19 Steps to Establish
Healthy Eating Habits and Routine

1.) FIRST begin to EAT LESS to shrink your stomach.

A smaller stomach needs less food to feel satisfied. Establish a routine of eating 3x to 5x a day. Replace the term ‘meals’ with the idea of ‘times of eating’ to think smaller portions. Eat a satisfying morning portion to activate your metabolism. Eat your biggest portion mid-day. Eat your smallest portion at the end of the day, so that the body burns excess fat while you sleep.

2.) NEVER STARVE yourself.

Starving yourself can cause adverse reactions and an intense craving to overeat.

3.) Drink plenty of fresh clean water in small doses per day.

Too much liquid at once causes the flexible stomach to again become extended. Imagine when you go to the bathroom as flushing out unnecessary fats and toxins from your body.

4.) Eat at about the same time per day.

The body is intelligent. The body likes routine and recognizes it will not be starved.

5.) Stop eating 4 hours before going to sleep at night.

Excess fat reduction and stomach shrinking happens best while sleeping. Replace evening thoughts of hunger with thoughts of all the times you’ll be eating tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day.

6.) Learn what it means to you to feel COMFORTABLY SATISFIED.

It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to signal you. Eat slow enough to learn your feeling “I’m hungry” and your feeling “I’m comfortably satisfied”.

7.) EATING MINDFULLY which means being in the moment.

When it is time to eat, make it a wonderful self-rewarding and satisfying ritual. Put your undivided attention on the joy of eating. Never eat on the run, in the car or watching TV. Eat sitting down at a table with your food on a plate or in a bowl. Eat very slowly and take time to enjoy each bite, all the delightful aromas, flavors and textures. Eating very slowly and mindfully reduces the urge to overeat.

8.) Reduce an average of 1 to 3 lbs. per week.

Make it reasonable and comfortable for yourself by reducing no more than 8 pounds per month. The first couple of weeks of weight reduction is usually water weight. Extreme weight reduction in a short period of time can suggest starvation or deprivation to the body and set up defense mechanisms.

9.) Get rid of the scale.

Notice how your clothes fit instead of what you weigh. Notice how your body is changing in appearance. Remember muscles weigh more than fat.

10.) EXERCISING and EATING LESS are both important to reduce body fat.

Think of exercising to become physically strong, fit and trim. Think of eating less to trim the body of excess fat.

11.) Limit or eliminate all processed, packaged, artificially preserved and flavor enhanced foods.

Condition your taste buds to enjoy lightly sautéed or fresh raw vegetables, as well as fresh fruit. Fruit provides the natural sugar fructose that the body easily recognizes and digests.

12.) Eat healthy foods rich in protein.

Protein is needed throughout the day to repair all systems and areas within your body.

13.) It takes healthy fats to burn unhealthy fats.

Avoid saturated fats as much as possible. Mono-unsaturated fats help balance digestion and absorption of food. Healthy fats enhance essential vitamin and mineral absorption. Healthy fats stimulate health-providing hormones in the brain. Healthy fats signal your body that you are comfortably satisfied. Essential fatty acids help build the immune system.

14.) Eliminate all processed and artificial sugars.

Artificial sugars cause cravings to eat. Artificial sugars increase anxiety, fatigue, depression and other serious health conditions.

15.) Eliminate excessive carbohydrates.

Eating excessive carbohydrates cause cravings to eat more carbohydrates. Excessive carbs turn into sugar, which turn into stored fat. Excessive carbs lead to physical ill-health, mood swings, low energy and sleep disturbances.

16.) When you are out to dinner divide your dinner in half and put half on another plate.

Make this decision before you begin to eat and prove to yourself you are in control. If you choose to leave uneaten food behind, remember it is less costly than the cost of illness. Think of uneaten food as giving your body a chance to fuel itself by burning excess body fat.

17.) Never look back but always LOOK FORWARD.

Practice daily imagining yourself at your goal size, weight and health. Envision your goal weight. Envision yourself wearing your favorite clothing, looking smart, confident, in-control and successful. Imagine yourself with a wonderful smile on your face expressing confidence, control and success.

18.) Collect photos of yourself when you were at your goal weight, size and health.

Collect photos of yourself or photos of someone realistically representing your goal weight, size and health. Place these photos on your mirror, refrigerator and everywhere you can see them often. Let them condition your mind to what you are now intending as your goal.

19.) Fasting.

Fasting for 24 hours once a week and drinking only clean filtered water allows the body to rebalance naturally, and reverses insulin resistance and inflammation. Another form of fasting is setting up a schedule of fasting 8 consecutive hours per day or as many days as possible per week.