5 Important Mindset Shifts to Make for Successful Low-Carb Living

Making healthy changes to your diet can often be difficult, even with the best of intentions and motivations. But that doesn’t mean it should feel impossible.

That’s why your mindset is so critical when making changes or forming new habits, especially when it comes to health and nutrition. Yes, the mechanics of any diet or lifestyle are important but just as important as those is your mindset: how you think about the goal or task at hand.

In order to successfully follow a low-carb lifestyle, you need to make some important changes to how you think about “low carb.” Here are 5 important mindset shifts to consider:

1. Fat is not the enemy.

The first important mindset shift is understanding that healthy fats are good for you. For years we’ve been told that fat is automatically bad, and carbohydrates are good. But that’s just not true. Healthy fats are an essential part of our diet. They help us feel satiated, give us energy and support our overall health.

The truth is those low-fat, high-carb diets just don’t work. Our bodies were not designed to run on sugar. When we cut out carbs and replace them with healthy fats, our bodies are able to function the way they were meant to because we’re burning a more efficient source of fuel.

Healthy (unsaturated) fat is not the enemy. It’s not something we need to be afraid of. When we have the right mindset about fats, it becomes much easier to make healthy choices.If you’re used to eating a lot of carbs, it might take some time to adjust to a low-carb diet. But once you do, you’ll start to feel so much better. Your energy levels will increase, your cravings will decrease, and you’ll finally be able to reach your healthy weight.

2. “Healthy” foods can be delicious.

Another important mindset shift is understanding that healthy food can be delicious. Just because something is healthy doesn’t mean it has to be boring or tasteless. There are so many healthy foods out there that are absolutely delicious. And when you’re eating healthy, you’ll actually start to enjoy food more.

You won’t miss out on anything by eating healthy. In fact, you’ll probably find that you enjoy the taste of real food more than processed junk food. And when you’re eating healthy, you’ll have so much more energy to do the things you love.

One of the great things about the low-carb lifestyle is that so many people have gone before you. Not only are there naturally low-carb, foundational foods you can eat, there are also ALL SORTS of low-carb versions of your favorite recipes and dishes.

Here’s a few of our favorites low-carb recipes:

• Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops
• Easy & Delicious Cauliflower Crust, Low-Carb Pizza
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Bites
• Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Frittata
• Pan-Seared Salmon with Spinach
• Lemon Coconut Cheesecake Snack Bites

These recipes are sure to please any family, including your pickiest eaters. It’s proof that “healthy” food can be delicious and something to keep in mind as you consider a low-carb lifestyle.

3. Eating healthy is self-love, not an obligation.

Eating healthy is not something we should do because we “have to.” It’s something we should do because we love ourselves. When we have the right mindset about healthy eating, it becomes so much easier to make healthy choices.

We are worthy of taking care of our bodies. We are worthy of feeding ourselves nutritious food. We are worthy of giving ourselves the healthy lifestyle we deserve.

When we love ourselves enough to make healthy choices, everything else falls into place. We have more energy to do the things we love, we’re able to think more clearly, and our overall health improves. Who wouldn’t want those things?

Sign me up!

Making healthy choices is an act of intentional self-love. It’s not something we should feel obligated to do. When we keep this in mind, it becomes much easier to make healthy choices that stick long term.

4. Abundance, not scarcity

A scarcity mindset is when you are so obsessed with a lack of something—usually time or money—that you can’t seem to focus on anything else, no matter how hard you try.

This mindset can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, in all sorts of areas of life…even in our health and eating. This can look like worrying about having enough time to cook, enough money to buy “new” foods or even having enough willpower to stick with lifestyle changes. Obviously it’s okay to plan, evaluate and generally think these things through, but it’s not okay to get stuck constantly worrying about whether you have “enough” of something.

The better mindset is one of abundance—a focus not on what we don’t have but one of what we do have. This helps shift our perspective to see what’s possible, instead of our perceived limits.

So as you’re starting or continuing your low-carb journey, focus on the things you have and can control, not the have-nots or what-ifs.

5. Progress, not perfection

One of the biggest barriers to enjoying a low-carb lifestyle—and let’s be honest, to overall healthy living in general—is something we like to describe as the “all-or-nothing” mindset.

This way of thinking, especially around health, is common and pervasive. All or nothing. Do or do not; there is no try (I wonder if Yoda ate low-carb? Look! Squirrel!). There’s often no room in our thinking for anything other than perfection because we think that’s what we have to do in order to see results. But the truth is, progress is so much more important than perfection.

When we focus on making small, sustainable changes, it’s so much easier to stick with healthy habits (or any habit, really) for the long term. And as we start to see progress, it becomes even easier to stay motivated. And staying motivated is more than half the battle.

So instead of striving for perfection, focus on making small, sustainable changes that will stick and build from there. Your body and your health will thank you for it!

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Making these mindset shifts won’t happen overnight, but if we’re patient and persistent, eventually they’ll become second nature. And when they do, living a healthy, low-carb lifestyle will be that much easier. So don’t give up and keep pushing yourself to be the best you can be. You deserve it!

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So if you’re ready to make the switch to healthy living through a low-carb lifestyle, the first step is to change the way you think about food. These five mindset shifts will help you make healthy choices that are sustainable and enjoyable. Your next step is to start with our Thinlicious™ 28 Day Metabolism Reset, which is designed to introduce you to the Thin Adapted System and help you retrain the way your body burns fuel in just four weeks. Get it HERE.