Perfectly Healthy Eating . . . Possible?

If I could only make my vegetables look (and taste!) this good every day, I think I could base my diet on them, don't you?  I've started many healthy eating plans and do so well for so long, then somehow veer off a little.  It's quite frustrating.  I start to wonder -- can I ever stick to my eating plan perfectly?

I heard a friend speak a few weeks ago about perfection.  She said that she can be perfect with her new goals just fine for a few days, even a week, maybe two!  But life's unplanned glitches somehow disrupt her plans and she finds herself back where she was before, where she is no longer perfectly aligned with her goals.  She said she stopped telling herself to do her best because she'd do her best for awhile, fall off, then go back to mediocre.  She decided to tell herself to "do her better" because she could keep up with that all of the time and wouldn't keep going back from trying to sustain perfection to slipping back into her old habits.


I'm trying to sort this out with my eating because in my mind, I want to eat the most nutrient dense foods that I can.  But I don't always stick with that plan.  Switching away from "black & white thinking" isn't easy.  It's pretty common, actually.

I often hear b&w thinkers say things like, "If I could just stop eating, then I could stick with that easier than trying to stick with my diet."  Yes, couldn't we all?  But we like our food and we NEED to eat.  We need to keep eating and to find the balance within that eating realm.

I don't believe that eating everything in moderation is the answer.  Even toxic foods in moderation are toxic. Perhaps adopting the Line Upon Line precept (from Isaiah in the Old Testament)  -- learning and improving a little at at time, may be more helpful over all.  I know I'm all about results if I'm going to change my eating.  But I can get non-weight loss results from healthy eating changes, even if just gradual.  That can sustain me until the weight loss comes.

Marilu Henner had a great mantra in her weight loss/healthy eating books -- "Progress, not perfection."  I kind of forgot about it until just this minute, but it's a great motto to remember as you work toward eating healthier. If you aren't perfect, just be happy with the progress you're making and continue forward.



Top photo by musical photo man.  Bottom photo by vistavision.