Functional medicine nutritionist Dana James shares how she helps her clients shift their mindset to create healthier eating patterns. For more great tips from Dana, check out her video course, How to Ditch Sugar. As a functional medicine nutritionist and cognitive behavioral therapist, I’m privy to the inner workings of a client’s mind and behavior around food. What trips them up from consistently following a clean diet is not lack of willpower but rather a reflexive action to use food as a distraction, a reward, or to placate an emotion. They might struggle at social events to say no to food for fear of being perceived as a diva. Or their own kitchen may lure them under the falsehood that a cookie is needed for signing off the day. It’s these beliefs (and others) that need to be dismantled if they want the vitality, clarity, and radiance that comes from consistently eating a clean diet. Here are five mental primers I use with my clients to keep them conscious of their food choices: Before you consume something that will derail your clean eating, ask if it’s effective for your goals or ineffective. The choice then becomes more mindful, as opposed to a reflexive rebellious response of “I’ve been good all day; I deserve a treat.” Spend a day writing down your behavioral patterns. What does your day look like and how would you like it to look? What can you do now to move it closer to your ideal? But you also have a neocortex and this is where your consciousness resides. If you pause, this allows time for you to connect with your consciousness to ask, “Is food the right response?” Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t. If you’re tired, sleep. If you’re upset, look at why you’re being triggered. If you’re hungry, eat only if you haven’t eaten in the prior three hours. In my experience with clients, hunger can be real or from chronic emotional emptiness. It can be a clean treat like coconut ice cream or something that is less clean like fries, accompanied by a grass-fed beef or veggie burger. And don’t feel guilty about it. Enjoy it. Then make sure your next meal is clean. For more mind tools, check out my How to Ditch Sugar video course, which delves into the core reasons behind your sugar cravings, including biochemical imbalances and subconscious thought patterns. James created the “How to Ditch Sugar” video series for mindbodygreen. Check out the program here: How to Ditch Sugar. James coaches one on one, runs workshops in NYC and LA, and holds tele-seminars on various topics that help women lead a more beautiful and balanced life. To connect more with James, check out her Instagram account and sign up for her biweekly Sunday-evening emails.
