You've gotta try the Vegan-Keto-Monkey Diet! Or do you? **(Plus a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!)

Whole 30. Paleo. Keto. Vegan. Pescatarian. Eat Right for Your Type. Carb Cycling. Atkins. Pritikin. Weight Watchers. EMP 180. SlimFast. Mediterranean. Intermittent Fasting. OMAD. Raw Food. Noom. Jenny Craig. Optavia.

You are hardly to blame if you feel overwhelmed by nutrition and diet information – there’s literally a plan for just about every possible eating variation out there and someone willing to sell you a system (or a book or an app) for working that plan. And plans and books can feel very comforting; when you are drowning in information and someone rows over to you and says “Climb on into my Paleo boat – it’s clear and dry in here!” of course you want to jump on in. But the truth is that even though “Being On A Plan” can initially feel like a way to simplify your life, most of the time strict plans or processes end up making your life more complicated ... until you quit the plan.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there isn’t value to be found in any of the plans or eating styles listed above or that you shouldn’t try new ways of eating. (And I understand that certain ways of eating are tied to ethical or religious beliefs that won’t be changing anytime soon.) It’s just that many of us spend an enormous amount of time and energy searching for the “perfect plan” – the way of eating that will be easy, simple, and give us the results we want, whether that is fat loss, athletic performance, muscle gain, or some combination of those, but will not make us feel hungry, deprived, or willing to cut off a finger for a cookie. The Great Plan Search implies that our relationship to food, to our bodies, to our families, and to our goals has nothing to do with the what, why, or how we eat and the “problem” is simply that we haven’t found the “right” plan. Yet. Your sister-in-law’s chiropractor lost 20 pounds on the Monkey diet and you’re getting ready to start that next Monday. You know, after the weekend. Nobody starts a new plan on the weekend – it’s the weekend.

All this isn’t to make you feel badly about wanting to find a way of eating that feels good, tastes good, and works for your goals – it’s to point out that the first step in long-lasting nutritional change for the better actually doesn’t need to be crazy complicated or ridiculously restrictive. (In fact, I’d argue, none of the steps need to be crazy complicated or ridiculously restrictive!) Instead of searching for a new/nother plan for next Monday, why not start right now with one simple change and stick with that for a week? Yep, that’s it, that’s my big take-away: pick ONE thing you know would move your eating in a more satisfying direction and just do that one thing. Over and over. It’s not as sexy as the Monkey diet, I know, but sexy is the result we want, not the plan we need.

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m running a 5-day challenge, starting October 5th, to help you with planning and prepping meals and snacks that fit your eating goals. And it’s FREE. If you’re interested, email me to get on the list - there will be a private, pop-up Facebook group and daily challenges. Or you can navigate over to Programs/Challenges and use the Sign Up button to: End the Dinner Drama: 5 Days to Better Planning and Prep.