Thursday 21 January 2016

Crowding Out: Add in to make progress. Don't take away!



Many of you may be aiming for a healthier lifestyle in 2016.

More often than not this mean "get rid of X", "stop doing Y", remove all "Z's". Doesn't sound like much of a deal right?

Well, what if instead of taking things away, you could add more to your life and still make progress?

Recently I have been reading about "crowding out". An economic (something about public sector vs private sector spending) which is now being used in a nutritional sense.

In basic (my) terms, the idea of "Nutrition Crowding Out" is about focusing your efforts on good, introducing more "good" so that you are less interested with the "bad" elements of your life.

For example: Rather than seeing clean eating as a task why not put more effort into it so that it becomes more enjoyable and interesting? Do some additional reading, find some interesting recipes, shop for new and interesting ingredients and focus on food preparation and creating interesting tastes and meals. Fill yourself with so much "good" nutrients that you won't have the same cravings for any of the "bad".

With your lifestyle habits why not spend more time and energy on healthy pursuits rather than time and effort thinking about bad foods, lazy habits and activities that compromise your progress.

For example joining an exercise group (fitness classes, walking or running groups, climbing clubs, sports teams etc etc) so that you now have more of your free time committed to exercise.

Soon enough your mind will be less attracted to the "bad" in your life given hat you are applying so much physical and mental energy to the "good".

Give it a go, don't take away from your life but add in and "crowd out".


Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@MichaelD_PT) and YouTube