The Non-Stressful Way to Adopt a Healthy Diet: a 4 Step Plan

​Today's post is a book review of sorts, but its main purpose is to detail the way you can transition to a healthy diet:

• without added stress
• at your own pace
• enjoying your food
• understanding healthy nutrition
• and making a permanent lifestyle change

I feel so lucky... this little book was one of my reading assignments for my graduate degree in holistic nutrition.  It's what I'm all about here on Au Naturale Nutrition: NUTRIENT DENSITY through whole foods. It truly is a gem of wisdom.   -Jenny​

A simple 4-step Nutrient-Dense Tier System can get you started on the right track & to progress to optimum health.  It's for individuals who want to transition to eating a nutritious, healthy diet in progressive steps.  The book shows you not only what to eat, but also how to eat healthily.  The tiers help the transition by showing you which unhealthy foods to eliminate, stage-by-stage, and how to increase nutrient density through creative substitution. 

Making changes in tiers has proven more successful in the long term because it gives you a sense of empowerment while transitioning toward health at your own pace (versus the daunting idea of an ideal diet and a specific program with rigid rules).  The tier system works because it helps you from feeling overwhelmed by new nutritional information.  It also stresses the positive aspects of adopting a nutrient dense diet and not the negative aspects of guilt, pressure, or stress, which can be paralyzing. 

The Nutrient-Dense Tier System helps you to re-connect with the pleasures and appreciation of good, wholesome food and respects your unique needs.  The tiers make the journey smoother, more fun, easy, and natural to implement.

Tier One: Clear Out the Debris

In this crucial first step toward a nutrient dense diet, you set goals, make a commitment, and strive for self-accountability.  This gets you started on the right foot, and by doing so you must eliminate and unnecessary “baggage”.  Meaning, you need to read food labels and eliminate the zero-density foods from your diet, especially foods containing hydrogenated oils like shortening and margarine (trans fats), aspartame and other chemical sweeteners, MSG (an excitotoxin), and gluten, if you suspect an intolerance.  This may mean confronting some addictions and attachments.  In tier one, you aim to send a clear message to your body about what is & is not acceptable regarding the food you eat.  Make small substitutions, such as tea for soda and butter for margarine.  Start adding in more servings of fruits and vegetables. 

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Tier Two: Creative Substitutions

In this step, which you transition to at your own pace, you use creative ways to replace the foods you eliminated with more nutrient dense foods.  Here you will really break some old habits, but you will not feel deprived, because the food you choose is better, healthier, and tastier than what you left behind.  In this tier you may try new foods, cook more at home, and expand your cooking skills.  You may want to eliminate dairy if you suspect an intolerance or allergy.  In tier two, you really focus on food quality in making lateral food substitutions.  

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Some Substitution examples:

• Almond butter for commercial peanut butter 
• Coconut milk for cow’s milk
• Whole grain flour for white flour
• Honey, real maple syrup, or molasses for sugar
• Fresh fruits and vegetables for canned
• Dark chocolate for other candies  
• Organic eggs for commercial eggs
• Organic meats for commercial meats

I also have a Au Naturale Nutrition info-graphic of more great substitutions as you progress away from refined foods and toward more whole foods:

PRINT: Food Substitutions

​Tier Three: An Even Deeper Commitment

None of this process should be stressful, and when you feel ready, the next step in the Nutrient-Dense Tier System involves moving beyond mere substitutions toward finding more options, increasing diversity in your diet, and a more entertaining and interesting diet.  Here is where your sense of adventure and excitement are the keys to your success.  Shopping for foods becomes more fun as you try new foods and really, truly appreciate the nutrient value in the foods you buy.  Your consumption of high quality, antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables continues to grow. Here you appreciate the phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes and how they nourish your body.  You may find your palate is fine tuned to the subtle flavors in whole foods.  You expect your food to be of the utmost quality and find true value in choosing organic substitutions.  You are well on your way to a nutrient-dense diet.

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Tier Four: Subtle Fine Tuning

In this stage, you learn and appreciate that the process toward a healthy diet is ongoing.  It involves ever-fine-tuning your choices, and paying attention to the little details that make a big difference.  You are quite confident now and do not let your standards slide.  But a little treat now and then doesn't derail or stress you.  You follow the 85/15 rule.  You're serious about your new health status and way of eating; it's not vigilant, but instead a source of ease and pleasure.  You’re a health rockstar!! 

As the months go by, you begin to understand how to “eat with the seasons”, honoring the shifting availability of foods.  Now, the small touches in your diet involve increases in nutrient density with foods not commonly heard of in the Standard American diet, like sea vegetables, green juices, nutritional yeast, dense grains like amaranth, millet, and quinoa, and proteins such as buffalo, elk, and lamb.  Nutritional density is your new lifestyle now, and you appreciate the benefits of your hard work and reap the health rewards.

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To conclude, if you're serious about transitioning to a healthier way of life and need further detailed guidance, this little book, The Nutrient Dense Eating Plan, by Douglas L. Margel, DC, is a great resource!

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