I am running an eight-week weight loss challenge at a local company. Everyone is doing great and really working hard to lose weight. As part of the challenge they have a “best practices” seminar that I teach after each weigh-in. Each seminar goes over something to do with health and nutrition. I was talking to one of the participants about balance and learning how to lose weight, and keep it OFF for good, by eating healthy and without starving yourself, over restricting yourself and/or torturing yourself. Not easy. Sometimes we tend to have an all or nothing attitude when it comes to health and wellness.

We live in a world that offers us a plethora of delicious, tantalizing and often unhealthy food. There is a Dunkin Donuts on almost every street corner, pizza and sub shops are a plenty in our suburban towns, candy at the check-out in the craft store and let’s not even talk about the supermarket!

It’s easy to say…I won’t have pizza any more or I won’t have cookies anymore etc. Easy to say….hard to do. The truth is are you willing to live your entire life with NEVER EVER having a piece of pizza again? Or a slice of cake? A brownie? For me the answer is no. I like pizza, cake and brownies. And to be honest with you, I don’t think I could or would want to never eat these things again. Is it all…..or is it nothing? So what do I do?

Enter the 90/10 dietary program. Basically it means that you aim to eat really, really healthy 90% of each day and the other 10% is your discretionary fun food. I like to joke with my seminar participants that many people eat 90% low quality food and throw in an apple as 10% healthy. We want to reverse that! The 90-10 means allowing yourself to live a life of optimal health and nutrition and also of enjoyment and realism. It takes some time to get to the point of eating really healthy 90% of each day, but with practice and patience you can get there.

What does an average 90-10 day look like for me?

Morning:
-Coffee with dash of half and half, stevia
-Oatmeal with almond milk
-Clementine

Mid-Morning:
-LARA Bar, Clementine or 2 slices of apple

Lunch:
-Greek Yogurt
-1/2 Apple OR
-Salad with chicken

Snack:
Cheese stick
Grape Tomatoes

Dinner:
-chicken, soup, turkey tacos, etc.
-lots of veggies

-Treat (this is my 10%)
-snack size pudding or 3 small chocolates

Take 5 minutes and write down what a 90-10 day would look like for you. Remember that it’s what you eat MOST of the time that matters!

Julianne