What’s Your Nutritional Blueprint?

Sorry, what’s with the title?

A nutritional blueprint?

No comprende? Not even in the same language, right?!

Yes, blueprint is exactly what I said. A blueprint by definition is a map; a design. With this design, we can see what the architect’s intent will become. Now depending on the construction crew and a number of variables like ability, resources, knowledge, and workmanship, you can end up with an awe inspiriting cathedral or an eyesore.

How does that apply to nutrition?

Well you see, we all have a nutritional blueprint. The way we look and think about food is a learned behavior and those learned behaviors become the blueprint in our brains concerning food. The people who influenced you as a child or young adult helped to mold your beliefs about all kinds of things and food is no different.

What does your blueprint say about you?

Let me ask you this:

• Are you an emotional eater?
• Do you eat to feel happy?
• Do you eat when you are sad or angry?
• Is food the first thing you think of when needing comfort?

What about these:

• Do you yoyo? You go on for a few months, then off for a few months until you can’t take the guilt anymore! Is that you?
• Are you a weekday warrior and a weekend victim? You go hard and strong Monday through Thursday, but come Friday, Saturday, and Sunday you go gangbusters on everything in sight! Is that you?

Or how about these:

• Do you YOLO (you only live once)? No food is off limits! I eat what I want when I want and nobody can tell me what to do!
• Do you feel like you have earned your food and you will do with it what you want?

Above are just a few examples of food blueprints. Our style of eating and nutrition was set long before you started reading this blog. Some of you are in a good place regarding food and that is outstanding because the world needs healthy nutritional role models.  Unfortunately, for most of us, if we are honest, we are a hot mess, frazzled, confused, scared and not because we don’t want to be better or different, but mostly because we lack knowledge and follow-through.

FREEZE. I know where your brain is going but deny entrance to that rabbit hole!

There

Is

HOPE!

Do not be discouraged. There is a suitable and sustainable way to eat, live and enjoy food without all the baggage. Find optimism and confidence in knowing that blueprints change – all it takes is a little construction! You can remodel your nutritional blueprint! You can take it from a sad broken down shack and build it to be a strong sturdy structure!

How do you do that?

Here are three ways to go from shack shame to sturdy and strong:

• Accept your role. You play a role in the process of your blueprint. I know I just told you that all these other people affect, mold, and create your blueprint. However, you are a grown adult now and you can no longer make excuses. Why is this important? Well it is called taking responsibility for your choices and decisions whether other people taught you how to make those choices or not. This eliminates excuses and places accountability on yourself and allows you to move forward with nothing in the way to hold you back, not even yourself.

• Change your mindset. You need to go from a place of ‘living to eat’ to ‘eating to live’. Food is fuel! It is not happiness nor punishment. If you learn to eat in a balanced way, you can enjoy food and learn that food is not the cause of pleasure or pain. The first thing my clients want to do when they blow their macronutrient numbers or they don’t plan for a treat that they have later in the day is punish themselves. They want to cut back calories; they want to go to the gym two to three times per day. They want to punish the food right out of their systems. This mindset gives food a lot of power that it should not have.

• Take action. What is your plan? How do you change your blueprint? What changes need to happen? Is it a matter of educating yourself? Writing goals? Discipline? Accountability? Sit down and write down where remodeling needs to be done and decide what part of your blueprint is urgent and what sections can wait. Set those goals into motion and action and be stubborn about them.

That, my friend, is how you ACT!

These three things will allow you to start making a transition to better. I am not perfect by any means. I fall short in my life in many places more often than I like to admit. However, I am open to being under construction. I don’t ever want to be complacent; when complacency happens you get lazy. Your blueprint is important and it should matter to you. I know mine does and for more than one reason: three to be exact. I play a big role in three little lives and how they view and look at their blueprint of nutrition. I want their eager minds to live in strong structures!

In Your Corner,
Krista