Why Creating Your Own Food Protocol is So Important & Why It Can Be So Challenging
For those of us who have been on diets since we were so very young, the idea of creating our own food protocols (and then following them) can seem daunting if not downright impossible.
On the surface, it seems simple enough:
~Decide how many meals and snacks you’re going to eat.
~Decide what foods you will eat at those meals.
~Decide on a couple of joy foods and exception meals per week.
~Implement.
~Plan a week’s worth of meals based on the protocol.
That’s it.
So what’s the big deal?
Why is there so much resistance to this? So much anxiety around it?
We have given our power away to outside “authorities” for so long that we don’t know how to trust ourselves.
The thinking goes: I’m the one who overate and binged and gained all of this weight. Clearly, I cannot be trusted with food and eating decisions. Someone else knows better than I what I “should” do in order to lose weight.
But here’s the thing or two: We have been conditioned by societal expectations and standards of what it means to be thin and acceptable, of what it takes to attain those ideals, that we think we are the problem. Therefore, the solution must lie out there somewhere, beyond us. We cannot possibly know what we really need, what’s good for us. Therefore, we must seek guidance from others. Conveniently, there are many out there who are more than happy and willing to tell us what to do… for a price. Assign points to your foods and count them, eat prepackaged foods that may or may not need refrigeration. Give up that, eat this.
And so we do. We follow along and some of us get the results we desire.
But consider this: If the programs and plans worked, we wouldn’t be where we are right now, desperate to change our food and eating habits, lose weight, and be acceptable… and happy.
We would be effortlessly thin.
It doesn’t work, though, does it.
If it did, the diet industry wouldn’t have been worth $140 billion dollars in 2022.
The industry is predicated on people regaining the weight they’ve worked so hard to lose.
Now, let’s go back to creating our own food protocols and meal plans.
Yes, it can be scary to take your power back when it comes to food and eating.
But it is also incredibly empowering.
Chances are, if you’ve been dieting for years and decades, you know a thing or two about nutrition.
I am not a nutritionist, but I’ve read quite a bit and have listened to experts.
One guideline that I feel comfortable relaying here: Eat as much whole, real food as possible, and limit the amount of processed food that you eat. The old adage about shopping the perimeter of the grocery store is true: that’s where you’ll find produce, eggs and dairy, meat and fish.
The aisles contain the processed foods that come in bags and boxes and have a shelf life that exceeds your life expectancy. If the list of ingredients on a package contains words you cannot pronounce, chances are, it’s not something you want to ingest.
I would add that frozen fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients and are comparatively cost effective.
All of that said, it’s ok to not want to give up foods that bring you pleasure but have little nutritional value. Those are your joy foods and exception meals. Plan one joy food per week, as well as one exception meal. Besides the enjoyment that they provide, including them gives you an opportunity to build trust with yourself around them, instead of thinking that you can never have them.
If creating your own food protocol and plans still feels overwhelming and intimidating to you, start small. Choose one meal to begin. Generally speaking, the easiest one is probably breakfast. If you’ve been eating breakfast bars and drinking breakfast shakes, or you’ve been running through fast food windows for egg sandwiches and deep-fried hash browns, that could be the place to start.
Ask yourself: What do I want for breakfast that will nourish and give me energy, and is easy to prepare?
Make a list.
Then make a decision: What are you going to have for breakfast this week, Monday through Friday? (Leave the weekends off for now.)
Write it all down.
Post it – keep it visible.
Then prep for it.
Eat the breakfasts you’ve planned. (Not the breakfasts you want instead, in the moment, when you just don’t feel like eating what you planned and prepped.)
This is how you build trust with yourself.
Don’t worry about the other meals. Don’t be in a hurry.
Get your breakfasts down.
Do this for one week, two weeks, one month. Whatever it takes.
You’re building trust. You have your own back.
At the end of each day, reflect. How did it go? Were you able to eat what you’d planned to eat? Why or why not? Be curious, not judgmental. What was easy? What was challenging?
DId it feel like a diet? Why or why not? Perhaps you thought it had to be “diet” food in order to be the best choice. Perhaps you didn’t eat enough. Be open to your thoughts and feelings on this.
When you’re ready, add another meal or a snack.
Keep going.
It could take six months to come up with a complete protocol.
That’s fantastic.
You might think that’s too much time to spend.
Ask yourself why it needs to be faster, sooner? (Most likely, that’s diet culture conditioning at play.)
See the time you invest here as a necessary luxury – a gift for yourself.
You’re taking the time to have your own back, to learn to support yourself.
Change is challenging, downright daunting at times.
Changing the way you eat one meal at a time makes it more manageable.
You deserve to devote time to yourself and your needs.
There’s no reason to rush.
Learning what works for your body takes time.
Changing what you think is possible for you takes time.
Trusting yourself takes time. You can do it one meal at a time.
❣️~Jenny