Nutrition Resolutions and Repentance

5 steps for lasting change

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

It’s a new year. Full of hope and possibility and optimism. After the last couple of years, we could all use a healthy dose of all three. This translates into a renewed focus on health and fitness with particular attention to their diet for many people.

Sadly, most people who start with such good intentions will fail. Statistically, it is far more probable for New Year’s resolutions to be discarded by March than it is for them to continue and make a lasting impact. Why is that? Why do so many of us have such a hard time changing our diet and eating right?

We know it is the right thing to do. We not only know we need to do it, but we have good motivations. Living longer, gaining energy, spending more quality time with our loved ones, or reducing our need for medication could all motivate eating well. Why then is it so hard?

By now, it is not for lack of information. More information is available now about diets and healthy eating than ever before. Too much, I would argue. If you are familiar with the food pyramid, you know how to eat healthily. More education is not the answer.

The problem is also not a lack of support. There are countless apps and resources available to those wanting more accountability, either with a real person or electronic tracking. You can count every calorie you ingest and break it down by macronutrient while at the same time tracking your heart rate, steps, hours of quality sleep, and minutes of intense exercise if you want to. Again, I would argue that this is way more information than most need.

So what is the solution?

The best way to approach a change in nutrition is the same way you would approach any other significant change in your life; as an act of repentance. That may seem a bit dramatic or overtly spiritual but allow me to explain.

Repentance means a change in behavior following a change in belief. If we follow the logic of Albert Ellis, a pioneer in cognitive behavioral therapy, we learn that what we believe drives our behavior. How we interpret a situation will largely determine how we respond. Assuming the guy who cut you off in traffic is a distracted jerk will cause you to have a much different reaction than if you believed he was a concerned parent rushing his child to the doctor.

Nutrition functions the same way. We eat based on what we believe. None of us think that chicken fried steak will help us lose weight. However, we believe that we can get away with eating it once in a while and that it is delicious. And it is. Or we may think that based on the day we have just had at work, we deserve a particular type of food as a reward. Not a reward that will improve our long-term health and put us closer to our goals but one that will hit a craving.

Or we begin to believe the even more dangerous lie, which is, I’ll never lose weight or be healthy anyway, so I might as well enjoy my meal. Regardless of our mindset, our beliefs drive us to make healthy or unhealthy decisions about our food.

Why does this matter?

Connecting our beliefs to our behavior is important because, if true, it means we won’t see any lasting change by making a simple resolution on January 1. We have to be willing to dig a bit deeper and look at what truly needs to happen for change to occur. Unless we are ready to take the time to think through our choices regarding food and why we make them, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

Resolve and determination are not enough. Our willpower has a limit. Eventually, there will come a day when you won’t feel as motivated to resist the little voice in the back of your brain telling you to go back to your old way of doing things. Unless you go through the hard work of reordering what you believe, that voice will come back louder and louder until it wins.

What does repentance look like in regards to nutrition?

I’ll admit that the idea of applying a word like repentance to nutrition seems a bit much. What is most important is the process of developing a healthy belief system to work from.

1. The first step is to admit that you need to repent or change what you believe about nutrition and diet. Whether you intend on making a complete 180-degree change or want to learn new techniques or strategies, this is true. All of us can learn something new, and nobody knows everything. Another way to describe this step would be to assume the position of a learner. Open yourself up to receiving new information.
2. Find your why. After deciding you want to change, ask yourself why. And then do it again, and again, until you get to the real reason you want to eat better or make a lifestyle change. It usually takes at least asking the question five times before our real motivations surface. Just pretend you are a toddler again, pestering your parents.
3. Look at what got you where you are. There is a reason you want a change. Our lives are the product of the choices we have made. What you have done up until now is what has brought you to this point. If you want different results going forward, some of those actions will have to change. Think through a typical week and look for the moments when your nutrition could use the most improvement. Are there times when you are most tempted to make poor choices, or is there a habit in your routine that makes it more challenging to make good decisions? If possible, keep a food journal for a week and write down what you eat and drink. Most people are shocked at how much they consume without even giving it a second thought. This type of information is helpful and can be powerful in making positive changes.
4. Find someone you can trust. Once you have decided to change and examined the past habits, you are ready to think about moving forward. If you skipped the first two steps, a good coach would encourage you to go back and start over. Think through what you want to achieve and who you trust to help you get there. As mentioned above, there is no shortage of information available. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the endless stream of fad diets and question the best approach. Find one person you trust and block out the rest. Most diets will work when given a chance, but all will take a bit of time before you see results. Usually, people quit just before seeing progress and jump to try something else. This only resets the clock and keeps them feeling frustrated and more likely to give up altogether.
5. Get rid of your expectations and be patient. We all want to see results quickly, and in today’s day and age, we are encouraged to do so. The truth, however, is that any lasting change is going to take time. If all you want to accomplish is to lose 20 pounds and don’t care about any long-term effects on your health, you can chop off your leg. If you’re going to lose weight and keep it off, that will involve learning some new habits and developing a new relationship with food. That takes time. Give yourself and your coach a bit of grace and time to establish an excellent foundation to build from. Weight loss will come. In the meantime, focus on the results of building better habits and taking the essential first steps of investing in your health and well-being. Remember your why, and don’t give up.

Whatever your nutrition goal is for 2022 the chances of you achieving it will increase significantly by following this process. With hard work and a good coach by your side, anything is possible.

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