Earlier this week a friend told me:
“I want to eat healthy but I just have no motivation to get started.”
Don’t overthink it. Don’t allocate one more minute of energy towards it.
If you say you want to eat well, start tomorrow. You can always stop the very next day if you want - remember, there’s always an exit door.
Tomorrow, head to the grocery store and buy just one thing, like:
a bag of your favorite sweet potatoes
a frozen bag of shredded hash browns
If you get sweet potatoes, take those beauties home, wash them, steam them until a fork slides into the center like soft butter. Let them cool. Before you head to bed, pop them into the fridge.
The next morning, eat your potato and enjoy nature’s perfectly packaged multivitamin.
Follow that advise and you’ve just started the day with a dose of complete nutrition which means you’ve taken the highest quality essential vitamins and minerals, and macronutrients. Let’s unpack the nutritional contents of two medium sweet potatoes using the well-respected website, Cronometer.com:
essential vitamins - “essential” because it’s quite literally essential that we eat them since our bodies don’t naturally make them on their own, and we need these vitamins for our bodies to function properly. (Who knew sweet potatoes had so much vitamin C. And A, wow! Google says “Vitamin A (retinol, retinoic acid) is a nutrient important to vision…and immunity.”)
essential minerals - all minerals come from the ground and get into a plant’s roots and to the final fruit or vegetable. The animals we eat have minerals from the plants they eat; the animals are simply the (tasty yet unnecessary) middlemen between us and the minerals we need:
protein - the humble spud 🥔 🍠 (any potato variety) naturally has all amino acids and therefore complete protein:
fat or lipids - potatoes are extremely low in fat and all plants have zero cholesterol. Thought potatoes were high in fat? It’s typically a high fat treat because of the sour cream, bacon bits, and other high fat (and delicious) accompaniments. (To compare what most people think is a healthy breakfast: two medium eggs have 9.3 grams of fat and 328 mg of cholesterol. Compared to 0.4 grams of fat in two sweet potatoes and zero cholesterol. As a note, type-2 diabetes is caused by eating too much saturated fat - which comes from eating animals - and that fat clogging up our cells and not allowing insulin (and glucose) to get in; ie, insulin resistance. Diabetics have too much glucose in their blood because the insulin key can’t unlock the cells that are gummed up by saturated fat and so they can’t transport glucose - our energy 💪 from sugar from whole food carbohydrates - into our cells. Solution: eat more food with low or no saturated fat.)
and the “C” word - carbohydrates 🥰
“Hunger will not subside until we are nutritionally satisfied, and that satisfaction will not occur until we have consumed sufficient carbohydrates…hunger will not go away until food enters the small intestine, where the food’s components, particularly its carbohydrates, are absorbed into the blood and distributed to cells. Because of the paramount role played by carbohydrates in human nutrition, it follows that their ingestion satisfies the appetite as no other component of the food can.”
The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss, John McDougall, MD, page 30.
Simply start
I won’t discount the hard work it takes to make changes in our lives but here’s the good news: there are gentle ways to get started.
For healthy eating, start small and make each day an immediate success by doing two things for breakfast:
1. Drink water
A well-respected gut health expert, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, recommends in his book, Fiber Fueled, that we “pound back” water first thing in the morning since we wake up dehydrated and being properly hydrated is key to good health. In this article he recommends this be our priority (after our morning pee, or whatever else you do first thing - hopefully not check your work emails).
“…many of us reach out in our zombie-like state and grab a cup of coffee and we dehydrate ourselves further…So, start with hydration and make it a core part of your daily routine. Two glasses of water first thing in the morning - boom. That’s the first thing I do.”
2. Eat a potato
I love having steamed Korean sweet potatoes ready to go. They’re great chilled, with skin or without, or warmed in the microwave. If I have more time, I love a plate of hot hash browns with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Weekly High
One of my soul sisters telling me we’ll be helping her friends and some family members learn how she got rid of some of her chronic aches and pains, how her skin looks so good, and how she lost 30 pounds! 💃
Low
I seem to be developing some anxiety when I’m on the road - could be all the reckless drivers I see on the freeways. In an area where you have to drive to get anywhere this may pose a problem. 🫠
Lesson
My love language is acts of service. What’s yours?
What an upgrade in life to know your friends’ and especially your partner’s love language. I learned valuable knowledge about what makes me happy and feel valued, and how I can deepen my relationship even more with Cryder and Elle (theirs is both quality time - adorable).
Best thing I ate this week
Inspired by our local haunt, I made a steamed beet salad on Father’s Day with pesto using basil from the garden (incredible) and micro greens. I added Violife ‘feta’ but it was over the top and didn’t need it.
There’s a strange and beautiful joy that comes with eating fresh plants and activating the magic that’s inherently part of us.
Week 13: Breakfast for winners 💦 🍠
Start small with a dose of living life (water) and a morning tater.
We can inspire each other but having the motivation to do something with any level of difficulty should come from within.
The only way I find the motivation to keep up my good habits is to think of who I’m doing it for. Like me, I hope you first choose to do it for yourself.
Cheers to welcoming and embracing the fact that you deserve to feel good, healthy, strong, and vibrant on your terms. 💓