January Masterclass:

NEW YEAR KICK START!

 Introduction
Let’s gather all of the bright and shiny energy of the new year and use it to create some new
habits. But, let’s do it in a nicer, gentler way than in the past. Instead of jumping onto a diet, how
about we set the stage for a healthier year?

Dieting culture abounds in January and so they’re top of mind. Here are some signs that the
“healthy eating plan” that someone is promoting is actually a diet.

They tell you:

To remove “bad” foods from your diet
To replace a meal (or two) with a shake, bar, or supplement
To ignore your hunger cues to fast or eat small meals all day
To counting calories/macros/nutrients or other invisible food stuffs
That their before/after photos are legit (mostly, they’re not. They’re images stolen from the
internet and used to promote their diet) and that you can have the same results easily (nope,
doesn’t work that way)

And, anything that takes loads of willpower, time, planning, or stops you from eating with your
family/loved ones is always a diet.

Everything on this list is a diet! The reason that I’m super-duper anti-diet is that all of those
benefits will be temporary…and there’s a very good chance that you’ll rebound to a place that
was worse than where you started. You’ll be so exhausted and full of cravings that it’s almost
impossible not to dive head-first into a bag of cookies. It’s not your fault, this is a research-
proven result of dieting.
Instead, let’s set you up for the year! Instead of a diet, let’s expand your healthy eating
boundaries in a gentle and easy way. This means that you won’t need to recover from January
and the idea of continuing feels easier than going back to what you were doing before.

This is the undieting way of making changes. And, with undieting, it might always feel like you’re
not doing “enough” or that you need to do more to see results.

This is the long-game. Think about how you want to feel at this time next year…you could be
feeling amazing!
So, in a nutshell:
YES! This should feel way too easy to be effective.
NO! Dieting won’t help in the long run. All effects are temporary.

This masterclass is in 4 parts:

Part 1 – Take stock

This is an important step so you can fully feel exactly how you feel right now. It helps to
recognize what your body is telling you right now and we can use this as a guide to see what
changes your body really loves.

Part 2 – Focus on ADDing

Dieting tells us to remove foods so it’s not surprising that the Undieting Method is to add foods.
And, it’s wonderfully effective ❤️.

Part 3 – Get Moving!

But not in an oppressive way, like you must move to “earn” food. Instead, it’s a gentle, easy
movement that works with your body.
Part 4 – Consider a Food Experiment
Yes, this is a little diety, but it’s for a specific purpose. If you’ve ever wondered if your body
doesn’t like a certain food (like gluten, dairy, sugar, etc), then doing a food experiment is helpful
and might bring you useful information.

Each part of this masterclass can stand alone and you don’t need to go in order. Start with the
part that feels most intriguing and go from there! And, don’t skip Part 1 :).

If you’re really REALLY struggling with getting dieting ideas out of your head, consider reading
the book Intuitive Eating. It’s a really well-written book that cites TONS of research that shows
that dieting isn’t the answer. It can speak to that part of your brain that is fighting back :).

Part 1 - Take stock, how do you feel?

It’s important to really feel where you are right now and record it. Sometimes your body’s
symptoms change so slowly that it’s hard to see the improvement. But, in my job, I meet with my
clients every few weeks or few months and I get to witness the huge changes that happen. It’s
harder for my clients to see the same change because they’re inside their bodies every day and
the change is more gradual.

You can be your own nutritionist by taking stock right now. Grab a notebook or open up a note
on your phone and write down your ratings for each item. Repeat this process again at the end
of the month :)

Rate Your Energy

If 10 was the most energetic you’ve ever been, where are you sitting on average right now?

If you’re at least a 4/10, keep going.

If you’re a 1, 2, or 3 out of 10…well, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that you’re TIRED!
And, you’re probably in burnout or adrenal fatigue.

This isn’t your average tiredness, feeling this tired makes it very difficult to get through each
day. If you’re in this spot, this masterclass isn’t for you. Move to the Recovering From Burnout
Masterclass instead. It will have the steps you need to feel like yourself again.
https://www.yourbeautifullife.ca/masterclasses-all/month-28-intro

And, once your energy is back up to about a 5/10, then continue through this masterclass ❤️.

Rate Your Pain

Rate your pain out of 10 as well. You want to keep an eye on your body pain when you start to
make changes to your diet and lifestyle. Sometimes minor aches and pains go away…but you
might not notice it. I find it’s hard to remember those ones (but the big pains are hard to forget).

Rate Your Mental State

How are you feeling mentally right now? Instead of giving this a number, list a few feelings that
pop into your head when you think about how you feel.

