Overhauling your diet

Published by ATM

Overhauling your diet

Revolutionising your eating plan isn’t as dramatic as you might think. Small diet changes can make a big difference to health, fitness and emotional wellbeing. Jo Shinewell explains how.

Have you ever thought about why you perform certain tasks a specific way? What works for you may not work for someone else, but there is often a reason why you do it your way.

Ultimately, we are creatures of habit – especially when it comes to our diet. We buy the same foods, including brands from the same supermarket, prepare the same meals over and over, and gravitate towards a similar eating structure each day.

These habits have dictated how we function on a daily basis and while some people may question their actions and make a necessary change, the majority of us carry on without a thought.

If you are serious about making a change in relation to your diet, it is often due to something occurring circumstantially. This usually occurs as something happens to you medically, emotionally, physically or even psychologically. For some it will be the realisation that unsupportive eating habits are leading to health problems. Others may be spurred on by the sudden realisation that their favourite outfit no longer fits. Perhaps you felt sluggish as you lost a match you’d expected to win.

Without such triggers how would you know if your diet needs an overhaul? Running the daily race does not allow us time to sit back and analyse what we do. The problem is that we get so comfortable in our ways that it’s hard to give up those old habits.

Many people turn to prescribed fad diets as a short cut to making changes. Believe me, there are enough fad diets out there, that regardless of the reason for change, you can find what you need. The concern is that these diets will not exactly fit your lifestyle and therefore will have no longevity, as they will not fulfil all of your requirements.

Here are some tips on what you need to think about if you need to make a change:

  • Make yourself aware of any bad or inappropriate habits around your eating.
  • Understand why they exist.
  • Determine how each habit can be easily changed.

On a practical level once habits have been identified making dietary changes need to be specific in relation to medical, emotional, physical and psychological considerations and goals.

In overhauling your diet, it’s wise to consider:

What are your long-term goals?

What dietary changes are needed to make these changes?

Do you need to learn how to read food labels?

Do you need to improve your preparation of food? This includes:

  • Prepare snacks for each day.
  • Prepare foods to snack and go.

Realistically, how often can you shop?

With the ability to shop frequently or not, how structured can your eating plan be:

  • Do you do one big cook up a week and freeze meals?
  • Can you cook every two days?
  • Can you prepare food every night for everyday?

 

Do you need to improve your cooking skills? This may mean:

 

  • Finding really easy recipes on the internet or in cook books.
  • Undertaking a cooking class.

 

Above all, remember that changing a habit doesn’t happen overnight. If your incentive is to improve your diet for the reasons mentioned above, don’t stress out if you cannot make all the changes you need straight away. Chip away at one change at a time.

Sports dietician for Tennis Australia and the Melbourne Football Club, Jo Shinewell is a food lover, nutritionist and eating coach with a holistic approach to nourishment.

This article first appeared in Australian Tennis Magazine.

Share this: 
  • Most popular articles

24 November 2016

GIG: Djokovic the fastest tennis player in the world

Novak Djokovic is the fastest tennis player on the planet, according to new data from Tenn... More

19 February 2016

Tennis player grunts or porn star groans?

Roberta Vinci appeared on Italian TV and was put to the test - were the grunts she was hea... More

15 September 2016

The 10 most influential players in the history of tennis

The greatest champions, goes the old adage, are those who leave their sport better than th... More

24 May 2016

Preparing your body for clay court tennis

With all eyes on the red clay of Roland Garros, there's plenty that club players can do to... More