How to create a minimalist healthy eating plan

Well, it's finally here. After researching, testing, and revising my plan over and over, my guide on how to create a minimalist healthy eating plan is finally ready. This guide is meant to help create healthy eating habits while using the minimalist concept of focusing on what's most important first while letting go of less important things. In this case, what's most important to me in this eating plan is taking care of my health, affordability, and sustainability (meaning that I can follow this plan indefinitely because it's easy to stick to--eco-friendly grocery shopping is long enough to be its own post).

I thought about sharing more specifics of my plan, but decided against it for reasons I'll explain later. However, if you really want to know the details, let me know by sending me an email or commenting on this post. For now, this is a guide on how to create your own plan, because I felt like that would be more beneficial to everyone than seeing what I eat.

Since this is a post about health, I have to throw some disclaimers in here: I'm not a medical professional or a dietitian. And even if I was, I'm not your healthcare professional and don't know anything about your personal health needs. So keep in mind that what I say in this article is my opinion based on what I've found works best for my body, is for entertainment purposes only, and is not meant to be medical advice. You should always check with your own healthcare providers when making changes to your diet. Or something like that. You get the picture.

Here's what to look forward to in this post:

1. Make your goals
2. Add in more of the good stuff
3. Stop what isn't working
4. Re-evaluate
5. Some bonus tips

Oh, and if you want to save this post for later, you can pin it with this link.

1. Make your goals

As with any minimalist transition, I think it's important to know what you're aiming for. Just saying "I want to be healthier" is vague enough that you might not even know if you reach your goals. 

Also, I kinda dislike the word goals. I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on things, which for me, means that I'm likely to revolt and go in the opposite direction because I'm just stubborn that way.

Try to lead me, I'll resist.

If this is you too, then think of it like deciding what you want out of this change and then making decisions based on your desires instead of making goals. 

Lastly, I don't consider this a diet. For me, this is a lifestyle change. So it's not about how quickly I complete the changeover.

If you care, here are my "goals" or desires with this eating plan:

• Better digestion. I know since I've been eating more take-out, it's definitely affected my stomach.
• Better energy. I have a tendency to eat a lot at once and then not eat again for a long time, which makes my energy levels uneven during the day. So this plan is not just about what I eat, but also about when/how I eat.

That's about it. I know when I mentioned creating this plan before, I talked about having gained a few pounds, but I'm not doing this to lose weight. I'm more concerned about the health implications behind weight gain--from what I've read, virtually everyone who is overweight is malnourished. Someone can eat a lot, but that doesn't mean they are getting proper nutrition. Of course, this is usually true for people who are underweight as well. 

So my goal is to eat healthfully and increase my nutrient intake. As a side effect, my weight should change, which would indicate that I'm eating what my body needs. If it still doesn't change or I don't feel any better, then I probably need to see a doctor about my digestion. Either way, I'm using my weight as an indicator of nutrient absorption. 

I purposely didn't post this in the spring or the beginning of the summer (for my hemisphere) because I didn't want to follow the trend of posts about getting ready to look good on the beach. I also didn't choose to wait until around the end of the year to follow the New Year's Resolution trends. That's because I don't want to encourage people to engage in unhealthy behaviors or do things because of peer pressure. This is not about weight loss, getting skinny, or looking good in selfies.

Also, if you're looking for a detailed meal plan, this post is not about that. Remember, this is how to create a plan, not what the plan is. I'll explain why I don't give all the details of my own plan in section 5 of this post. Now, on to how to create a minimalist healthy eating plan.

2. Add in more of the good stuff

Once you have your aspirations all lined up, the next thing to do is start changing how you eat.

The difference between my healthy eating plan and a "diet" is that this plan is mostly about adding more healthy foods, while a diet usually has you cut out foods so you can lose weight or meet some other goal.

Since I want better digestion, I slowly added in more fiber. I did this slowly, because adding too much at once usually causes more digestive problems. I generally don't count calories or check on my nutrient intake on a daily basis, but I do check in periodically. The restaurant and processed food I was eating were low in fiber. I decided on some easy, affordable ways to increase my fiber intake that I enjoy. This included eating more kale, Granny Smith apples, beans, and homemade popcorn. I also started adding more fiber to smoothies and baking. I do this by sneaking in ground flaxseed and pumpkin puree. Not only are these great binders, but they really don't change the flavor either in the correct quantities. You just have to either switch them out for another element in the recipe, adjust your ratios, or start with a recipe that already has them.

