Catherine Dean Coaching

THE KEY TO IMPROVING YOUR HEALTH

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE RIGHT APPROACH

Catherine Dean is a Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach supporting women feel better, have more energy and ditch diets. Her approach to health and wellbeing isn’t about quick fixes or fad diets. It’s about helping you to create healthy habits that fit around your busy life, make a real difference and, most importantly, last in the long term.

A common myth is that in order to improve our health we have to start eating foods that we don’t enjoy and give up all the foods we love. We tell ourselves that we can’t have certain foods because they are bad for us, are unhealthy or will make us put on weight. But weight gain doesn’t happen as a result of eating just one food. The problem with using the word “can’t” is that we put ourselves into a lack mentality. When we are in a lack mentality, we focus on what we can’t have, on foods that are bad for us or that we have labelled as unhealthy. When we restrict ourselves in this way it can lead to feelings of guilt or shame when we do eat the foods we’ve told ourselves we “can’t” have. This negative mindset can affect the way we feel about ourselves and actually derail our efforts to improve our health. A lack mentality is when we focus on all the things we can’t have. It’s that deprive, restrict diet mentality. If you have a lack mentality when it comes to improving your health, you might find yourself: • Saying I can’t have... • Wishing you could eat certain foods • Focusing on the foods you “can’t” eat • Concentrating on the number on the scales • Describing foods as good or bad • Exercising purely as a way to burn calories

A different approach is to focus on an abundance mindset; believing that there is always more to go around. An abundance mindset means improving your health isn’t about cutting out your favourite foods, but an opportunity to eat more colourful, interesting, varied and nutritious foods. Instead of focusing on what you “can’t” have, find nutrient dense foods you love and focus on including more of those in your diet. Nutrient dense foods contain high levels of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients compared to the amount of calories they provide. Nutrient dense foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, oily fish and beans. Including more nutrient rich foods means we are more likely to get the vitamins and minerals we need from our diet.

FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES

When we focus on an abundance mindset, taking a positive approach and focusing on what we do have, it moves us away from the negative mindset and can actually help us when we’re trying to improve our health. Increasing the colour and variety in our diets and noticing how we feel when we’ve eaten those nutrient rich foods can keep us focused on the positives.

An abundance mentality, where we focus on taking steps to make ourselves feel better can actually make improving our health a whole lot easier. When you approach changes to your health with an abundance mindset, you might find yourself: • Eating foods that you enjoy and make you feel good • Knowing that all foods have a place in a balanced diet • Moving your body as a celebration of what your body can do

• Exercising to feel more energised and confident

FOUR TIPS TO HELP YOU INCREASE THE ABUNDANCE IN YOUR DIET:

Use herbs and spices to flavour your foods. They are an easy way to make your meals more interesting, varied and full of flavour while also providing health benefits.

Add more colour to your diet by including more vegetables.

At each meal time ask, “How could I add one more vegetable to this dish?” Vegetables are low in calories, but cram packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.

Increase variety in your diet. You can do this by adding beans and legumes to stews, soups and curries. Chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, cannellini beans, black beans just to name a few. They are a quick, easy and cheap way to add more texture and variety to your dishes. They also contain plant protein and plenty of fibre.

Support your gut healthy. One way that you can do this is by eating more pro-biotic foods.

Fermented foods such as yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi and sauerkraut contain bacteria that is beneficial for our gut health.

Eating more nutrient rich foods on a regular basis, can help you to feel better, have more energy, help you get a better night’s sleep and so much more.

Adopting an abundance mentality helps us to move away from the thoughts that punishing ourselves in the gym or depriving ourselves of our favourite foods is the only way to improve our health. It helps us be kinder and more compassionate towards ourselves. This approach is the best way to help us to take better care of ourselves and make meaningful, lasting and positive changes to our health.

If you’re ready to ditch diets, feel less stressed and have more energy a Nutrition & Coach could be exactly what you’re looking for.

To find out how fully personalised nutrition coaching could help you to achieve your health and weight loss goals, head to:

www.catherinedeancoaching.co.uk

Have a nutrition question that you’d like to be answered in a future article? Send your questions to Catherine at:

info@catherinedeancoaching.co.uk