80/20 Rule...Our Why

Personally, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with food. I’ve never looked at food without having feelings of guilt or regret. When it came to eating, I’ve never really felt free, and I sure didn’t think food had an impact on my overall health. I was wrong! Food can affect your mood, brain health, dental health, skin, joint pain, cardiovascular health, and much more.

I always was chasing the next “diet” thinking I was staying “healthy”. Just saying that word, I start to feel the anxiety that comes with it. The all or nothing approach, the quick fix, which usually lead to me binge eating all the things that, “wasn’t allowed” in the diet and giving up all together. It’s a feeling of being trapped, weighed down, guilt, and shame all these were correlated with my food.

It wasn’t until 2016, when we found out my husband (Brian) was having a sensitivity to gluten and dairy, I finally started to build a better relationship around food. I wanted to be able to enjoy my food and not feel those feelings of guilt after eating that burger and fries. That’s when I accepted our new way of eating. I changed my mindset, it was our new lifestyle, not another “diet.”

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WHAT IS THE 80/20 RULE

We accepted the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time we will eat nutritious whole foods and the other 20% would come from other foods that we can indulge in without compromising our health. It’s all about balance and building that positive relationship with food. The key for the 80 percent is eating real foods: grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, organic as often as possible, and only minimally processed foods (if any at all).

What Experts Say:

"The 80/20 diet approaches healthy eating with a message of moderation—80 percent healthy choices and 20 percent flexibility for less healthy options. Nutrition professionals back this approach, as it’s feasible for all, allows for a variety of foods, and avoids deprivation."

—Chrissy Carroll, RD, MPH

I really found once we accepted this approach with our family, we were able to go out for dinner (which doesn’t happen too often) and enjoy our meal. Also, going on vacation and being able to indulge in some foods without the pressure. Almost always, I actually wanted to get back on track and eat healthy again. Because here's the thing, when you are eating clean you start to feel good, it increases your energy, mood, skin, sleep etc. When I was eating like crap, I wasn’t feeling great. I felt bloated, tired, lack of energy, not sleeping good, my skin was always broken out, I had brain fog, etc. I definitely need all the energy I can get, when it comes to my lifestyle.

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PROS and CONS

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RESOURCES and TIPS

Don’t overindulge on your relaxed days

• Remember even your 20 percent days should be enjoyed in moderation. 20 percent doesn’t mean go eat all the junk food. 20 percent of your food you should be able to enjoy without feeling like you overindulged.

Avoid punishing yourself on your "clean" eating days

• Don’t be hard on yourself, we are human. We are going to want food that isn’t always the best for us. It’s okay, enjoy it.

Exercise

• Exercise balance is key to any lifestyle. This will also help when you consume those extra calories on those 20 percent days.

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FOR THE KIDS

For our family, it is really important that Daxton has a positive relationship with food. Children are like sponges. Kids soak up everything around them including adapting to behavioral patterns that they are around most.

These are five things that we work on daily with Daxton to try to instill a positive relationship around food.

Do not label food as “good” or “bad”

• We often want to label our foods as “good” or “bad.” We want to point out to our children that sugary, fried, or salty foods such as donuts, french fries, cookies, and pizza are “bad” foods and fruits and vegetables are “good” foods. We continue to work on not making a big deal on certain foods that we may not eat all the time (our 20%). We don’t bring any attention to it, we give Daxton that cookie or those chicken nuggets, he eats them and we move on.

Try and Try again

• Children’s taste buds are ALWAYS changing. I know for our family one night Daxton will love a certain food and then the next night he won’t touch it. It’s okay, we just continue to offer food to him and if he wants to try it he will eat it and if he doesn’t he won’t eat it. No pressure on making sure he eats his food. Also, when we are serving something that is new to him, we always serve it with something familiar, so he can have that food to go to if he doesn’t like whatever we are serving.

Get them involved

• Kids love to learn, they are always learning and developing. Daxton is finally getting to an age where he is able to help with preparing food, but he is always in the kitchen working on something when I’m in the kitchen. Sometimes I will just give him a bowl and a spatula on the floor so he can work on his own.

Educate them on healthy living rather than focusing on a healthy weight

• I could talk about this all day and write an entire blog post about this, (which I probably will a little later). The way we speak with our kids about food is the way they are going to perceive food. So if we are having a positive relationship, they are going to imitate our relationship.

Be body positive

• Celebrate all body shapes and sizes, use body-positive language instead of body-shaming language. Kids pick up on your comments and remarks, internalize and repeat them. Give them words worth repeating to others, and to themselves.

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I want everyone to feel amazing and have a healthy relationship with food. Eating clean doesn’t have to be difficult, it doesn’t mean you have to be in the kitchen slaving away for hours nor does it mean you’re locked into a handful of recipes. There are many recipes that you can make or create that are delicious, healthy meals, under 30 minutes. Life should be enjoyed, and good food is a crucial aspect of that.

One thing to take away from this is to take it easy on yourself. Don’t waste your time and energy on negative, unnecessary thoughts around food, build that positive relationship and change that mindset.

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Would this be something that you would instill in your family? Do you have questions about the 80/20 rule. I’d love to hear from you, comment below.