Summer has its fair share of nutritional hurdles to overcome. Between meeting friends on patios, camping trips, cottaging and vacations, sticking with a healthy eating and activity routine in the summer can be tough.

Let’s face it, sometimes having fun becomes more important than our health and fitness goals. While we (successfully) help many of our clients navigate summer fun while still attaining their goals, we know that not everyone has stuck with their original healthy summer goals.

Did you ‘fall off the wagon’ with healthy eating this summer?

Sometimes ‘falling off the wagon’ lasts a few days, or a few weeks. However, your long-term weight loss and health success is not measured by how hard you fall, but rather by how many times you get back up and hop back on the wagon.

Are you looking to take control back over your healthy eating, but not sure where to start?

Here are some suggestions to help you get back on track:

Accept and forget. Stop punishing yourself! Accept that you fell off the wagon and get over it. You’ve proven that you can succeed before, so prove it again.

Allow for some wiggle room. Black and white thinking, such as ‘potatoes are bad. I ate a potato, so I am bad’ sets you up for failure. Instead, think ‘broccoli is healthier than potatoes, but I really want a potato, so I am going to have broccoli and a bit of potatoes.’ If you overindulge, make up for it in the gym!

Get back to the basics. What were your keys to success? Preparing meals every Sunday? Eating an afternoon snack so that you’re not starving in the evening? Remember your habits that worked for you when you were doing and feeling your best and reintroduce these habits.

Find something new. Don’t forget the basics, but sometimes boredom can lead people to fall off the wagon. Discover new spices and recipes. Go to a different grocery store – you may find new ingredients! Here are some suggestions:

• Try new proteins: tempeh, bison meat, turkey breasts, halibut, trout, venison, the list goes on.
• Try new veggies: add zucchini, spaghetti squash, red peppers, beets, daikon, and artichokes.
• Spice things up: Add cayenne pepper to your chicken, put cinnamon on your sweet potatoes, add orange rind, ginger and nutmeg to your oatmeal, chop fresh herbs into your spinach salad.

Or maybe you just need a new challenge to get you going with healthy eating?

Conquering a small challenge can help build your ‘muscle’ and help to overcome other, larger challenges. Here are some ideas for getting started:

1. Try one-week plant-based
2. Go 30 days without an alcoholic beverage
3. Run at least 3 km per day for 30 days (see if you can do 100 km in a month!)
4. Only eat homemade food for one week

Ask for help. We can all use a coach at some point. Whether it’s relying on a friend or partner to get back to the gym with you, finding a personal trainer, ordering a healthy meal delivery service, or coming to see a Registered Dietitian (RD), know when you need a little extra push and don’t be afraid to ask for it!

Lastly, and most importantly, START NOW! Like right this minute! Think of something that you can do today to start working back towards your health goals!

If you’d like to talk to a registered dietitian about your healthy eating goals, request a free 20-min call to discuss how we can help: https://nutriprocan.ca/free-consultation/.