If you have trouble describing how you feel, here’s a handy-dandy list to give you some ideas :)
https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Practices-FeelingsSensations.pdf

(these lists exist because it can be so hard to put words to feelings)

Make Note of How You’re Sleeping

Sleep can be a fickle beast and sometimes it’s hard to understand why it’s easy to sleep
sometimes and feels almost impossible other times. By taking note of how you sleep this month
you might be able to start finding patterns.

For example, is your sleep affected (good or bad) by:

Exercise
What you eat
Alcohol
TV at night
Stress
Worry
Meditation

Keep track of your sleep daily or make note each week about how you did on average. It might
help you find your sleep pattern and what you need for a deep night’s sleep.

How do you want to feel at the end of this journey?

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and think/feel how you’d like to feel at the end of this
journey.

Would you like more energy? Better mental health? Be exercising more?

Really feel what it’ll feel like after you’ve made a few changes. Our bodies can get quite
stagnant and it can be hard to get our butt in gear sometimes. Having an image to connect to
can help you get up off the couch and into the kitchen or out on a walk.

…we all need motivation sometimes, even nutritionists ☺️

Set a timeline

This is the very most important part. It’s important with any change or anytime you stretch your
boundaries that you have an end date. It helps to get through those harder days…and it helps
reduce feelings of deprivation.

Stretching your boundaries in any way takes effort and willpower and these “muscles” will get
tired eventually. So, you want to make sure you’re through all of the stretching before that
happens. This means you need to take YOU into account.

Think about how you’ve felt in the past when you’ve tried to change something. How long did it
feel hard? How long did you keep up with those changes?

Here’s what I know about myself: my willpower muscle wears out REALLY quickly, and changes
I really love can become habits quickly as well.

To take ME into account I always set my timeline to something really short – usually a week and
at most a month. Then, I make sure the changes I’m doing are teeny tiny and fun. When I do this,
I find it much easier to be successful and there’s less of a struggle day-to-day.

Here’s an example:
A few years ago, I was living alone and I was becoming very, very sedentary. I was sitting all day
long and couldn’t seem to pry my butt off the couch to go for a walk.

To get myself moving I decided that I was going to go for a 5 min walk every day for 1 week. Yes,
it was really that small…but that’s exactly what I needed. Any longer of a walk and I know I’d
talk myself out of it. Any longer of a timeframe and I didn’t think I would be successful.
The result – I was 100% successful. Every evening I found the idea of a 5 min walk so absurdly
small that I couldn’t talk myself out of it. But, what I wanted to do was keep watching Netflix. So,
each day I would put my shoes on while feeling 100% confident that after 5 mins I would turn
back around and plop back down onto the couch. And every single day, as soon as I got moving, I
went for a 30 – 45 min walk. And I continued that for months until it snowed.

Do I need to do a cleanse?

We use the word “cleanse” in many different ways. Sometimes it relates to detoxifying but often
it’s a process of removing offenders from your diet to “cleanse” your system.

I’m using the word cleanse in “ “ in this section because your body doesn’t need you to do
anything for cleansing. It has a natural process that it follows every day to take out the trash
and keep your cells functioning.

For this process to work well your body needs you to add more nutrient-dense food so it has the
ingredients to make the right cells to clean up…it doesn’t need you to deprive your body of
anything.

But, if you feel intuitively that your body would like you to remove some things to make this
process easier, then go for it! And, be sure to have a specific end-date, so your body doesn’t
begin to feel deprived.

And, this might be a good time to do some food experiments to see how food makes you feel.
More on that in Part 4.
 Part 2 - Focus on ADDing
January is the season for removing foods/habits, like sugar, processed food, alcohol, etc. Right
now, all over social media, people are promoting all kinds of ways of removing these “extras” out
of your diet.

But, this habit tends to trigger lots of feelings of deprivation, and with deprivation comes
bingeing. Research has found that we eat more of what we deprive ourselves of, not less, so it’s
important to reduce our feelings of deprivation any time we can.
https://www.wellandgood.com/food-deprivation-healthy-eating-weight-watchers/

Adding foods instead of subtracting is surprisingly effective for long-term change. These new
foods quickly squish out the ones you’d like to remove…but without any work or willpower.

It might seem too simple, especially if you feel you need a giant diet overhaul, but stick with me
for a few minutes and let me see if I can convince you :)

Imagine that once a month you add 1 more serving of produce to your diet. Just one, and you
have a whole month to make it work. Seem easy?

Fast forward to the end of 2022, and if you continue that all year while taking 2 months off
(because life always happens), you’ll have TEN more servings of produce in your diet every day
by the end of the year. TEN!

Say you focus on adding for the first half of the year and just focus on keeping it up for the rest
of the year, you’re still at six! SIX! Six servings of produce every day is more than enough to feel
amazing, gain tons of energy, and have a happy body.
Adding is powerful. And, it can be easy and effective.

I’ve gotta say it again so the part of your brain who has connected Hard Work with Success can
hear it one more time – easy is powerful, adding works!

