Biggest Takeaways
This is a excerpt from a Precision Nutrition lesson.
-Berardi's First Law
Remember: Berardi’s First Law states:
"If a food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate, will eventually eat it."
The corollary of Berardi's First Law is:
"If a healthy food is in your house or possession, either you, someone you love, or someone you marginally tolerate, will eventually eat it."-
Red-light foods are foods that are just bad news for you. Maybe they make you feel sick, or they trigger you to eat too much, or you know they're an unhealthy choice for you, etc. Red means "no go".----
Not having “Red light” types of foods in the house also made it so much easier. Having to grab carrots or cucumbers instead was very helpful.
We cooked almost all the meals. Only the snacks were things that were somewhat processed and portion sizes were pretty strictly enforced.
Having the meals planned made it much easier to deal with stress eating because it took away choices. Normally stress leads me to want something to make me feel better and now that didn’t require effort.
Planning is crucial. What became very apparent after the 3rd week was if we were going to have something that would add extra calories to our normal routine we had to remove it from another meal. So if Saturday night we were going to have pizza then Saturday lunch had to look a lot more like a snack than a full meal.
I had pizza on one of the days. Rather than get a large or 2 mediums, we split a small. That left me feeling not overly stuffed like I normally would, and I didn’t have a 3lb weight increase the next day.
Food doesn’t have to be completely eliminated from a nutrition plan to see results. If you are allergic or intolerant that is a different story. Also, if you have a very hard time controlling portions with certain types of food, you are probably better off to just get rid of them rather than try to play the will power game each day. Ice cream is one of my red light foods. We haven’t had it in the house since February which has made it really easy to not have an after-dinner treat. If you think I am never eating ice cream again you are nuts!
But, for my goals right now it doesn't make sense to have it in the house.
I really enjoy what I eat and this experiment has helped me get closer to my goals at the same time. It was hard for a few days each time I tried something new but then it just became routine. I have also developed a new appreciation for foods that I used to not like, mainly veggies, and gained an understanding that I don't need to have the box of cookies in order to satisfy a sense of needing something “treatlike”.
Application
You have 2 options to start with.
1) find a red light food and get it out of the house
2) add a food that you know increases your health.(think veggies)
You don't have to do both. Pick one, plan when you will do it and then execute it this week.
Next time we will look at metrics and behavior.
