Organization is the key to a great healthy living plan

Have a clean kitchen where it is a pleasure to make meals; your counters are clean, and you have enough food in you fridge to create great, low calorie meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables.

More of the good Carbs Please!

What are the good carbs? They are the ones that take a long time to get though your body; rice, grains, fruits and vegetables. They are the color in your meals; the bright red bell peppers, the fresh orange carrots and the greener than green collard greens! You can eat them raw, you can eat them blanched, you can eat them in soups. And veggies should be your main staple because you can eat as much as you want!

Organize your kitchen so that everything is where it needs to be. Make it a clean environment where you can make a nice meal

When I think of eating, I think of fresh fruits and veggies. I love to eat a variety of foods that are colorful and tasty. Crispy veggies with some brown rice is a great meal. If you begin to enjoy the low fat- complex carbohydrates instead of the fatty foods, you really begin to enjoy what you are eating.
Taking control
Begin to take control of your eating by only eating when you are hungry. Many people go by the clock with eating. Allow your body to tell you when it needs care.
Activity
When you are active every day of your life, you learn the cues of your body’s hunger. You become hungry because you are moving and grooving!
Realism
If you are trying to lose some weight, stop punishing yourself with unrealistic goals of losing a lot of weight. Make mini goals of losing 3 pounds, not 20. The pounds will come off if you stick to it.

Your body size

Stop it! Stop looking at yourself and thinking that you look terrible. You need to begin cherishing the way you look even if you are not where you want to be. Striving for perfection is not the key to long lasting weight control. And looking at the commercials on TV telling you that you can be a 10 may be very unrealistic.  Do not send yourself critical messages about your body; love your body.

Be Mindful

Always be mindful of eating. Do not sit in front of the TV eating because this one thing will sabotage all your efforts for your day.

Eat slowly and mindfully, small bits of food cut up, whatever you need to do to slow you down. Look at your food, use colorful, small plates that exaggerate how much you are eating, and of course- chew your food well.