It’s almost the New Year, and for many people, January 1st becomes a day to forget the busyness of the holidays, start a fresh new year, and focus on developing some new, healthy habits for the rest of the year.
After all of the eating involved in the holidays from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, many folks find themselves wanting a healthy, easy-to-follow plan for eating to drop pounds and feel better.
There are lots of eating plans out there, but which one is the best for you? Here’s a brief summary of two of the most popular eating plans on the internet right now–Whole30 and Keto.
Whole30
No doubt you’ve seen someone posting about their Whole 30 journey, and wondered what in the world it was. In a nutshell, the Whole 30 eating plan is focused on 30 days of eating whole foods, establishing a new habit and overcoming food dependencies.
So what exactly can you eat on this eating plan? A lot–veggies, eggs, fruits, meats, and nuts can all be enjoyed. Many root vegetables such as potatoes and sweet potatoes are also included. What’s not on the list? Grains, dairy, or any sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and sugar.
According to the founder, this eating plan is not so much meant to be a lifestyle as it is to be a “reset” to identify foods that may be potentially causing some health issues, and breaking the emotional bondage to food that many have.
This is a great eating plan for someone who wants to detox off sugar, white flour, and dairy, but doesn’t want to starve themselves. The weight loss will be slower for some, especially if you aren’t careful with your portions, but it is a great way to detox, while eating real food and feeling full, and prepare yourself for a complete lifestyle change.
This eating plan takes a lot of cooking, meal prepping, and leaves a lot of dishes. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it will take some planning and preparing to ensure you have good food to eat when the days get hard.
Keto
The ketogenic diet is based on the idea that good, healthy fats are necessary to our body’s nutrition, and can be used as a primary source of fuel-burning when the more easily accessible carbohydrates are mostly eliminated from the diet.
On the keto eating plan, you’ll be eliminating most carbs, enabling your body to enter “ketosis”, and starting to burn the fat stores in your body. Along with burning fat, this diet allows you to feel full, satisfied, and enjoy great healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, and eggs.
To eliminate carbs, you’ll need to stop eating things like breads and grains, most fruits, sugar, honey, and any other sweetener that raises your blood sugar, and a lot of dairy. Many folks find this doable when they are able to enjoy meals that include rich, golden butter, whole eggs, nuts, cream in your coffee, and meats like bacon and carnitas, along with copious amounts of vegetables.
For this eating plan to be successful, it’s more than just eliminating carbs–it’s important to track your food to make sure you’re getting an adequate number of calories (and not too many!), and that your ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and fats (called your “macros” for macronutrients) are in a good range to keep you in ketosis and burning those fat stores!
Whether or not these plans sound like the right one for you, it’s a great idea to take some time this December to focus on some goals for fueling your body properly this coming year! For some this may mean drinking less soda, and others may need to avoid fast food and eat at home more. No matter what, how we feed our bodies is a journey–and lots of small little changes can make a big difference in the long run!
At Self Assured Storage, we love supporting our customers in their goals and resolutions for the New Year. Instead of using up space on your list of plans for your home organization goals, give us a call instead! Our employees will be happy to meet with you to make an affordable plan for clearing out that basement, housing your furnishings during a move, or helping downsize your home. Check out our units today!
