S4E147 5 Keys To Establishing Long Term Healthy Eating Habits

On this episode, I am joined by my lovely wife Bonnie as we talk about 5 keys to ensuring long term success when adopting a new way of eating.  We talk about the difference between diets, diet plans and "ways of eating" and how that terminology has been helpful as we adopt the Mediterranean Diet. 

The 5 Keys To Success we discuss are:
1. Accountability
2. Support
3. Affordability
4. Lifestyle Impact
5. Understanding Your Why
 
Enjoy!!
Brian

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Transcript

Brian: 0:00

if you're gonna have long-term success as you adopt a new way of eating, you're gonna need accountability. You're gonna need support, you're gonna need to take into consideration, affordability and do what you can to make it affordable. You need to consider your lifestyle impacts both positive and negative, but most importantly, you need to understand your why. You need to be doing this for the right reasons, not jumping on a fad. I'm your host, Brian Wells, and I'm a fourth generation homesteader Since 2008, my family and I have been homesteading here in beautiful upstate New York. In 2019, I launched the Homestead Journey Podcast to help people just like you get started and find. On their journey towards self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and sustainability. This is the Homestead journey and this is season four. Hey there everyone, this is season four. This is episode 1 47, and I gotta tell you folks, I am really, really enjoying this new intro music and I know a lot of you are as well. I got a lot of positive feedback from that, uh, this week, and so thank you so much for reaching out to. I really, really appreciate it. My name is Brian Wells. I am coming to you from three B Farm and Homestead here in beautiful upstate New York. And folks, it, it is so good to be back and sharing with you about homesteading here. On the Homestead Journey podcast. Now, one other piece of feedback that I did get this week from people is that they have found the transition music to be a little bit on the jarring side. So I am going to switch things up today. I'm actually going to try a little bit of different transition. Out and just let me know, gimme your feedback as to whether you like the new transition, if you want the old transition music back, or if I'm way overthinking this, but at the end of the day, I want this to be as pleasant of an experience from an auditory perspective as it possibly can be given that I have, well, I, I have a face for radio, but I'm not quite sure I have that deep voice for radio. Uh, but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. To work with So it is what it is. But you know, definitely keep me posted and let me know. I am always, uh, interested in the constructive feedback from people just like you. But thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to me this week, and it really sounds to me like this season of change. Theme that we're doing here on the podcast is really resonating with people. And so I am so glad to hear that. If you want to reach out to me, Brian, at the homestead journey.net is my email address. So feel free to reach out to me and let me, you know, positives, negatives, and you know, if you wanna reach out to me on any of our social media accounts, all of those links are in the description. Glad to hear from you, but thank you so much and very excited to be back again here with season four. Let's jump on over to this week's Homestead happenings, and I'll let you know what a little bit we've been up to here on three B Farm and Homestead. All right, so that is the new transition music. Let me know if it's a little cheesy or if you like it. But, uh, here on the homestead this week, well it is that time of the year where winter still just does not want to let go. And so we got a little bit of snow this week and actually we have. They've dialed it back a little bit from what they had forecasted. We were forecasted to get one to two feet, uh, from Monday into Wednesday. So it's like supposed to be this long event that goes on forever. It's gonna kind of be like the snowstorm that never ends, but anyhow. Um, they're, they've dialed that back a little bit, but it's just that time of the year where winter just doesn't wanna let go and. I honestly didn't want winter to let go because I really was enjoying the snowboarding season, but this past Thursday night was my last night of lessons, and so now my thoughts have turned towards, well, spring and those kinds of things. Wednesday I did have the opportunity to play a little bit of hooky. Uh, we went over to a mountain in Vermont called Bromley and just had an absolute blast with a buddy of mine. His name is Matt and we just, we, I think, got in 22 runs, or no, I think 20 runs in 22 miles. Uh, total ridden. I've got an app on my phone that tracks that. So that was a lot of fun. But again, now my mind is really starting to switch over and think. Think spring and, and while not a lot went on this week here on the homestead, one of the things I did want to share with you is something that I've been working on since last fall and I am very excited about and that is that I am working with our local fair, the Washington County Fair, the best fair in all of far. Yes it is, and I am excited to share with you that we are going to be putting on a homesteading event. We're calling it the Southern Adirondack, home Setting Festival, and it is going to be taking place the weekend before Memorial Day. So that's going to be May. 19th and 20th, I believe, and it's going to be just a wonderful event. We have a number of great speakers, both locally and some people that are coming to share about different things from raising chickens to, uh, bees, to all of the things, all of the. We're also going to be having people talk about how to market your homestead, the entrepreneurship side of homesteading if you're wanting to have your homestead generate income. We've got, uh, a class for pruning. We've got classes on seed saving. We have someone who's gonna be talking about how she took her love of baking and turned it into a home-based business. We have people talking about meat, rabbits and cidery and how to preserve things without electricity and how to make cheese and how to process chickens and uh, how to safely can. We've just got so much great stuff that's gonna be taking place and I am so excited. So that's May 19th and 20th, and I'm hoping in the next week we're going to be opening up ticket sales. So definitely keep an eye out for that. I actually will be putting out an email when the ticket sales go live. So if you aren't already subscribed, go on over to the homestead journey.net/newsletter, and then I will have links to all of you know how you can buy tickets and the schedule and the speakers and all of the stuff. So excited about it. And so that's gonna be happening May 19th and 20th. So mark that on your calendar. If you live in the great Northeast or you have time to be able to get away from your homestead, uh, I think it's gonna be a great, a great event. Now I realize. Not at the most ideal time. We actually had wanted to do it in April, but just the logistics of getting everything together, we opted to move it to May but we'll see what the feedback is this year and if people like it on that weekend, we'll keep it there. And if not, then we will maybe look to move it earlier in the year. But I'm so excited about it. So again, if you have not already signed up for the new. Head on over to the Homestead journey.net/newsletter. Sign up for it and I will make sure that you are one of the first to know when those ticket sales go live. So that's really it. As far as what we've been doing here on the homestead this coming week, things are really going to start to to gear up, even though we do. that snowstorm inbound. I've got some things lined up that I'm excited to share with you for next week. As long as all of those things do come to fruition. Before we jump on over to this week's charting the course, I did wanna say thank you so much to all of you who went on over to our YouTube channel and subscribed this week. My subs are creeping up there, certainly not at a thousand yet, but I saw a bounce this week and so thank you so much. To all of you who did head on over to youtube.com/the Homestead journey and subscribe. And if you haven't already done so, if you could do that, I really, really would appreciate it. let's head on over to this week's charting the course. I am joined here in the studio today by none other than my lovely wife, Bonnie. Hi. Hey, welcome. Glad to have you. If you've been a longtime listener to this podcast, certainly Bonnie is no stranger. And this season Bonnie will be joining me quite a bit more here, on the podcast. And so I'm very, very excited about that. Thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. And you're, well, you're kind of the reason, well, in part, uh, a big part of the reason why we are experiencing, um, one of the major changes here around the homestead, and that is the fact that we have fairly recently, within the last several months, uh, adopted the Mediterranean diet. Um, and that's all your fault.

