conventional nutrition, understand that calories don’t count, that an eye cream will not solve all our problems, and just start simplifying the whole shebang.

Here are 10 simple strategies to UnDiet Your Life right now.

1. Drink lots of water. 

We often miss this easiest of steps. Adequate hydration is vital to maintain steady energy levels, promote healthy digestion, regulate blood pressure and cholesterol levels, boost immune function, reduce inflammation and make us healthy self-lubricating women. Drink water. Lots of it. Now.

2. Eat real food for 1 day (to start). 

Challenge yourself to eat only 100% whole, real, unprocessed food that you made in your own kitchen. This will increase your nutrient intake and your awareness of what you're eating, and how it makes you feel. Time to tune in!

3. Eat at a table intended for dining. 

Commit to only eating at a dining table. This means no snacking in the car, no lunch at your desk and no dinner in front of the evening news. When we are stressed, our digestive processes shut down. The brain doesn’t distinguish between the stress in our minds, and real danger. Most of us, most of the time, are not being chased by a bear, but our stress hormones while driving or watching the news tell a different story.

4. Fill you plate just once, enjoy what’s on that plate, and then move on. 

So many of our health problems are due to overeating. We’re getting more carbs, fats, and proteins than we need. Fill you plate just once, enjoy what’s on that plate, and then move on. If you follow step number 2 above- this will be crazy easy as with real food you made yourself, your meal will be packed with nutrition. Your cells will be fueled by so much nutrients that post-meal snacking will be decreased and you’ll feel satiated on a cellular level. Can you rock that?

5. Stop counting calories. 

Calories don’t count, and counting them never made anyone healthy. A calorie count is not a measure of health. In the UnDiet lifestyle, we focus on getting the most nutrition for every bite and then you can toss that math equation off your plate.

6. Shake, shake, shake that booty. 

We have to move and shake our bods every single day but you don’t have to set aside 90 minutes for a high intensity gym workout. Make it easy by either finding an activity you love so much that you want to do it everyday, or commit to a few booty shaking actions whether it be a 20 minute walk, 5 sun salutations, a dance to three songs of your choosing or sign up for a tap class. Find what makes you feel good and then get your bump and grind on. This will up our metabolic rate so you’ll better use the fuel from the foods you eat.

7. So long, toxic beauty!

Those creams and lotions laced with gold are doing more harm to your skin than good. What we put on our skin, will end up in the cells of our body so if we wouldn’t eat it, we shouldn’t be slathering it on our face, in our arm pits, or brushing our teeth with it.

8. Focus on the exhale. 

We think we need to work hard and feel the pain to gain reward. This isn’t working for us too well. In order to get the benefit of all our hard work, we have to start being present for the rewards. Take five minutes everyday and just focus on your exhales. Then maybe work your way up to ten or twenty minutes. Stillness is a practice. Practice it, for this is where the magic pours into our lives.

9. Love what you do and do it with love. 

Some days are not the most fun ever. That’s okay. The key here is to find the goodness. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow and in seeing the world this way, even the storm cloud moments have their rainbows. It’s our attitude that will change our everyday world- to try and change what’s happening around us will only promote greater suffering.

10. Feel blessed to be stressed. 

Most of what we worry about on a day-to-day basis are actually blessings. We are lucky to stress about what foods we should be choosing, what exercise we should be doing, and if we’re going to get that raise or that second date. Sometimes a little perspective is an amazing thing to get ourselves over ourselves.