A Jess How To: effortlessly eat less AND healthier #saywhat??

First, here is a cute picture of my little family (we dressed up all easter like last saturday) #cantyoutell?

AAAAAAAND

 I wanted to post some tricks today that can help us EFFORTLESSLY be healthier!!!! #ourfamiliesneedsomehelpsometimes #okweneedhelptoo

I am a big fan of clean eating (basically: a whole foods, plant based diet). I think this lifestyle does wonders for us!!! 

#sidenote

if you want to get motivated to eat healthy, watch "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix. It has great information on what is healthy! There are tons of studies and diets and crazy stuff out there, but I think this is the best from all my many many many studies!!! Also, I am willing to be a health coach, or direct you in the right path, for anyone wanting to lose weight!

Anyway, 5 yrs ago, I started the journey of clean eating and I lost 40 lbs and have been able to keep it off even with a baby in the middle. In the middle I also became a personal trainer and health coach. In our studies, we looked into why people eat too much and why they eat bad stuff when they don’t want to. 

OK

I'm sure you've noticed that you "mindlessly" do things. For example, you eat the end of something and look down to finish it and realize you already ate it. OR you always grab the same stuff from the fridge even when you are trying to hard to lose weight (or you probably notice your husband doing things that you don't understand...but he's just "trained" to do so.)

So, in one of my classes called "Obesity and Weight Management" we talked about how we can be "mindful" (instead of "mindless" while eating.) Basically it means that you make decisions ahead of time so that you can mindlessly eat healthy stuff and eat less without effort. (sounds awesome, right?? try it out!!!)

Here are some tricks to get “mindless” bad eating out and get “mindful” good eating into your life!!

These are things that you can do that will EFFORTLESSLY help you eat healthier and eat less!! (I learned these from my professors who have done extensive research on these ideas)

1) Eat on smaller plates/bowls. Studies show you will eat soooo much less just naturally, even if you go back for seconds, its still less! Studies also show that we eat in "portions." Our mind is like "I just ate one plate of food, and I need 2 to be full, (or same thing with things you cut up like pizza or brownies.--not that i support these foods, but if you have to have them, cut them smaller!) So hide the big dishes and eat your dinner on the butter plates and in small bowls and you will naturally eat less!!!

2) Have good food in sight and bad food out of sight. You want what you see first!

--crispers and bottom shelves are for things you don’t want to eat. Take your veggies out and put them  as the first thing you see when you open the fridge! Put your bad foods (like ranch, cheese, potatoe salad, old desserts any other tempting foods) and put them in the crispers!

--Put your fruit in a bowl on your counter so you can see it first and grab it

--Put your junk food on top shelves of cupboards (or away from eye level). Yes, you still know its there, but you know which cupboard you open up first to see “what there is to eat” and the first thing you see you usually want. What if it were a healthy treat? You’ll naturally be eating healthier just by moving your food! (well, you could just not buy the food, but this is a really good step for what you have at home to help you choose fruits and veggies first)

3) Keep dinner in the kitchen to dish up. If you have to walk all the way back into the kitchen to get seconds or thirds, you are way less likely to keep going back (think about how often you just snack on something because it is in front of you!). So change your traditions and serve up all meals away from where you are eating, and only keep things that you want your family to eat more of (might I say veggies?) on the table.

4) Don’t eat straight from the bag/bowl

5) Don’t eat distracted. Sit down and eat, don’t read, text, watch tv, surf, or read this fb page! Its super hard at first, but your bodyweight will thank you!

6) You know you are hungry if you are willing to eat an apple or carrot/celery. If that doesn’t sound good, then you know its just a craving. If it does sound good, then eat the healthy stuff first! So if you are sitting there for your mid-afternoon "normal" snack (or midnight "normal" snack) but know you are not hungry....see if you want a salad or an apple. If you dont...then you dont want icecream either!!! AND if you still indulge in icecream, you will eat less if you eat an apple first!

These are things that have been proven to help! If you have any more questions, or want me to expound more, just email me at jessica.hawkes21@gmail.com or comment below!!  I love helping people become healthier!

Good luck!! These things have really changed my life (along with eating/buying the right foods and exercise) but these tricks are awesome!

#eatinghealthyfeelsgood