Bonnie: 10:34

Yes it is. Doc said. Why don't you try the Mediterranean diet?

Brian: 10:41

And so we said yes, doc. Yes Doc three bags full, right but that's gonna be a subject for a future episode On this episode, we are going to share with you five things that you need to consider if you are going to change your style of eating. You're gonna be successful at it. One of the things that really does draw people to homesteading is. The ability to raise and grow their own food and to have some food security and to eat a healthier diet. Um, that's something that has been a big part of, of our, uh, way of living. And well, certainly at times we've been better at it than others. Yeah. Um, That, that certainly has been a driving factor is to just eat a little bit better and eat a little bit more healthy. And so I certainly think that's something that draws people, um, to homesteading. Just this concept of raising and growing their own food. What do you think?

Bonnie: 11:44

Yeah, they choose to do homesteading and growing their own food because they know what's in it and they know what's not in it.

Brian: 11:52

I think for me that's one of the big things, um, is that I know what's not in my food. That's just in, in some ways I think that's more important to me than knowing what is in my food. Um, but there there's a whole host of reasons that draw people to the idea of, of homesteading. And as we said, a big part of that certainly is the food component. And so certainly we want people to be successful in that journey, right? You know, that's the whole goal of this podcast is to help people be successful on their journey towards self-sufficiency, self-reliance and sustainability. And we want people to be successful, whether it's getting into homesteading or if it's choosing a different style of eating. Um, we want people to be successful in that. And one of the things, one of the big terms that we use when we think about styles of eating is, It's kind of a four letter word, right? Diet. diet. Ah, come on. Yeah, it's almost like a curse word to us in, in our society. Is it not?

