Truths You Must Embrace To Have Sustainable Healthy Eating Habits

​There are so many diets and healthy eating plans out there. I find it very confusing! Even when I talk to nutritionists I refer patients to it’s become very clear that there are different thought camps on how to approach healthy eating and weight loss. The attitude seems to always be I’m right, they’re wrong. You have to do what I say to lose weight and be healthy. There’s no other way. 

Having been overweight most of my life, I’ve tried nearly every diet. I’ve done low carb/keto, raw vegan, plant based, intermittent fasting, I’ve had weight loss surgery, I’ve had healthy meals delivered to the house, I’ve done commercial diets like weight watcher and Jenny Craig. I’ve done a 5 days juice cleanse and a 48 hour water fast. I’ve had colonics and used detox tea. I’ve lost and gained HUNDREDS of pounds. 

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I thought when I went to medical school I’d learn everything I needed to know to be thin. I was extremely disappointed when I learned that there is a lot of conflicting research about nutrition and with time new studies come out that dispute past studies. Many of the research studies aren’t necessarily done rigourously. 

Despite the above confusion I had managed to maintain a 40kg weight loss for a number a years with the help of weight loss surgery and then diet and exercise lifestyle modifications that varied year to year.  That was until I got breast cancer and gained 30kg from the steroid loading, lack of physical activity due to fatigue and eating mainly a high carb diet as that’s all my body could keep down due to nausea.
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When I entered the survivorship phase and first met with a plastic surgeon about breast reconstruction and he told me I had to lose 30Kgs to get breasts again. I was devastated. I thought here we go again! He also told me that I would have to maintain that weight loss for life or could have problems with my surgical scars. I felt like after all I’d been through over the last year of fighting for my life, I didn’t know if I had it in me to start another weight loss journey. I also doubted my ability to maintain a normal weight as I hadn’t ever done it long term before. But I knew being obese increased my risk of breast cancer recurrence…substantially. I knew the stakes were high so I had to try to lose weight. ​

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Deeply rooted in the reasons why I wanted to lose weight I began my journey. This time it was different, I think because I felt like if I didn’t succeed I would die. The focus was also way more on lifelong weight maintenance than just getting the weight off. I had to lose the weight but also develop habits I could maintain for life.

I again cycled through all of the different dietary approaches. As I did, something liberating happened. Instead of trying to follow each diet to the T, I viewed the dietary approach as tools and principles to apply to my own unique life.

I also listened to my body more.

What did it need?
What types of food and workouts did I drop more weight with?

I took time to be still and introspective with mindfulness meditation.
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What was at the core of the issue?  

I had to accept that my body could not handle processed foods and sugar well and that I was addicted to sugar. It didn’t matter what healthy eating approach I took, if I didn’t deal with my sugar addiction it would be doomed to fail. Acknowledging my sugar weakness was key to establishing rituals and safety nets to help me make better choices. It was no longer a matter of “willpower”. If cookies were in the house I would eat them, and it wouldn’t be one cookie a day it would be five because of the way my body responded to and processed sugar. 

In the end I combined weight watchers with intermittent fasting, lowered my carbs, and ate a mainly plant based diet with some occasional chicken or fish. I embraced the principles in the dietary research that were undeniable (fruits and veggies are vital, avoid processed foods) and listened to my body to guide the rest of my choices.  This has been my journey.

I hope you have the courage to chart your own path, get informed, listen to your body and do what’s right for you.  Over the years I’ve learned from my personal experiences and the experience of my patients who have shared their weight loss journey’s with me. ​

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During this time a number of truths about healthy eating have become obvious. I will share them with you below. 

1. Eating fruits and vegetables is vital to your health
2. Avoiding sugar and processed foods is vital to your health 
3.You need a calorie deficient to lose weight 
4. Processed foods and in particular sugar impacts the rewards system in brain in the same way as addictive drugs and for many people eating these addictive substances long term in moderation is just not possible. If this is you then self-awareness in this area and avoiding trigger foods will be key to your success.
5.There’s no one size fit’s all model only healthy eating principles to tailor to your specific life situation and genetics.
6. Recommitting to healthy eating every day for the rest of your life in whatever form that looks like is key. 
7. The focus has to be on sustainable healthy habits more often than not, not perfect eating habits all the time.
8. Some days you will utterly fail to eat as healthy as you know you should and that’s OK. These are the days that loving yourself unconditionally matters even more.
9. What your diet looks like to maximise your health may change over time as your bodies nutritional needs evolve with ageing. 
10. Long term change is possible with consistent effort and there’s power in never losing hope.