Ever wonder why weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle can be so challenging? Let's talk about The Gap between American food culture and a healthy lifestyle.
First let's paint a picture of a typical day of eating:
Breakfast: Grande Iced Mocha Latte + Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese
Snack: 1/2 cup of Mixed Nuts
Lunch: Restaurant Chicken Caesar Salad Snack: Yogurt Parfait with Granola Dinner: 1 Glass of Red Wine & Moderate Calorie Restaurant Meal Snack: 3 Cups of Skinny Popcorn
Overall, that looks like a pretty healthy day, however when adding together the average calories it equates to almost 3000 calories. This amount of calories is well above the typical maintenance calories for most individuals. Many of us work office jobs and unfortunately have a more sedentary lifestyle, so we aren't expending enough calories/energy to justify taking in that many calories, so eventually, this could lead to weight gain. What leads to additional frustration is that many of the foods would be considered "healthy" so while attempting to make good choices, our food culture causes it to backfire, which is endlessly frustrating.
This is the first part of the The Gap.
The second part is many of us are not taught the skills needed to live a healthy lifestyle. While willpower, determination, drive, etc. are incredibly important, the basis of implementing a healthy lifestyle, especially long term is a skill. Learning to read a label, pay attention to hunger cues, create yummy + nutritious meals... these are all skills we often aren't educated on. Having the skills and tools to implement a healthy lifestyle is a key aspect of long term change because it helps you make empowered food choices that feel good to you.
What's the importance of making empowered food choices? There's a restaurant that has a salad that has 2230 calories, a burger with 1950 calories, a breakfast burrito with 2730 calories, and this list could go on & on.... Going to the grocery store, there are an endless amount of choices with so many food label and marketing claims it is exhausting to navigate what they all mean.
With these two things combined, it can very quickly and easily lead to weight gain and/or an unhealthy lifestyle, and often times, it can be completely unexpected because it feels like good choices are being made but that gap makes it incredibly hard, if not impossible to navigate without a bridge.
This is where working with a health coach can make a difference. Not only are you getting a meal plan to help you work toward a goal, you also are learning the skills needed to bridge that gap and make decisions that feel good to you in an empowered way. You don't have to question everything and constantly struggle.
Want to learn more about The Gap and how to build your own personalized bridge, schedule a free consultation today!
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