Bonnie: 12:56

Yeah. Yeah. Not fun. Definitely

Brian: 12:58

not fun. But a big part of that is because, a lot of times when people think about dieting, they think about limiting what they can eat. Mm-hmm. And it's just kind of got this negative connotation because it's like, it's no fun. I can't eat the things that I want to eat. Um, the foods that I can eat, they suck. they're, they're, they're nasty. They're, they're tasteless. It's kind of misery. Um, and it doesn't have to be that way, but part of that is because we look, I think sometimes at. maybe in the wrong way. So before we jump into the five things that you need to know to be successful when changing your style of eating, I wanted to kind of define some terms because I kind of break things down into like three categories and, and I'm not a dietician. um, you're not an dietician either. No. we're, we're people that like food and sometimes, uh, at least speaking for me, I'm not gonna, you know, with age comes wisdom, I'm not gonna speak for you. That's right. Cause you wanna be happy. That's right. Um, but sometimes maybe we like food a little bit too much. In fact, a couple of years ago, uh, I was at the doctor's and therefore a checkup and the doctor said to me, I came, was the doctor, the nurse, I think it was a nurse. I stepped on the scale and she said to me, Mr. Wells. Um, you're not obese, but you don't need, gain any more weight. U unfortunately I did not heed the advice. Um, but certainly there have been times when I, I've liked food way more than I should have and, uh, and I've needed a diet, but, but I kind of look at a diet from the standpoint of something that you do temporarily, right? You, you go on a diet for. Maybe to lose weight for that summer beach Bo, you know, wanna slip into, you know, the, the vacation clothes, whether it's your, uh, teeny weeny, uh, itsy bitsy, yellow polka dot bikini. Did I get that wrong? Whatever.

Bonnie: 14:57

Whatever. Like, I just will not be wearing it though.

Brian: 15:01

Ah, man. I need to come up with a, oh, that's a good sound effect there. I need the, No, that's not me either. Uh, so, uh, yeah, I have to, I'll have to program that one in here. But there's other reasons why people might go on a diet for a short term. And it could be things like, trying to do an elimination diet where you're trying to figure out some sources of inflammation, um, or some health problems that you're having. And so, you know, people will cut out things like gluten or things like dairy. you know, just a whole host of other things from that elimination perspective. But with a diet, the whole point is that a diet is not meant for, at least in my mind, it's not a long-term thing.

Bonnie: 15:44

Right? Yeah, yeah. A diet is like, if you're wanting to lose a certain amount of pounds, I mean, you're heavier than you've ever been in your life, and you don't wanna carry that weight around anymore. Um, yeah. You go on a diet and

Brian: 15:59

yeah. And then, and then, you know, and unfortunately, a lot of times then what happens is people end up going back to just the old ways of eating. They pack the pounds on. But, but the second category in my mind that exists are diet, like plans. Um, and that would be things like Nutrisystem or Noom, which is I think more of a more modern one. Weight Watchers is another one. These are ones where you are maybe buying into a particular system. You are buying particular types of food, maybe SlimFast shakes. But there certainly is a cost component to those. Jenny Craig at Atkins. Atkins, yeah. Is another one. I wouldn't necessarily consider those long-term solutions. Um, I think they're things that are, again, meant, I, I think most people aren't gonna be able to afford them long-term. I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?

Bonnie: 16:51

Yeah. And they're gonna get sick of the food, I would think. Yeah. Um, I don't know. It doesn't sound too, you know, good to me to be eating bars and drinking shakes and, you know, um, you would definitely feel like, um, that you were. Being punished, I guess, or put on being punished. I dunno. Yeah, an elimination diet for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

Brian: 17:20

come on. Yeah, I, I mean, yeah, and, and I'm not talking negative about those. If you've been on Jenny Craig and it's worked for you, if you've been on Noom and it worked for you or whatever, I, I certainly am not bashing them, and I don't even know what they cost. Um, they, they may be very, very reasonable, but certainly if you're looking to be more self-sufficient, more self-reliant, more sustainable, I certainly don't think those diet plans fit within that. At least from my perspective. You're talking a lot of processed foods. You're talking a lot of foods that are shipped in from, you know, other locations. and you really don't have great control over what goes into them. I'm not saying that they're bad, I'm certainly not saying that at all. But you know, again, from a home setting perspective, and especially from a long-term perspective, I don't see those as being sustainable. That's just my personal

Bonnie: 18:10

opinion. Yeah. And. I think, you know, like each one of them would have, um, a different artificial sweetener in there.

