What you can expect from this blog
This blog tells you how to fight the urge of feeling lazy and unmotivated when following a diet. Nothing frustrates a person more than battling with the unprecedented feeling of change. Change can be an embodiment of a lot of things - professional guidance, fear of letting go of delicious food, previous experiences of failed diets, and feeling like there’s a huge gap between your current and ideal weight.
We want to teach you to take the right measures to overcome this by elucidating the importance of taking baby steps, seeking professional guidance, preparing healthy recipes, following a sustainable diet, and setting mindful goals.
You are not alone
Let me tell you a story about one of our first clients, Anjali. Anjali, like most of us, is someone who has been trying to lose weight for over 10 years but could never succeed. When she came to us, she was clueless, heartbroken, and felt defeated.
I will never forget the look in her eye, “the look” seemed similar to the gaze we used to give our teachers back in school when we forgot our assignment at home. Our first instinct was to ask her “We want to hear what’s bothering you Anjali?”
With tears in her eyes, she told us about all the obstacles she was facing with her diet and the health implications she had to incur at her current weight.
There are thousands of people like Anjali, who feel uninspired, embarrassed, and derailed from the path of a fit and healthy lifestyle. These people require ‘proper’ guidance on how to stay motivated towards their end goal.
Cut to now, Anjali achieved her goal weight, is currently expecting her second child, and is living her life the way she always wanted! Niwi.ai, on the other hand, continues to help Anjali’s around the world look and feel their best.
Introduction
“Diet” has become a synonym for nightmares and punishments. With the misconceptions and myths floating around the word “diet”, one is made to believe that a diet can only work if it is stringent, overwhelming, or cruel. This, however, is far from the truth.
We as humans are wired to believe what we see. With the emergence of the toxic social media culture, we are bound to feel that skipping meals or starving is the way to achieve the “perfect body”, especially with calorie counter apps that program you to feel that the lesser the calories you consume, the better output you’ll see.
Life is too short to not believe in your capabilities and let social media define your perceptions. We believe everyone deserves to live life to the fullest and explore different avenues of health and nutrition. Everyone deserves to know the nutrition behind what they are putting in their body.
Diet is not a binary thing. It’s a journey. Just like we may go off track while driving, but our GPS re-routes us and brings us to our intended destination, your willpower may take a hit sometimes but with a sprinkle of good habits, you will be able to conquer all the roadblocks.
Why is it important to eat healthy?
A healthy diet usually contains nutrient-dense foods from food groups. A healthy diet also aims to replace food containing trans fat, excess sodium, and sugar with healthier alternatives.
Healthy eating has a lot of benefits like building muscle and bone density, preventing deadly diseases, safeguarding the organs, and overall keeping your mood in check! Let’s briefly discuss how that pans out :
- Healthy heart: High blood pressure is a growing concern all around the world and is one of the leading causes of heart attacks, strokes, and death. Healthy eating prevents premature heart conditions with lifestyle changes such as healthy eating and physical activity.
- Reduced risk of Cancer: Having a diet rich in antioxidants can help decrease the risk of cancer by protecting the cells from any damage. Obesity is also one of the leading causes of cancer in many patients.
- Elevated Mood: Studies show that there is a very close relationship between diet and food. It was also discovered that people who consume a lot of sugar exhibit signs of depression and fatigue as opposed to the ones who have a limited intake. Better diet contributes to better mental health.
- Good Gut Health: The colon has natural bacteria that play a crucial role in metabolism. These bacteria produce important vitamins that improve colon health. High fiber foods may decrease inflammation and help good bacteria thrive thereby improving Gut Health.
- Enhanced Memory: A healthy diet incorporating foods high in potassium help with brain health and enhanced memory. Adopting a healthy lifestyle will also prevent you from diseases like dementia.
- Weight Loss: Maintaining a healthy weight will help reduce risks of health issues like diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer, etc. In 2018, researchers found that following a diet rich in fiber and lean proteins resulted in weight loss without the need for monitoring calorie intake.
