Ella’s Eats: 5 Tips to Jump-Start Your Diet

The Freshman 15 does not discriminate by age. It has no mercy. As a junior transfer student living in the dorm with an abundant number of swipes to the Dining Common, I am, of course, a victim of the infamous weight gain. Fortunately, UC Davis offers a wide range of opportunities for students to strive for a balanced lifestyle. For the third consecutive year, the UC Davis Retiree Center is sponsoring the Mind Body Wellness Challenge. The program encourages students, faculty and staff to choose a dimension from the wellness wheel, adopt a new healthy habit and keep it up for 7 weeks (from January 21st to March 11th 2011) with the hope it becomes a lifestyle change. As a participant trying to improve my physical wellness, I document what I eat through a combination of photos and writing. Now that I am midway through my journey to fitness, these are the 5 lessons I want to share with you:

1. Know what’s right for your body

A diet is a very personal matter. Each person’s body works differently so listen to your body before following anyone’s advice (even mine!). For example, one of the most common recommendations to lose weight is to eat breakfast. However, eating breakfast triggers my everlasting appetite.
I end up craving for the whole day rather than finding balance in my meals. Therefore, instead of a healthy breakfast, I start out my morning by drinking two warm cups of water to flush out all the toxins. There is not one general recipe for weight loss so remember to test different things out to see what fits your body best.   

2. You crave what you eat

Your body gets used to what you eat, so if candies, chips and soda are part of your daily diet, then you will yearn for those processed foods. In order to detoxify my body, I gradually add more fruits and vegetables to my plate. 

The fresh and raw food gives my body the right vitamins and minerals to function so the chemicals of greasy and deep fried food no longer lure me in.  Now, walking in the dining common, the salad bar is my first destination instead of the Mongolian BBQ station. Diet is as much a psychological exercise as a physical activity. Consume the nutrients your body really needs and you can say farewell to junk food craving!

3. Breathe!

Each time I passed by the CoHo, the smell of fresh bakery would stop me even though I just had lunch and I am sure you have also experienced these moments. Obviously, I was not actually hungry, but I would rationalize my indiscretions with some kind of excuse and treat myself to a brownie. 

However, thanks to my food journal, I realize that those snack instants happen too often. I learn to take several deep breaths and examine my hunger carefully before indulging myself.

4. Eat dinner early

For the past few weeks, I have progressively moved my dinnertime from 7pm to 5pm. I can observe a massive difference in my weight loss by simply eating dinner earlier.  
Your stomach needs to be at rest rather than digesting before you sleep. If I feel any kind of craving, I would drink water. Of course, due to class time and work, this advice does not work for everyone. Nevertheless, try to have dinner as early as possible, and you will see a drastic change.
 

5. 90% is good enough

Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow your diet plan accordingly. Relapses are unavoidable. Eat as healthy as possible most of the days and you can relax and enjoy an animal style burger at In-N-Out from time to time without any worries. Of course, don’t make excuses too often to stuff yourself unhealthily.

Small changes can result into big impacts.

Good Luck !  

Visit http://wellnesschallenge.ucdavis.edu/ for more information on Mind Body Wellness Challenge.