Hey Sonoma, did you know that every time you eat or drink you are either feeding disease or fighting it? In fact, almost everything you do has either a positive or a negative effect on your health, including lifestyle habits such as sleep, stress, and exercise. That’s right, how you look and feel today has a lot to do with your lifestyle habits from the past, and your lifestyle habits today affect how you will look and feel down the road. That said, imagine how much healthier you would be if you could make sure that what you put into your body is HEALTHY 80 percent of the time, while reserving the other 20 percent for those moments when you want to enjoy things you would not consider healthy for you. Seem too tall of an order? It is easier than you think, and worth giving a try. It can add quality and years to your life when done correctly.
The 80-20 rule for healthy living involves taking a good look at your lifestyle, including diet, exercise, sleep and stress, so that you can understand what your good and bad habits are. Be careful, there is a lot of misinformation out there about what is healthy and what is not. For example, low fat diets are not necessarily healthy, and don’t be misled by the lite and sugar-free trap. These foods can often be toxic to your health. Education on food quality is imperative for living a healthy lifestyle. Organic foods that came from the ground or that had eyes (chicken, fish, grass fed beef, etc.) are usually winners. Foods that are packaged and processed are generally less healthful. My rule of thumb for reading labels is – if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. Finally, and most importantly, six servings of organic fruits and vegetables per day is the best way to move you towards that 80 percent goal.
The best way to achieve 80/20 living is to BE PREPARED. Have healthy foods on hand at all times and look at your calendar each week so that you can be clear as to what events and activities in your schedule might tempt you to tap into that 20 percent. Plan accordingly, and make sure that the rest of the week is health promoting activity, such as energy giving exercise, plenty of rest, healthy foods, lots of clean water, etc. Keep a daily log of your diet, scoring everything you eat or drink as either health promoting or health demoting to see what your percentage is. This gets easier the more education you have on food quality.
In general, remember the processed white devils, flour, sugar and salt demote, fried foods demote, alcohol and coffee demote. Fruits, veggies, quality fats, and lean, organic proteins promote. Water from a spring source promotes, most teas, unsweetened promote. These are just some basic guidelines to get you started. There are always exceptions to the rule, and quality ultimately determines whether or not an item is health promoting or demoting.
The 80-20 rule is easy, but like anything else, it takes practice, focus, determination, and commitment. All of this I know you can do.
Heather Morgan, MS, NLC, has worked as a nutrition and lifestyle coach for the past seven years. She has taken numerous certifications in the field of nutrition, holistic healing, weight loss and lifestyle coaching. You can learn more about food quality and how to live the 80-20 rule by joining her new workshop, 80-20 Living, at Energy Fitness Studio. Call 343.1102 for details. To hear an ongoing 80-20 living discussion and tips on Heather’s radio show, Body Talk, Tuesdays at 2 p.m. on Sun FM, 91.3.
