In order to produce the podcast and keep content up free for you, I work with partners so this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more info.
We've seen the scale creep up over the last 3 years and we've had enough.
We want to be healthier and we're going to encourage one another.
Changing Our Diet
Now, I’m not talking about switching to all salads and water, but I am talking about making small calculated changes to what you eat over a long period of time.
We understand that although the total number of calories we eat certainly impacts our health (eating less will make you lose weight), WHAT we eat is just as important, if not more so.
– Steve @NerdFitness
We knew that adjusting our diet and changing our eating habits were going to be mandatory for success. We've both been reading books and websites on the subject to get some general guidelines. Food Inc with it's DVD, website, and book combo offered some more information on the quality of food we should be putting into our bodies and more healthy tips.
Adjusting Our Grocery List to improve our diet
I think a huge step for us in adjusting our groceries is we now try to read the labels before we buy. We've glanced on them occasionally, but we lazily relayed on the package cover to give us our information.
We're going to have to adjust our shopping list and I'm going have to do a grocery price book to reflect the new items we pick up now.
Drinking More Water and Switching Our Milk
We've never been big soda drinkers, but we love drinking juices. We would go through a ton of juice throughout the week. What we've done is cut back on drinking so much juice and tried to incorporate more water into our routines. I carry a water bottle some days to help me stay on goal.
After a couple weeks, it's become a habit and I want to have more water. That's good news as I'm reducing calories and saving a little bit of money on our grocery bills.
We've also tried some different milk options than the whole milk we've been using. First we did the 2% choice and it was alright. I didn't like the taste. We've had lactose free milk which was a bit sweet, but it tasted pretty good.
We heard from some friends to try our almond milk and I was amazed by how much I love it. We use it for cereal and put some in our coffee.
If you want to see the difference between all your milk options, FitSugar has a great chart to check out.
I will say that I wish almond milk was a bit cheaper and readily available.
Making Breakfast a Routine
Having breakfast as part of our morning routine is an adjustment. Too often we're grabbing coffee (or maybe a smoothie if we have time) and get started with the day.
We need to have our weekday morning be more like our weekend morning, which means having a solid breakfast.
Since time is an issue, we decided to have a cold cereal option to help us. We kept reading how skipping breakfast can sabotage your blood sugar and hinder weight loss.
Having a good breakfast can increase your energy level and reduce your chances of gorging later.
We bought Kashi GOLEAN Crunch to help us have a quick breakfast option in the morning.
My husband has enjoyed Shredded Wheat, so this may not have a big deal for him. My preferred cereals, however, were Cap'n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles.
(Actually put Cap'n Crunch on my wish-list for my bridal shower. Seriously.)
I was really hesitant to switch over and eat it, but I knew I had to change my habits.
It's definitely an acquired taste, but it's much better than what I thought it would be. It reminds me slightly of Smacks, but with almond milk, it comes across much better.
Some benefits to having the GoLEAN Crunch for breakfast includes:
- 9g Protein
- 8g fiber
- 17g of whole grains
Anything that can jump-start my day on a healthy kick is welcomed. I also have used it as a snack and put some natural vanilla yogurt with it to help me with my sweet tooth cravings.
I noticed that for the cereal's webpage many people find this too sweet, but I disagree. I think Kashi should keep it the same to help sweet cravers make the leap to healthy options.
Cutting Back on Buying Snacks
As we've all heard, junk food is waste of calories and doesn't have any real benefits for you.
Like I mentioned before, I love sweets and I had a habit of buying sweets as part of my grocery routine. What I try to do now if reduce the frequency of getting junk food when I go to the store.
When we grocery shop together, this is less of an issue and we've done pretty well with it. This is a problem area for me though and I think it'll be some time before I say I'm happy with my shopping habits.
Your Thoughts on Eating Healthy as a Couple
What are you guys doing to eat better? What has been the hardest change? What has been an easy adjustment for you?