Clean & Mean Routine: Tip 4 – Anything in Moderation

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 4: ANYTHING IN MODERATION

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food. It’s also about being MEAN. M in Mean is for meals of three and snacks of two. E is for exercise at least 4x a week. A is for ANYTHING IN MODERATION.

We’re on our 4th week of eating clean and exercising regularly. How’re you feeling so far? This week will be short and simple. It’s all about MODERATION.

DIET? WHAT DIET?

Often times you hear people say “Diet? What diet?!!” when they’re about to devour an entire lechon. It’s almost as if they’re saying: “Screw that sad diet I’ve been on for weeks. Today, I will enjoy myself to the hilt and eat all I want!” Then they proceed to consume triple the amount they usually eat because they’re finally free.

That’s what happens when you go on a DIET. You restrict your intake of particular foods (or worse, entire food groups!) and shun all your favorites because you’re trying to be “good.” The thing is, if or when you do fall into temptation, your diet may backfire on you. You may overeat because you’ve been depriving yourself for weeks or months.

LIVE A LITTLE

Like I said, on the TBR Clean & Mean Routine, we’re not going on a diet. We’re aiming for a lifestyle change. We want a life where, in time, we naturally veer towards healthy food and exercise as opposed to artificial food and sedentary living. We do this s-l-o-w-l-y by making small changes every week as we go about our daily activities.

It’s unnatural for anyone to live within a super strict set of regimented rules especially when it comes to food. Don’t eat this. Don’t eat that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. It’s also very sad!

So, for us, we will allow for ANYTHING IN MODERATION and, please note, ONCE IN A WHILE. If you must have a cookie, then allow yourself to take a bite and quickly give it to someone else. If you must have a soda, then take a few sips and leave it. If you’ve been invited to a big dinner buffet, then make sure that you have a light snack before the meal, make good choices by filling your plate with healthier fare, then stop before you get too full.

I will have to ask you to practice common sense with this tip.  Please don’t come back to me saying that I allowed you to have tons of sugar when you’re a diabetic or you loaded up on spicy food before a marathon and eventually messed up your race.  At the end of the day, you know what you can and cannot have and when. You know what is good and what is bad for your health.  Only you are responsible for what you put in your body.

The point is this: Do not over think things.  Do not make food your enemy.  Just eat when you want to and stop when you’re satisfied.  Good food and healthy active living must be fun and convenient for you if you want it to be forever.

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FACEBOOK PAGE who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean
Tip 2: Mealtime: Listen to Your Body
Tip 3: Exercise: 4x a Week