Brian: 18:20

Yeah, definitely potential. Um, a lot of, maybe, maybe

Bonnie: 18:23

chemicals in there because that's what makes them, you know, less calories,

Brian: 18:27

so again, not bashing them, but certainly in the context of, a homestead journey. I'm not sure they fit well. But there is a concept that was rather new to us and that is a concept. We discovered this once we got into the Mediterranean diet and we were sort of diving into that, trying to understand it. We got into some groups, um, on Facebook, and we ran across an acronym. W o e. Now, what does w o e stand for? Way of eating. What does that mean? Why do I like the term way of eating better than the the term diet? Oh, come

Bonnie: 19:14

on. Because, You're choosing to change it and it's change the things you eat. You're gonna eat differently and it's more long term. You're gonna make it, A lifestyle for

Brian: 19:30

you. Yeah, I think that's a key word there. It's lifestyle. It, it's really looking at food differently, I think. Um, and it, again, it becomes this way of life. You know, we call it way of eating, you know, but it's really a way of life really, it ends up becoming more than just. I can't have this or I can't have that. But really the goal is to, to change the way you look at food. And so I think within the concept of way of eating, you know, that that's where you would run into things like vegetarian veganism, um, you know, carnivore diet. Uh, I'm trying to think of some of the other big one. Gluten free. Yeah, gluten free is a big one. Um, paleo Keto. I'm, I'm, I'm not even gonna be able to name, name all of them. But then there's the Dash Diet, the Mayo Clinic Diet, and then of course the Mediterranean Diet. And certainly we're not gonna go into all of those again, we're not dieticians, but all of those come at this from a more holistic approach, at least in, in my mind. Now, some of them are elimination diets, like you are eliminating things like. Uh, carbohydrates, um, you know, so you're on a lobe carb diet or, you know, sometimes you're on a high carb diet. Um, you know, kind of depending on, on the diet that you're on, you know, a lot of meat, no meat. Um, you know, all of them have their, their nuances, but at the end of the day, it, it just comes down to a way of eating. And so from, from my perspective, and maybe it's just mind games, to me that's certainly a more positive. than that four letter word diet. Oh, come on. Yeah. Oh, come on. So my goal on this episode, if I remember to press the right button, is anytime we say the word diet, you're going to hear, oh, come on. And instead, we're gonna try to go with the more positive. way of eating. All right. So positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement here. Well, let's just dive right into it. So all of that is kind of to set up how can we be successful if we're going to choose a different way of eating. Um, and, and we have, we we're in this Mediterranean diet thing and, and on the next episode we are gonna talk about why the Mediterranean diet and why not other, Oh, one second. Ah, come on. So a Mediterranean way of eating. Yeah. There we go. Um, but why we chose to go that route in instead of, choosing other ways of eating. Um, but that's for the next episode. Today we wanna give you five tips. on how you can be successful as you change your approach to, and, and it may be that you are brand new to home setting. And so the concept of raising and growing your own food is something brand new to you. And so just that fact of, of getting away from all of the processed foods and just eating more of what you've raised and grown, that may be a huge change for you. And that's a change in your way of eating, and that's a huge positive thing. Um, but maybe you're somebody like, Who, you've been doing this for a while and you've gotta be a little bit more stricter. You're, you've gotta go on to something that's a little bit more structured. And so we wanna help you be successful. And this is really talking to us as well. This is kind of cheerleading us on to say, okay, how can we ensure that we are successful in this endeavor? And we're gonna be sharing this with you. You know, our trials and travails, our ups and downs, our struggles. throughout this season, uh, season four here of the Homestead Journey Podcast. So number one on our list is accountability. Um, and, and, and I guess maybe that's a, a, a tough one or even a little bit of a negative one to start off with. Yeah. But I think if you're gonna be successful in. Changing the way you eat. So your way of eating, woo um, accountability is certainly going to be something. And positive accountability I think is something that's gonna be very helpful. Um, so talk to me just a little bit about that and how you're finding accountability. Certainly I'm not running around, uh, because I'm. With age comes wisdom. There's a little bit of gray hair over these temples. Um, so I'm certainly not hounding you, but there have been times when I've provided you with a little bit of accountability and you've provided me with a little bit of accountability. Um,

Bonnie: 24:04

yeah, I don't, I feel that it's not fair to ask him, um, to be my accountability person. asking for trouble, you know, and, and I'm smart enough to know that. Um, so I have to find, for me, accountability is, is very important for my success in this. Um, and. and I'm going to say that I've been in on other diet plans and, and I've had that accountability. So I know that accountability is very important to me. Um, so what I've been, you know, thinking about is why not. Overlap, a diet plan with this way of eating.

