“The best diet is the one you don't know you're on.”

Brian Wansink

As a coach who teaches mindful eating and also helps people lose weight, I believe food is neutral, which means there are no good and bad foods. There’s a place in your diet for all foods, some foods are best eaten every day, even with every meal, some foods are good once or twice a week, and some are best for special occasions or occasional splurges.

However, what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat does matter. The quality and amount of food you eat can greatly affect your weight, your moods and energy, and overall sense of well-being.

When teaching mindful eating, I will sometimes have clients who complain they are gaining weight with mindful eating and when I question them, I find out that they are now mindfully eating junk food or dessert all the time! They are misusing the no foods off limits philosophy. 

Part of mindful eating is to key into how foods make you feel, and by eating a lot of processed or sugary food, your body will let you know how it feels in the form of weight gain, poor energy, bad moods, anxiety, mental fogginess, and overall malaise. There is a place for these foods in your diet but it should have a small place, as opposed to being a main or regular staple.

I’m a big proponent of eating a plant based diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, avocado’s, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, and if you’re not vegetarian, to round that diet out with yogurt and dairy, and small amounts of cheeses, chicken, fish, and lean cuts of meat. This is often referred to as The Mediterranean Diet. Nutrition wise, it is considered one of the healthiest ways to eat.

Besides being flavorful and delicious, it often leads to weight loss. Because the combination of foods keep you satisfied and satiated longer, you don’t need to eat as much or as often. It also proposes eating slower, which aligns with mindful eating. Unlike many weight loss diets, this is a way of eating for life.

I eat this way most of the time, with emphasis on the word “most”, because I don’t follow it rigidly and to the letter like a diet, it just so happens, it’s my preferred way of eating most of the time. I believe in the 80/20 principal: eat healthy 80% of the time and use the other 20% for splurges, treats, and special occasions.

Like a lot of people, I happen to have a sweet tooth, and I indulge it daily, but I have learned to do it in a nutritious way. I eat a lot of fruit, with fruit and cottage cheese for breakfast most of the time. For a snack, I may have a siggi’s plain or vanilla yogurt with fresh fruit and sweetened with stevia, or I put plain siggi’s yogurt in a blender, with frozen fruit and sweeten with stevia for a thick, slushy smoothie.