Spend this month expanding your healthy eating boundaries so when life gets in the way, you’ll
spring back down to something healthier than where you started.

Adding is a SUPERPOWER –
When you only add food to your diet and pay no attention to the things you “should” remove,
powerful things can happen. First, without even realizing (and without feelings of deprivation)
you’re squishing out those foods you’d like to eat less of. Second, your body thanks you by
giving you a little boost of energy.

Your body LOVES adding!!!

I can’t stress this enough – because it’s anti-dieting, the part of your brain that’s used dieting to
reach your goals (if only temporarily) will fight back and say this is “wrong” and “can’t work”…
but the truth is that dieting doesn’t work and it’s the best indicator of weight gain in the future.
This means that everyone who starts a diet this month has a higher chance of being heavier in a
year than if they did nothing at all.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3759019/

I agree, that’s a very sad fact, but it’s well-proven so we MUST find a different way. And adding
works really well as a long-term solution :)

Wait – you want me to add foods when I want to eat less??? How does that work???

Dieting culture has told us that to be smaller you must eat less. While that’s kinda true, it
doesn’t take into account all of the mechanisms our body has to fend against famine.
f you think you’re eating something that’s low-cal or if know that your meal has less food than
you usually eat, you will literally be less satisfied by that meal.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/04/14/299179468/mind-over-milkshake-
how-your-thoughts-fool-your-stomach

BUT! If you feel and know that you’re eating an abundance of food, your whole body responds
in kind! Your hunger hormones go down and your metabolism revs up to use all of that energy!

Focus on Whole Foods

Whole foods are full of fibre and are very satisfying. Period. Keep it simple and just focus on
adding gloriously delicious, nutrient-dense whole food.

More Intense vs. Less Intense Method

There are 1000s of ways you can focus on adding and every method works. Let me outline two
very different versions so you can find your method (which might be smack dab in the middle).

More Intense Method:

Set your sights for 1 week. Each day you add 1 more serving of produce until you hit 10. If you
hit 10 before the end of the week or just can’t add any more, start experimenting with beans or
whole grains you’ve never used.

At the end of the week, find at least one thing (maybe two) that you absolutely loved and
continue to do that. Repeat as much as you’d like.
Less Intense Method:

Set your sights on 1-2 months. Each week focus on adding one more serving of produce to your
diet. If you reach 10 before your time is up, start experimenting with beans and/or whole grains.

At the end, find what you really loved and keep it in your diet. Repeat as often as you’d like.

Both methods have equal pros and cons, so choose the one that works best for you and your
lifestyle. I generally choose the less intense method and I often follow it in Jan/Feb and again in
the summer :)

There are MANY veggies and new recipes in my life that came from these Adding Challenges. It
works like a charm :)

At the end of your challenge, repeat those check-in questions from Part 1. Really feel how your
body feels once you’ve added a bunch of whole foods to your diet. That helps secure the
changes that your body really loved ❤️

Part 3 - Get Moving!

What is the minimum amount of movement that you CAN’T talk yourself out of???

Yes, I want you to find the amount you can’t talk yourself out of instead of looking at the
maximum amount of time you can talk yourself into.

Why? Because it makes getting moving SO much easier.

As a culture, we tend to always look at doing things the best we can. But, that can set you up for
failure…simply because we’re rarely at our very best. And that’s a-okay.
What if, instead, we looked at being pretty darn okay? Wouldn’t that feel nicer?

It’s also SO easy to talk ourselves out of doing that maximum amount of exercise. It can
sometimes take a herculean amount of willpower to get your butt off the couch to go to the gym
or whatever you’ve chosen as your ideal amount of exercise.

And, so, it’s going to be really easy to not quite hit the mark.

Let’s go back to the original idea of creating a change that you’re 95% confident that you’ll be
able to knock out of the park. It doesn’t matter how small it needs to be to get you up into the
95% range…remember my 5-minute walk goal? Worked like a charm :)

So, what’s the minimum amount of movement you won’t talk yourself out of? What’s so teeny
weeny that when the voice in your head starts to give you excuses as to why watching another
show on Netflix is a significantly better idea than exercise, you know that there aren’t any
reasonable excuses not to exercise.

Still to this day, my number is generally 5-minutes, although I’ve managed to upgrade that to a
10-minute exercise video on occasion. What’s yours?

How to get moving in 2022!

Step 1: set a ridiculously easy goal to hit

Step 2: set an extremely doable timeline to hit that goal
Step 3: knock it out of the park
Step 4: repeat
Winter exercise inspiration:
Snowshoeing
X-country skiing
Online videos
Shovelling snow
Skating
Indoor activities, like a yoga class or rock climbing
Snowball fight or making a snowman
Clean the house (yes, it’s exercise! Especially if you believe it’s exercise)
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517

Don’t overthink it, make your goal ridiculously easy and then do it ❤️

Part 4 - Consider a food experiment

Food experiments can be very useful. It’ll let you fully know how a food feels to you, so you can
choose to eat it with your eyes wide open.

