Why does the 80/20 Mindset revolutionize your thoughts about diets? Are eating habits changing thoughts starting to creep into your mind? Have you already begun telling yourself or a friend how you will take control and start a new life? Planning to run a marathon and give up sugar? At the same time, you think it didn’t get you very far last time, either. But now you have a feeling that this time everything is different. What if I told you I have a method that will carry you through all year round? It’s the 80/20 mindset.
80% balanced choices is good enough
I once discussed the 80/20 mindset in a lecture. It was a full house and I asked my audience: “What do you think the 80/20 nutrition mindset means?” One of the attendees guessed correctly.
After explaining the core idea, I then asked the other participants what they thought of the 80/20 mindset. Everyone in the audience thought the mindset sounded very good, something they could commit to.
The core of the 80/20 mindset is straightforward:
To achieve health benefits, you don’t have to make a 100% perfect and healthy choice every time. It’s enough to make 80% sensible choices weekly. So, for the remaining 20%, you can choose anything you like, even something based on your preferences, not-so-healthy food.
Read more: Healthy snacks from the store
Introducing the 80/20 Nutrition Workbook
So, we at the See How You Eat team are always excited to share our thoughts and those of others (our customers, who shared their stories inside the book) on the benefits of the 80/20 philosophy.
The eBook includes many interesting topics like:
- The Past (thoughts on diet experiments and why they may have been harmful)
- What Progress Looks Like (how and why lasting change is built)
- How our customers have benefited both from the philosophy and the My Plate Coach app
- What to take into consideration now and for the future
- We write how hunger, energy, rhythm, fatigue, balance, mind, indulging, thirst, health, movement, and life situation affect eating
- Also, a few words about self-compassion and life in general are included.
These topics presented in the 80/ 20 Nutrition Workbook for Permanent Balance will surely resonate with those who have struggled with eating for a long time.
The eBook is now available! You can get yours here.
How to Incorporate the 80/20 Mindset into Your Daily Life
Let’s go back to the lecture where I discussed the 80/20 mindset. After my speech, one listener came to talk to me. She said she had received many nutrition advice before. Because the advice had been presented precisely, she felt she couldn’t follow it. The requirement had always been 100%. After hearing the lecture, she thought implementing the 80/20 principle seemed possible. She believed in her ability to make changes.
Are you now nervously thinking about how you can adopt the 80/20 mindset into your daily life?
Don’t worry; it doesn’t require heroic efforts. Just start somewhere. Make one change in your daily routine this week; by the time the new year arrives, it will be a part of your everyday life. Then, you can pick another permanent goal.
The 80/20 mindset helps you achieve both a sustainable balance in your diet and learn to be forgiving of yourself. Strive for good enough – that’s 80%.
I hope you see that 80% is possible for you – because it is! And thinking about next year, you don’t need to promise anything else but to follow this forgiving and inspiring philosophy.
Because starting can be difficult, we created a FREE toolset to get started. If you need more meat around the philosophy, grab the free 80/20 planning forms to support the 80/20 Nutrition Workbook.
So, it makes the 80/20 Nutrition journey easy and inspiring for you.
Marika
Licensed Nutritionist
See How You Eat Team
P.S. If you want to make sure that you are making enough changes to your eating, you can track your 80/20 score weekly with the My Plate Coach app.