My Second Q&A!!
Yikes I dropped the ball on this one :)
OOPS omg. My little ADHD brain forgot that we are doing Q&A’s.
Sometimes I really overthink these Substack posts and then I remember- we are ALL friends here. No need to panic about your little Substack community, Monica!!!
I wanted to throw another Q&A your way to give you something to do other than work today (I won’t tell your boss if you don’t).
I always get such great questions when I do Ask Me Anything posts on Instagram and I am so glad that I finally have a place to jot everything down (aka directly to your cute little inboxes). SO, let’s get started!!!
Q&A:
Question: What tips do you have for being consistent when making changes?
Answer:
Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed with this question. Making changes to your diet/ lifestyle is HARD (and don’t let anyone tell you differently). Rewiring your brain to be consistent with your habits is tough and something that EVERYONE struggles with.
My first piece of advice is to start small. If you try to overhaul your entire life at once, you are going to fail (don’t shoot the messenger). Maybe on your first week of your health journey, you start with a 30 minute walk after dinner. Once you prove to yourself that you can be consistent with that, maybe then you move onto a light meal prep day on Sunday.
Consistency is all about showing your mind that you are capable (that little dopamine spike hits DIFFERENT when you prove to yourself that you can stick with something new).
My second piece of advice is get used to the concept of an “oops” day. Let’s say you set a new goal for yourself to hit 10k steps per day. Sunday rolls around and it’s rainy and maybe you had one too many cocktails the night before and you find yourself laying on the couch a little too long and all of a sudden, OOPS- it’s 8 PM and you have taken 1500 steps (happens to the best of us).
The concept of an “oops” day allows your brain to acknowledge that maybe you did not hit a specific goal today, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t hit the goal tomorrow. People often fall into the trap of the All or Nothing mindset (I did a whole post on this a few weeks back so go check that out). When you fall into the All or Nothing trap, you end up throwing your whole week away just because ONE SINGULAR DAY went a little haywire.
Give yourself an “oops” day and keep going.
Question: What are some good protein sources to get in at breakfast besides eggs?
Answer:
This one is a mindset shift but, there are no such thing as “breakfast” foods in my book.
I am going to expose myself here but I don’t LOVE breakfast food. Like, it’s good but I am almost always going to prefer a turkey sandwich over a plate of eggs. It does not mean that I do not incorporate breakfast foods (I am a dietitian who loves variety, after all). BUT yeah, it’s not my first choice.
If you are also someone who is just off the egg train at breakfast time, I encourage you to incorporate any protein source that you enjoy. This can be greek yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, salmon, tuna, edamame, tofu, etc.
Dinner for breakfast is a thing and you should try it!!
Question: How do you lower bad cholesterol?
Answer:
I want to start this one off by saying an elevated level of LDL cholesterol is often linked to genetics and can take an extended period of time to lower. All changes made to your medications/ diet should be discussed with your doctor if you are someone who has been diagnosed with high cholesterol.
The diet-based approach to lowering your LDL cholesterol is to increase your intake of FIBER (I mean, she is literally that girl- she does it all). The majority of Americans are not reaching their daily fiber intake recommendation (25 g for women, 38 g for men).
Foods that are high in fiber include fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
Some easy ways to increase your fiber:
Eat a serving of berries with your breakfast
Add 1/2 cup chickpeas to your lunch time salad
Opt for a high fiber bread with 3-5 g fiber per slice
Incorporate and apple with a few tablespoons of peanut butter for your afternoon snack (an apple a day!)
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Guys- thank you for being patient with me and getting all the way through my second Q&A!! I hope you have the best weekend of your life and we will chat soon!