Meal Plan: Week 8

Michael continues to do very well with his nutrition, and there are numerous reasons why we feel he's done so well. As mentioned previously, changing nutritional habits can be one of the most difficult things to do when trying to lose weight and get in shape. Often, people are trying to change deeply rooted, life-long habits, and sometimes breaking psychological and/or physiological addictions to food. That's what makes the changes he has made even more impressive, because when Michael came to us, his body was definitely addicted to sugar, fat, processed and fried foods. Michael's love for food, as many of us have, actually provided us with a positive approach, however. How? Well, prepare yourself as I let you in on a little secret, but... it's o.k. to enjoy food. No, really, it's O.K. Shocking, right? I know what you're thinking, but no, eating healthy doesn't have to doom you to a life of foods that taste like bark. In working with Michael and his wife, Audrey, we discovered that they both love to cook and create. This helped us work with them and challenge them to not only find and create new, healthy recipes, but to also find ways to modify some of their favorite recipes to choose better ingredients and make them healthier. They've done a great job of following through on this, and in the long run, it will help these changes stick more permanently, because they are the ones taking part in this process of change. We try to provide them with the education and tools they will need to be successful, but then help support and coach them through the process of actually making these changes stick as new habits and as part of a new lifestyle. We also believe strongly in the philosophy that good nutrition is about eating enough of the right nutrients, in the proper balance. Deprivation is not a word that fits into our nutritional vocabulary very well. In fact, Michael still tells us that he feels strange eating the amount of food we have him focusing on every day, and yet, he still continues to lose weight. We'll discuss next time some of the reasons why, and touch upon another key nutritional topic - Nutritional Supplements.