Eat Well. Get Healthy. Lose Weight.

Nutrition is vital to your New Year’s goals

Nutrition and fitness go together like all-natural peanut butter and jam. While increased activity through exercise will accelerate your fitness journey, you can’t out-exercise poor nutrition.

Nutrition accounts for 80% of any healthy lifestyle goal, with the other 20% coming from your genetics and exercise regimen. When you start giving your body the fuel it needs to perform properly, the fat that no longer needs to be stored is let go. Eating fresh (Farm to Table or Clean Eating) is a great way to make sure you’re getting the right nutrients needed to fuel your body.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are key to weight loss.

What does it mean to eat fresh?

Let us start what it’s not: Eating fresh foods is not a diet. It does not involve omitting foods or counting calories, and it most definitely doesn’t focus on starving yourself. Fortunately, it also doesn’t necessarily require a full meal plan and prep system, just some planning on how best to use fresh ingredients in what you are making.

Eating fresh foods centers around eating foods that are minimally processed and lack artificial ingredients like added chemicals, sugars, and preservatives. Essentially, you’re cutting out anything fake and sticking to grown-from-the-ground nutrients.

Once you switch to eating fresh for most or all of your meals, your grocery list will start to look a lot different. The convenience-friendly, processed foods will shrink away and your fridge and pantry will be packed with raw, whole foods like colorful fruits and veggies, lean proteins like chicken, and healthy fats like olive oil. Eating fresh foods doesn’t mean cutting calories. Using fresh ingredients naturally allows you to fill your mealtimes with simple ingredients and healthy dishes that naturally are lower in calories and higher in nutrients.

Following other plans?

That is ok. Low carb, WW, Keto, etc. doesn’t matter for this thread. Use it as you need to follow the plan you are on. The goal is to develop and stick to our meal plans. We will talk about what we are eating, recipes we are using, portion size, motivations, etc. After all, we are what we eat. It is time to start eating healthy. Fresh foods for a fresh start to the new year. Plan to spend some time each week to work on your menu plans and grocery lists. Our plans are only as good as the time we are willing to spend on it.

Weigh-ins are due every Friday in January.