- Strong bones and teeth: Magnesium and Calcium Rich Foods are two important elements that look after your bones and teeth. Healthy eating by incorporating foods rich in magnesium or calcium can minimize the risk of bone problems like osteoporosis.
- Good Sleep: Conditions like Sleep Apnea can cause one to have very abrupt sleeping patterns. This is a result of obesity or excess alcohol consumption. Reducing harmful elements like caffeine and alcohol from your diet and incorporating mineral-rich foods will help you get sound sleep.
- Diabetes Control: A healthy diet can help an individual manage blood sugar levels and keep cholesterol and blood pressure in check. It is key for people with diabetes to reduce their intake of salt and sugar and completely eliminate trans-fat and fried food from their diet.
Dieting Statistics that will shock you
- According to a Study by CDC on Adult Obesity, It was discovered that weight gain is increasing at an alarming rate, with obesity levels in the United States increasing by over a third.
- According to a Study by KD Hall, Weight loss can be achieved through a variety of modalities, but long-term maintenance of lost weight is much more challenging.
- According to a Study by KD Hall, In a meta-analysis of 29 long-term weight loss studies, more than half of the lost weight was regained within two years, and by five years more than 80% of lost weight was regained
- According to a Study by KD Hall, cutting just a couple of cans of soda (~300 kcal) from one’s daily diet was thought to lead to about 30 pounds of weight loss in a year, 60 pounds in 2 years, etc.
- According to a Study by KD Hall, Weight loss is accompanied by persistent endocrine adaptations that increase appetite and decrease satiety thereby resisting continued weight loss and conspiring against long-term weight maintenance.
- According to a Study by PubMed, Individuals who maintain their weight loss for two to five years have a greater chance of long-term success.
- According to a Study by Statistica, 77% of obese people are motivated to lose weight to improve their overall health.
- According to a study in The Lancet, About 11 million people died from the effects of a poor diet in 2017, mostly by contributing to the development of cardiovascular disease.
- According to a Study by CDC , About 1–2 pounds per week is considered a healthy weight loss rate.
The Problem
Do you want to improve your health but don’t know where or who to turn to? Do you feel embarrassed to ask for help? Do you feel incompetent despite many efforts to embrace change? If you thought yes to any of the above questions, this blog will for sure help you.
1) Feeling like it’s going to be a huge change
Let’s be real, no one really likes change. The idea of getting out of your comfort zone to try something that you have limited knowledge about can be intimidating. However hard you may try to resist, change is inevitable. It is important and one must learn to embrace it. It not only allows you to move forward in life and experience exciting new things but also sends more growth opportunities your way.
2) Not having correct guidance
Not having the correct guidance and self-dieting oftentimes results in a recipe (no pun intended) for disaster. Let’s decode the psychology behind this through a simple example. Say you want to learn how to drive and are practicing to ditch your learning license to finally get a permanent one.
You have two options - The first is for you to take the car out on your own, this may pose a safety threat to you as well as other people, and you may not be aware of what route to take or how to navigate through traffic. The second is getting someone experienced to guide you by telling you the dos and don’ts about driving, guiding you when to stop, when to take turns and how to manoeuvre the vehicle in traffic.
Which of the two sounds like a better idea? Obviously the second!
It’s the same with dieting. People oftentimes don’t see results due to not having proper guidance.
3) Fear of letting go of delicious food
There is a huge misconception that diets and meal plans can never be tasty and that one has to end up compromising taste and flavor in order to lose weight. People associate diets with bland, flavorless, boiled food that would not be appetizing to look at or eat, unaware of the fact that you can use alternatives to mimic the flavors and taste of your favorite dishes. There are many healthy food cookbooks and scrumptious healthy meal recipes that you can find on the internet and follow.
4) Failed diets in the past
A huge chunk of people worldwide go on diets every now and then, follow them vigorously for a brief period of time, and then ultimately quit due to inadequate results.
You have got to understand that it is human to go back and forth and drift away from your path for a while but it is equally important to hop right back on.
