Is Facebook making you fat?

In the past few months, my Facebook feed has gotten more divisive.  My friends align themselves into two camps.  And this is happening no matter the issue.  Mask vs. no mask… pro-Trump vs. never-Trump… paint your fence vs. let your fence age naturally (when did we start arguing about fences?)  Life does not have to be this way, and in fact, life should not be this way.  All-or-nothing thinking is a distortion we use to analyze events. Ultimately, this way of thinking causes us to feel worse about our circumstances.

Here is an example from our gym.  Our athletes are required to wear a mask when they arrive.  Their coach will direct them to a place in the gym to workout.  Once in their training area, athletes can remove their masks.  After the workout, athletes need to wear their masks again when they leave.  Are we “mask” or are we “no mask?” The truth is we are both depending on the circumstances.

Here’s how all-or-nothing thinking is sabotaging your nutrition. You know that eating lean meat, vegetables, and some fruit is healthy. You spend a couple of hours on Sunday preparing healthy meals for you and your family to eat throughout the week. Except for a “couple of hours” turns into the entire afternoon, and the vegetables you prepared on Sunday were mushy on Thursday. The next week, you tell yourself that “eating healthy” wasn’t worth it, and you and your family eat fast food every night for dinner.  

The truth is you have other options.  Ideally, every meal has a healthy lean protein.  Chicken, fish, pork, and Greek yogurt are excellent choices.  One option would be to season and then grill four chicken breasts, four pork chops, and one salmon filet.  Your total prep time, considering seasoning and cooking, would be under an hour.  Your main course for several meals would be ready to eat during the week.  FYI… you can find seasoning ideas on our website: www.BlueEagleFitness.com/recipes

Does this mean every dinner for the week would be perfect? No! But perfection is not the goal.  Eating a little healthier than last week is the goal.

If snacking is sabotaging your goals, then we have another plan of attack.  At the grocery store (or preferably the local Farmers’ Market), buy several different fruits and vegetables.  Be sure to choose a variety of different colors; we call this “eating the rainbow.” At home, set a timer for one hour.  The timer will keep you focused.  Spend your one-hour slicing and dicing your fruits and veggies. Place a handful of what you prepared into separate containers or baggies.  Now you have made most of your snacks for the week.

Life need not be “all-or-nothing.” Finding middle ground and making small improvements while still valuing our effort is how we can live longer, happier, and healthier lives.