Letting go of the all-or-nothing mentality
The diet culture has created an unrealistic definition of health and well-being which makes you feel like a failure when you don’t eat healthily or skip a workout session.
Do you think that you need to eat healthy all the time or commit an hour a day to workout or there is no point? If that sounds like you, you might have an all-or-nothing mentality.
In fact, eating healthy 100% of the time or having spent that kind of time for a daily workout is quite a bit of luxury for many of us these days.
In this blog post, I will share how an all-or-nothing mentality might be affecting your health goals and how to let go of this mentality to be able to sustain healthy habits lifelong.
Eating healthy or exercising regularly is about consistency and balance, not about all or nothing.
Embrace living in the gray area.
All or nothing mentality hinders you from making progress, holds you back from achieving your goals and reaching your full potential in life.
When you think in all-or-nothing terms, everything—from your view of yourself to your life experiences—is divided into black-or-white. This leaves very little room for the gray area.
Living in the gray area means accepting that all foods in moderation can be part of a balanced and healthy diet. It means learning to incorporate the food you normally don’t allow yourself to eat. It means eating in a way that is flexible enough to be sustainable.
Aim balance, not perfection.
Let’s be realistic. Life is full of ups and downs. We all have bad days although it may not seem like that on our social media accounts. We all go through challenges in our relationships or in our careers. And those are the times that we need more balance in our lives.
Balance looks different for everyone. Your lifestyle, background, age, body, eating habits, and the food culture you grew up with are completely unique and that’s exactly why balance in your diet or in your workout routine might be completely different than someone else’s balance definition.
A balanced life should make you feel energized, motivated, and full of joy – not guilty, stressed, overwhelmed, or like a failure.
If you are a working woman or a busy mom, you may not have time to workout 5 times a week. But guess what, you don’t have to! Even a 20 min workout a day three times a week is totally okay! You are still going to feel much better than not moving at all. 1 is greater than 0, right?
Or let’s say you’ve had a piece of cake a.k.a a “bad food” and you feel like you have already fallen off the wagon. So, you decide to eat the entire cake and start eating healthy the next day.
This type of binary thinking keeps you from creating a healthy balance in your diet and eating in moderation and sabotages your healthy eating efforts.
In nutrition, there is no such thing as perfectionism. When you expect some sort of divine perfection in your eating habits, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Every meal gives you an opportunity to make healthy choices. If you continue to eat unhealthy foods since you already ate one unhealthy meal, you will most likely feel even worse.
Shift your focus from eating perfectly all the time throughout the week to eating healthy the majority of the time.
Pause, notice and gently move on.
All-or-nothing eating tells us that tomorrow, Monday, or New Year’s is the best time to restart.
However, if you no longer believe that it’s all-or-nothing, then you can restart any hour, any minute, or any bite. Put the past in the past and move into the now– the only time we can actually modify our behavior.
Anytime you realize you are giving up, pause and notice the all-or-nothing pattern that you are about to fall in. Then, gently move on and make a better choice for your next meal.
When you do this simple awareness/mindfulness practice every time, you will start to break the vicious cycle and your brain will begin to get used to this new way of thinking. And you will gain more self-confidence in achieving your health goals.
If you need more personalized, 1:1 support and guidance on letting go of the all-or-nothing mentality, healing your relationship with food, and creating a healthy and balanced life without dieting, I am here to help you. You can book a free consultation session with me to hear how I can help you and see if we are a good fit.
Love♥
Selen
