CREATING A NEW LEPTOGENIC WORLD. Part 1 of 2, Edition #19

Last week, we discussed WHICH PHASE ARE YOU IN CURRENTLY? and how to create a structural tension chart for weight management. This week, we present secondary choices (Habits of Health) that will be integral in developing mastery of the MacroHabit of Healthy Weight Management. "CREATING A NEW LEPTOGENIC WORLD"

We live in an obesogenic world. This is a major reason why so many of us struggle with our weight. What if we could create a leptogenic world? Surroundings that help you become thin!

In the next few articles we will focus on making simple yet powerful changes in your surroundings to make healthy choices easier.

Most people think they make poor choices and gain weight because they lack willpower. They feel low and run to food for comfort.

But if we only bought healthy food at the grocery store and it's not close at hand we can instead stop challenge and without any temptation, choose something healthy to eat or an activity on our health path.

In this article we are going to introduce the habit of connecting time and place to coordinate where we are throughout the day and make small but critical changes in your surroundings. We are in essence going to reduce the need to use willpower by creating a new healthy leptogenic world for us.

Let's spend some time and go through our day. We need to consider what we can do in our current day to put obstacles in place and to increase the steps needed to make bad choices. At the same time we need to eliminate some steps to make it easier to make good choices.

There are multiple times during the day and night when we can make interventions. We are going to concentrate on our bedroom, car, workspace, mealtimes, and home (specifically the kitchen, pantry, and living spaces.)

Food environment design in our house

Let's start with the center of food storage, preparation, and serving in your kitchen and pantry. (For examples of which kinds of foods to toss out as well as ones to replace your shelves please send me a direct message.) Here are some basic principles which we will want to write down what we change and whether it's helping us make better choices in our surroundings.

Pantry

The pantry is the place where most processed foods are stored. We will want to eliminate all ultra-processed foods that have sugar or refined flour and as the first few ingredients.

Get rid of tempting foods that could sabotage our healthy eating choices and don't use this time to finish off that bag of cookies we find if we have children or teenagers, this is a great chance to help them eat healthier too. But if we must keep foods for them in the house that don't fit our plan, put them at a low, out of the way cupboard and don't go near them!

Start by getting rid of

• White rice, white flower, white bread, crackers, rice cakes, croutons, and breadcrumbs
• Hydrogenated vegetable oils including hard or semi soft margarine and shortening such as Crisco, and partially hydrogenated oils
• White potato, potato mix, cornmeal, and corn grits
• Refined cereals (whole grain is OK) and flavored oatmeal
• Cookies, candy, cakes, and muffins
• Chips, pretzels, and popcorn

Write down all the things we are throwing out:

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The key reason for writing down all these unhelpful unhealthy foods can be summed up in one sentence: I don't eat these foods because I have chosen to create optimal health and wellbeing in my life.

Going back to our hierarchy of choices we are making secondary decisions because they support what is important to us: optimal health and wellbeing. We're giving your body a gift of health rather than a restriction of instant pleasure.

Now what are some things we can populate our pantry with to replace these unhealthy choices? How about healthy foods such as olive oil, whole grains, high fiber breads and pitas, whole wheat flour, walnuts, almonds, and pistachios, a variety of beans, and different spices and herbs. These are all healthy choices once you have reached your healthy weight.

One last note on choice architecture in our pantry, place the healthiest items at eye level. If we have other family members that are not yet eating healthy request that they place their processed foods either out of sight or in areas which require more work to reach.

Refrigerator

Here's what needs to go from the fridge:

• Whole fat dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cottage cheese, and mayonnaise
• Processed deli meats, bacon, hotdogs
• Sugary sodas and juices
• Beer and wine
• Foods high in calories, fat, or sugar including peanut butter, jellies and salad dressings (except low fat and low calorie)
• Sweet Pickles, relish, ketchup
• Puddings, applesauce

Write down all the things we are throwing out:

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Now fill our fridge back up with:

• Low fat protein sources such as lean chicken and meats, tofu, hummus, and eggs
• Fresh vegetables (and vegetables for the freezer)
• Condiments such as mustard, Pickles, and vinegars
• Mineral water, sparkling water, unsweetened iced tea
• Olives, capers
• Herbs and spices

Freezer

Here's what needs to go from the freezer:

• Fruit with added sugar
• Vegetables with seasoning that contains sugar
• Orange juice, lemonade, and other fruit concentrates
• Bread, rolls, etc
• Frozen entrees containing rice and pasta
• Frozen pizza
• Frozen desserts, ice cream, sorbets, cakes, cookies

Write down all the things we are throwing out:

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Now fill our freezer back up with:

• Frozen vegetables like broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, green beans
• Unsweetened fruits like blueberries, Peaches, raspberries, strawberries
• Frozen shrimp, fish, seafood without sugar slash sugar sauces
• Lean beef, poultry
• Veggie burgers from soy, beans, no grain, potato or sugar

Next week we will pick up with preparation and storage and other design ideas in our kitchen surroundings. We'll also go over how to create a healthier environment in our car, at restaurants, even in our bedroom!

Meanwhile, #stayhealthymyfriends

#healthyhabitheroes