Meals and diets have to be in accordance with your body type. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach but a customized nutrition plan for your body that will replenish the missing elements and add the right amounts of vitamins and minerals for proper functioning.
5) Feeling like your target goal is very far away
A lot of folks end up setting unrealistic goals for themselves. Someone who weighs 45 kgs cannot magically gain 20 kgs in one month and someone who weighs 120 kgs cannot lose 30 kgs in a month. It is practically impossible!
If you feel your target goal is very far away, instead of setting unreal expectations, one has to stay on track and look at the bigger picture. Giving yourself time and credit is very important.
You can do it too…
According to various studies :
- 77% of people are striving to eat healthier.
- 45 million adults start dieting each year.
- 20% of dieters manage to maintain long-term weight loss.
- Losing 1–2 pounds a week is considered to be a good weight loss rate.
- During the pandemic, 18% of Americans have lost weight.
- 58% of People feel they need more significant support throughout their weight loss journey
- Women need 1,500 calories a day and men 2,000 calories a day to lose one pound a week.
The Solution
1) Take baby steps
Take small steps. Don’t hurry or rush into your goals. Your body needs time to recoup. We always say years of over and under-indulgence cannot be compensated or fixed in a few days, rather it takes a lot of perseverance, patience, and positivity.
You may feel like it is a huge change, but embracing that change by taking baby steps and monitoring your progress in a sustainable way is very important. Whether your end goal is weight gain, weight loss, weight management, muscle building, or being free from any disease, your goals require a lot of hard work and patience.
2) Seeking help
Seeking help is not something to be ashamed of. Seeking help is ok and frankly recommended. It is always a good idea to diet under the supervision of an expert, someone who knows what they’re doing. Someone who has already helped thousands of others who’ve had similar hurdles like you.
Going on fad diets or self-dieting can be as detrimental as eating unhealthy as it can make you irritable, lose control and ultimately binge eat whatever you have been resisting. Going to see a registered dietitian can help evaluate what your body really needs and work your way up from there.
3) Delicious and Nutritious Healthy Meals
Let's face it, As Indians, food is integrated into all the celebratory, joyous, and happy phases of our lives, and these moments can invite a lot of comfort eating but that does not mean that eating choices are binary. You do not have to eat salad to survive. Nutrition and taste can easily be blended and enjoyed. You can enjoy a balanced diet while still indulging in your favorite foods. Eating ice cream once in a while is not an issue, eating it every day is. You just need to find the right balance.
4) Self-Awareness and Self Improvement
Many times, we shy away from self-improvement due to a feeble voice in our head that reminds us of failure. “ I was not successful earlier, how would I be successful now?”. Mind you, this has no bearing on who you are as a person. It just means that you have to approach the problem and pain points differently this time around. In our experience, accountability, professional guidance, comfort, and lifestyle is a huge advantage people feel when they want to try out a healthy lifestyle.
5) Setting Realistic Goals
Oftentimes when there is a target that is overwhelming, we are hit by a syndrome of analysis-paralysis. Don’t worry, this is no medical condition you have to spare a second for, but an interesting fact on human psychology. Analysis-paralysis means analyzing so much that you ultimately freeze and do not take any action (paralysis). This happens because over-analysis leads to a feeling of overwhelm. Therefore, the way around this is to set smaller yet achievable goals. Example: Losing 3 kg in 3 months, improving blood work readings in 3 months, rather than a collective goal of losing 30 kgs in 1 year.
Slow and Steady wins the race….
We understand that this journey may seem difficult, but any journey without the right guidance and partner is a little wavering. The science behind the nutrition of the human body is not complex, it is just a little tricky. This is the reason professional help can give you the exact results you would want.
Ready for a health revolution? Join us on our mission to transform the nutrition landscape in India! Our diet programs enable people to get to the core of the problem and be the best version of themselves.
At niwi.ai, we have helped thousands of clients transform their lives and feel stronger, more energetic, and definitely more confident in how they look and feel, by improving their relationship with food!