3 Powerful diet shifts for weight loss and health.

Take back control of your food with this simple guide to fixing your diet for lasting results.

I think this article deserves a small preface, perhaps even warning.

The tips shared here definitely do not classify as 'hacks' or 'tips' to cheat the system.

A lot of these are very real, and sometimes difficult changes to make, and often do not revolve around the diet tips you may be used to reading. But these are the shifts that I've found most powerful, and effective in transforming ones' health.

Rule 1)

This is a huge factor towards the success of your nutrition goal.

If you're making a change in your diet, ESPECIALLY if you're removing a food group or restricting your diet, it is critical that you've added everything you need beforehand.

Why is this important?

Most diets, do not (not even slightly) satisfy your basic needs.

They lack in some form of nutrients, vitamins and/or minerals.

As a result your hormones will be out of balance, including your brain chemicals.

Throughout the diet you're going to have urges to eat more food.

Your body is crying out for more nutrients (and probably energy if you're on a low calorie diet).

You might be able to rely on willpower for a certain amount of time, but eventually your body will win.

It will continuously send signals to put in more food hoping to get the nutrients it needs.

(This is a big part of yo-yo dieting.)

When people cave in they don't ever put the required vitamins, minerals or nutrients into their body.

They just go back to eating what they used to eat.

The same thing they were eating before they started the diet and the same thing that got them into a place that they didn't like.

They try the next diet, and bounce from plan to plan.

UNTIL they fill the gaps in their nutrients.

The fix is this:

Add all of the food you need to meet your minimum requirements, then carefully remove the foods that you don't need or can replace.

This puts you in a position of abundance.

Your body is satisfied and therefore the changes you're making are now manageable.

Most of what you want to add (and generally never remove) are as follows:

• Vegetables & fruits

• Omega-3 rich foods

• Plant based & unprocessed carbohydrate sources ( generally beans & legumes)

• Healthy sources of protein.

Rule #2)

Easier said than done of course but sleep is still vital.

It affects everything in your body in one way or another.

In fact, a meta analysis of 16 individual studies linked a lack of sleep with early mortality. [Trusted Source]

In any discussion of health this is a big topic, but for now we'll focus on how it affects your diet.

It impacts your hormones.

Sleep affects the level of your hunger hormones, leptin and ghrelin,

These hormones signal the feelings of hunger (from ghrelin) and fullness (from leptin).

Lack of sleep raises your ghrelin levels, which is an appetite stimulant and reduces leptin, limiting how your body regulates energy. [Trusted Source]

This is thought to be one cause for the relationship between inadequate sleep and weight gain/overeating.

Sleep deprivation also impairs the body’s glucose metabolism and is associated with insulin resistance, diabetes and weight gain. [Trusted Source]

Lack of sleep also makes you tired (shocker)

Lack of sleep affects your emotional stability and mental capacity.

Various studies show that you are more likely to experience mood swings and impatience amongst other reductions in cognitive function.

When you're tired it becomes more difficult to stay committed to new diets or exercise routines, and increasingly likely that you'll be craving high energy foods like sugar and caffeine.

We know that sugar only provides a brief sensation of energy before bringing on a crash, leaving you feeling worse than before and creating an even worse mood and cravings.

A downward spiral of cause and effect.

While caffeine does have a wide range of health benefits it can also impair your ability to get a good quality sleep.

Less sleep = More sugar and caffeine, more sugar and caffeine = less energy and less quality rest.

Be careful not to let yourself fall down this slippery slope either.

Fun Fact: Caffeine has a half life of about 6 hours depending on the individual and usually takes 10-12 hours to completely clear form your system.

So if you consume a cup of coffee at 3pm you will still have half of that coffee in your bloodstream at 9pm, and possibly in your system until 3am.

You may be able to get to sleep but your quality and depth of sleep will be greatly reduced.

Rule #3)

Whenever you make a change, you should be prepared to keep the shift as a permanent lifestyle change or at least for an extended period of time.

I understand some diets are trials and you may not know if it's right for you.

It can take time to find the right changes but when you do, you need to become completely aligned with them.

- It's not what you do, it's who you are and what you value.

Picture these two people

Person 'a': they enjoy junk food and "can't help themselves", but they're trying to eat more salad because exercise takes too much effort.

Person 'b': they love looking after their body, and despite a strong sweet tooth they love the feeling of putting good foods into their system and finding fun new ways to exercise.

Person a'' may lose the weight due to the low calorie salads,

but they're outlook will remain the same.

They are not going to enjoy the process and they're probably going to fall back into old habits eventually - They've only changed their behavior, not their values.

Person 'b' may have started in the same position, but they've adopted new values and even though they still enjoy a sweet treat, they've found pleasure in other aspects of life. In this case they now enjoy the process of living a healthy lifestyle.

The goal is not to eat healthier, but to become a healthy person

It's not what you do, it's who you are.

Yes, this means that you are no longer looking for a 6 week quick fix or shortcut.

This may seem daunting at first, but stay with me.

After you have adopted these values, you will actually ENJOY THE PROCESS.

You enjoy the way you feel after exercise and good food. You enjoy taking care of yourself and the benefits of healthy living.

You wouldn't want to stop after week 6!

And this makes all the difference.

For some of you right now the thought of going to the gym 3 times per week or waking up at 6am for a run seems like a mammoth effort.

For those that have shifted their mindset and values, this could be their favourite part of the day!

Even on the days they're tired or stressed, they probably know that they'll feel worse if they neglect their body.

This leads into another important sub-rule:

you have to enjoy what you're doing!

If you don't enjoy the process, it's never going to last.

Unfortunately our brain is good at enjoying the bad things as well.

It's easy to enjoy pizza and junk food, right?!

So we need to re-align our thinking to learn to value and enjoy the good things,

therefore creating a lifestyle that embodies healthy decisions.

Rule #4: Create a lifestyle instead of a temporary phase.

- You should look at adjusting your mindset and values, not just your behaviours.

- Learning how to enjoy the process is just as important as learning the process.

- You will be doing this for a long time, which may be scary before you've made the shift, but once you've made the change, this will excite you!