When people have tried in the past to go from one extreme to the other the typical result is burn-out and binging. Let's face it: eating right is hard. It's a big adjustment to our lifestyles, and unless we take it slow, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
You may cringe at the thought of switching over to whole wheat bread if you've grown up on white. Wheat bread may seem hard, or stale to you. Instead of switching over all at once, use wheat bread for all toasting: like for grilled cheese, or your morning toast. Since the bread is toasted anyway you won't know the difference!
If you are a lover of red-meat, rather than giving it up altogether you could limit it to a few less nights a week to start with. As the months go by try eating less and less of it, and then you can start choosing leaner cuts, like sirloin. Eventually you may even get to the point where you use ground vegetable crumbles in all your old ground beef recipes! Maybe not, but there is no hurry!
You've no doubt heard that the recommended serving amount of fruits and veggies is 5 per day, and if you are like most people you struggle to even get in one or two servings. The lettuce and tomato on your hamburger only counts if it's really piled on, unfortunately. There are many ways to start implementing fruits and veggies into your day, even if they aren't quite in the ways that the nutritionists would like it. Juice is not the preferred method of getting your fruit intake, but it's one of the easiest ways, and a good place to start. Raisins make a great snack, and travel well to work or class with you. Add blueberries to your cereal, add strawberries to your bowl of ice cream! These may seem like insignificant steps, but it's better than nothing.
Do you love the taste of full fat dairy products? Save the fat free and lower fat products for cooking. You won't know the difference between whole milk or skim milk in a casserole. Use lower fat shredded cheese on tacos, and save the full-fat cheese for crackers or your sandwiches. Maybe you don't care for low fat cream cheese, but when you mix it with beans, salsa, and shredded cheese it makes one heck of a Mexican dip, and you can't tell the difference!
There is no need to try and re-vamp your entire diet all at once. By implementing small changes each week you will find that not only do you NOT feel deprived at all, but you will avoid burn-out and be able to make life long changes.