But, there’s a very important distinction here – knowing that your body doesn’t like a food
doesn’t mean you have to eliminate it from your life forever immediately!

Let me explain this a bit better:

Let’s say you remove gluten from your diet for a week and you notice that your joints or your
digestive system feel a lot better. This information can feel very empowering and frightening at
the same time.
But/and – this isn’t a deadly allergy. Unless you discover you have celiac disease or have an
anaphylactic reaction to gluten (which is rare and rarely begins in adulthood), you can eat that
food any time you bloody-well feel like it. But, you do that with the knowledge that you might
have some digestive distress or joint pain for the next few days.

I believe that this knowledge has a HUGE power in our bodies. It can help your symptoms feel
less random. I find that it’s the random symptoms that can feel the most frustrating!

For example: If I have too much dairy (or at times any dairy) my body gets inflamed. It usually
takes a few days so it would have been a hard connection to find if I hadn’t eliminated it in the
past so I know what symptoms it can trigger.

Lately, this inflammation has been hitting my toes. That means, if I enjoy some delightful
smoked apple cheddar tonight, then I shouldn’t be surprised if my toes are a bit stiff and sore
when I walk across the room in a few days. And, that pain will subside by about day 4 or 5 so I
just need to be patient.

I would find it MUCH more worrisome if my toe pain felt random and I didn’t know what
triggered it. This is the power of a food elimination experiment.

Important points to consider:

1. This could be done at the beginning of the month when your motivation is high and you’re
excited for a challenge, or later in the month when you’re eating more veggies and are less
reliant on the food(s) you want to experiment with. And, you don’t have to do it at all. This is
a very optional experiment.
2. You can try 1 food or many at once. Take YOU into account and decide what’s best for you.
3. Look for alternative options before you get started. Make sure you have some on hand, it’ll
make it easier to get through the experiment. If you’re stuck and unsure of what to get, send
me a message or post it on our Facebook Page and I’ll give you loads of ideas :)
HOW TO:
The most common food sensitivities are gluten (wheat, rye, barley, kamut, spelt), dairy, and
refined sugar (doesn’t include fruit, honey, maple syrup, or other unprocessed sugar). If you’ve
never done an elimination experiment, start here.

You can tackle them one at a time or pull all 3 out and see how you go. There are pros and cons
to both options, so go with what feels best for you.

Step 1 –
Remove the food(s) for 7 days. This is the first and only time I’m going to tell you this – you have
to be 100% perfect with an elimination diet experiment. One small slip and your body could
react to it for up to 5 days. So…if you oops, then your 7 days starts all over again (sorry!).

Step 2 –
During those 7 days take note of how you feel. Sometimes you won’t feel noticeably different,
but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some improvement…it might have come on too slowly
to notice.

Step 3 -
On about day 8 or 11, enjoy the heck out of one of the foods you’ve eliminated. Have at least 3
servings and really go at it.

Then, notice how you feel for the next 5 days. Any symptoms come back? Any change in your
energy? Mood? Pain?

Step 4 -
If you’ve removed more than one food, go back to eating how you did in the first 7 – 10 days and
enjoy lots of the next food about 5 days later. That will give your body the time to calm down
your reaction to the first food. Repeat until you’ve tested all of the foods you’ve eliminated.
Now that you know how your body feels when you eat these foods, you can decide what your
relationship with them will be from now on. Do you want to continue to eat them? Do you want
to eat less or remove them entirely? It’s totally up to you!

A note on gluten –
If you react to gluten, you might be only reacting to wheat, not to the whole gluten family.
Repeat the experiment where you only remove wheat and see if you get the same results as
removing all gluten grains. It’s common for people to only react to wheat, but be able to enjoy
rye or spelt as much as they’d like :)

Food experiments are just that, experiments. The first time I removed dairy from my diet I felt
SO much better…but also deprived and miserable. It took me over 4 years to try again. This time
I slowly removed dairy so it was easy and I didn’t feel deprived at all. This was about 15 years
ago and dairy still plays a very minor role in my life. I have some when I want it, but I usually
don’t care.

Once you’re done your experiment you can choose what your relationship will be with that
food. If you want to remove it but are struggling with feeling deprived, reach out and I’m happy
to help you find alternatives.

In Conclusion

Dieting culture has been in our lives for generations and is so tied up inside healthy eating it’s
hard to know one from the other. That’s okay. It can take time to unwind dieting out of your life
and I’m always here to help. Reach out with questions, frustrations, and share successes
anytime you’d like. I’d love to hear from you <3