As an added bonus, adding fiber fills you up more than less fibrous foods. This helps with my second goal or aspiration, which is better energy. It helped almost by accident. Because I'm full faster, I eat smaller meals. But then I can eat another meal a while later instead of waiting for 6 or 8 hours. Eating more frequent, smaller meals give me more consistent energy than larger, fewer meals.

Meal prepping also helps with this goal. I'd get really annoyed if I had to make meals from scratch 5-6 times per day. But by prepping one dish and eating it in small amounts several times per day, I'm just reheating. I supplement the prepped dish with snacky foods like popcorn, or an apple with nut butter, alternating between snacks and "meals."

3. Stop what isn't working

The good part about adding in healthier foods first is that if you focus on eating more of them, you end up with less room for unhealthy foods. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider what else you might need to remove. After paying attention to what I eat and how it affects me, I decided there are a few things I needed to stop doing.

First, eating takeout. You just never know everything that goes into a meal made in a restaurant, but it's likely to contain a lot of the following: oil/grease, sugar/sweeteners, salt, and ingredients that come from packages (processed foods with weird man-made products). None of those things make my stomach very happy.

Bloating. The struggle is real.

Second, eating frozen or prepared foods at home. Just like restaurant foods, there's a bunch of potential digestion-ruiners in prepared meals. I suspect that preservatives and other chemicals also bother my GI tract. I've taken to making my own versions of various condiments and sauces that are easy to make, cheaper than the bottled stuff, and minus all the unpronounceable ingredients.

Third, eating anything that doesn't resemble real food. My main goal at home is to eat foods that come in the most natural form possible. I'm not aiming for 100% whole foods, but relatively close. For example, of all the pastas out there, I digest the kind made only from brown rice best. So I'm not foregoing pasta, but I don't buy any kind made of wheat, corn, quinoa, beans, soy, or konjac.

4. Re-evaluate

Food is such a big deal to most people. It's a large part of social interaction, cultural identity, and also can carry a lot of stigma and shame. Any or all of these factors might be in opposition to your goals with a healthy eating plan. If you find this happening, you can decide if there are ways to compromise or do things differently. You can also ask people that you eat or buy food with to support you. Tell them you're trying to eat healthier and ask if they want to do it with you, or if they can at least help you stay on track by not tempting you with unhealthy foods.

Also, you can see if the changes you've made are helping you get to where you want to be. Keep in mind that if you've been eating a certain way for a long time, it may also take a long time to see any difference. Manage your expectations accordingly.

5. Some bonus tips

Just like everything else in this blog, this isn't a guide for making drastic changes quickly. This is about making small changes slowly so you don't get shell-shocked and give up. 

Each step listed above was a change I made and eased into gradually. I've seen videos of people who decide to quit sugar for 30 days. They take everything with sugar in it and throw it out and quit cold turkey. My plan isn't devised for a sprint, it's a marathon. So I eliminated foods I no longer wanted to eat by using them up little by little until they were gone. Then, I didn't buy anymore. This method works great for avoiding withdrawals or cravings, too.

This is of course not to say that I won't ever eat out again, or have any processed food. That's just unrealistic, considering every once in a while I'll want to take a break from cooking everything myself. I just know that eating a lot less of these foods will make me feel better, and also be more affordable. 

The reason why I didn't show my full meal plan is because what works for me is not necessarily going to work for you. Everyone's body is different, so copying everything I do isn't a blueprint for success. I think we can all agree that certain things, like processed foods, are not the healthiest. But beyond that, I think each person has to observe how what they eat affects them and react accordingly.  

Something else I read is that you shouldn't start a new diet and exercise program at the same time. If you aren't getting proper nourishment, then you'll be more prone to injury. So starting to exercise (or exercising more vigorously) while also messing with how you eat is a bad idea. I haven't stopped exercising completely, but I'm only doing some walking and very gentle strength/stabilizing exercises right now. 

That last thing I want to say is an acknowledgment that I don't think there's anything groundbreaking about this guide. It's mostly common sense. However, I think what's different is the idea that you don't change everything at once and that you're trying to live life differently for a long time, not just do a crash diet for quick results. Becoming healthier doesn't happen overnight.