So many fads out there focus on taking things away from you. But if you take away all of your favourite things, you’re going to be miserable. And when you’re miserable, you slip into emotional eating. This is not how a sustainable food plan begins!

The truth is: meal plans don’t work for 90% of people. What does work is taking baby steps towards healthier habits over a long period of time.

Let me tell you about one of my clients. She came to me, and said, “Caroline – I suck. I can’t stick to any diet.”

So this is what I said to her: Ditch the food plan and instead focus on little changes every day. For the next 21 days, I want you to do 2 things – have a glass of lemon water every morning, and watch your portion sizes.

And you know what? She could stick to that! Because it was small and achievable on any day, it was sustainable.

Even if you can’t cook to save your life, there are small changes you can make. If I have a client that doesn’t know how to cook, I will start off with things like how to cut open an avocado without chopping a finger off. We might go through how to boil eggs, so there’s an easy high-protein snack on hand.

21 Days Is The Magic Number

Research shows that it takes around 21 days to establish a habit. So if you stick to adding in 1-2 habits every 3 weeks, you can build up your healthy habits more effectively.

Here are some of my favourite baby steps to start with:

• Have a glass of water with a dash of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar in the morning. That way, you start off your morning a little more hydrated!
• Move your body for a few extra minutes each day. That could mean parking at the far end of the parking lot, or getting off the bus one stop early. You could take the stairs at work instead of the elevator. Or you could do some short workouts like the ones in my membership!
• Add one salad to your food each day. It can be a side salad with dinner, or it can be a meal in itself at lunch or dinner. Have some leafy greens and any vegetables you like.
• Switch one unhealthy snack out for a piece of fruit or a serve of nuts and seeds. This will fill you up for longer and give you more of a bang for your caloric buck!

Do you want to talk more about building a sustainable food plan? Why not join my Food Rebels club or book in for a FREE 15-minute chat with me!