Mindful Diet: Plans for May

Post written by Leo Babauta.

So April is now gone, and if all is well, many of you have now formed at least the start of a mindful eating habit. If not, don’t worry — you’ll get a second chance in May!

The Mindful Diet will be a two-month course, and in May we’ll be focusing on two things:

1. Either creating a new healthy eating habit (more below), or renewing focus on creating a mindful eating habit if you think you need it.
2. Learning about healthy eating (as opposed to mindful eating) — incorporating veggies, learning about various healthy foods, losing weight, diet & exercise, and so on.

Some things to expect in this 2nd month of the Mindful Diet:

1. Webinars – I will hold healthy eating live webinars on two Mondays (5/7 and 5/21).
2. Videos – I’ll attempt one or two videos on cooking healthy food in my kitchen.
3. Success stories – I have a couple good success stories that I’ll share.
4. Losing weight, gaining muscle, and getting healthy
5. Simple & frugal – how to keep things simple, fast & cheap but still healthy
6. How to beat food addictions
7. Junk food, fast food, convenience food
8. Exercise vs. diet

Habits to Choose From

In this second month, I recommend you choose one of the following habits to form each day:

• Mindful eating – if you didn’t successfully form a mindful eating habit this past month, you can take a second (or perhaps first) shot at it this coming month.
• Veggies – add some delicious veggies to one meal.
• Healthy breakfast – choose a healthy breakfast option and make that your habit.
• Water or (unsweetened) tea – if you regularly drink a beverage with calories, try replacing it with water or tea.
• Meal plan – if you are fairly good at healthy eating already but want to lose a few pounds, try creating a meal plan and sticking to it 5 out of 7 days.
• Lower grains – While I am not a proponent of Paleo eating, I do think most people could cut out processed/refined grains. Try eating meals with no grains (maybe with some beans instead) or whole and unprocessed grains such as brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats or bulgur wheat.
• Lower meat – try eliminating red meat one meal a day, and focusing on fish or vegetarian meals.
• Fruits – if you normally eat sweet snacks, try eating fruits instead when you get a sweet-snack craving.

These are just ideas — you could find another healthy eating habit to form. Be sure to log it in the Mindful Eating Habit Tracker and discuss your new habit in the forum.

I look forward to talking and working with you more on healthy eating habits!