Brian: 24:59

Yes. And diet plan. So I guess diet plan does have the word diet, but it's not just diet. So we're, we're not gonna do the, um, every time that we say diet plan, but the one diet plan that I. Personally feel can fit into kind of the homesteading lifestyle, um, as Weight Watchers. And that's something that you were involved with before, uh, COVID and then Covid happened. And unfortunately the group that you were meeting with, um, It kind of fell apart and no longer exists. And then there's just been a lot of other, you know, other factors that kind of came into it. But really what you're doing is you're stacking this diet plan of Weight Watchers on top of the Mediterranean Diet way of eating to provide you with a level of accountability. Yeah.

Bonnie: 25:53

Because, um, with Weight Watchers, they, they already. you know, like all set up. They have foods that you can look up, um, and values for the foods. So, your fruits and vegetables, some of them like are zero points and like sugars, they're gonna be higher in points and so it's going to cost you more. And so you're gonna tend to, stay away from those. And if you're keeping, track of it, um, and trying to stay within, a certain number, um, that's going to make you think twice about, having that cookie or, or even, having that, how many cookies you're having or how much, um, red meat you're eating. Um, because if, if I didn't have any accountability, you know, I would just go. To the old ways of eating and the old snacks that I used to eat and um, you know, just mindless snacking.

Brian: 26:58

Yeah. Now, for me to be frank, um, I, I don't think I, I'm not gonna say never, cause I've, I've learned a long time ago, never to say never, but I, I don't think that the framework of Weight Watchers would work well for me simply because I, I would just find that very, very irritating. And in fact, if you look into different, and I'm going to call them ways of eating. Especially if you, if you Google them, uh, I think it's US News has kind of like the top 25 diets come on. And, uh, this is fun. Um, but they have the top 25 diets and one of the major downsides to a lot of them is that it can be tedious in the portioning and keeping track of a. You know, the points and all of those kinds of things. And that's a big part of what Weight Watchers is all about. And so for me, I, I would find that to be very, very irritating and, and it wouldn't l lend itself to long-term success. But for you, that level of accountability is important, right?

Bonnie: 28:02

Yeah. And, I was very successful. In, losing weight and, um, having more energy and exercising more just through, the accountability that that brought, like through the meetings and through the online, keeping points and

Brian: 28:20

things. and certainly, uh, I don't want anybody to think that this, uh, episode in any way, shape, or form is sponsored by, uh, weight Watchers. Um, now if Weight Watchers wants to sponsor this episode, certainly hit me up, brian@thehomesteadjourney.net. More than happy to, uh, take, uh, some sponsorship dollars, but, uh, it certainly has been something for you that has provided a level of accountability. Now, again, it doesn't have to be a. Plan, um, that provides people the level of accountability. You know, if you're, if you go onto a way of eating, um, with, uh, you know, your family or with friends, um, you certainly can find accountability one with another, but certainly I think that is something that's gonna be helpful. And also just really understanding how strict you want to be you're going to be. Yeah, I think that plays into the level of accountability that you're going to need. Um, but certainly, Step one, or I guess item number one if you're going to be successful, in my opinion, in our opinion, is that you do need a level of accountability. The second thing on our list is support. Um, if you are going to be successful in adopting a new way of eating, you've gotta have support, and I'm certainly not. Break my arm, trying to pat myself on the back. But when we decided that we were gonna go onto the Mediterranean diet okay, the Mediterranean way of eating, um, we decided that we were gonna do it as a family. Um, uh, We weren't gonna have you cook, uh, a meal for you and a meal for Brian, j and i. Mm-hmm. we just didn't feel like that was helpful. Um, and so we have tried to jump into this and be a support system to you from that regard. And I think that's something that if people want to adopt a particular way of eating, They need to have that kind of support. You know, if you've got a family where somebody's trying to do paleo and somebody else is trying to do keto and somebody else is trying to do, you know, veganism and somebody else's tr you know, like, it just gets very, very confusing For sure. You know, and I think it's gonna be very difficult for anybody to achieve success. Yeah.

Bonnie: 30:33

Our son, he is even, on board with this somewhat. I was trying out, the new recipes and everything. He said, oh, mom's so good, where did you get this recipe from? And um, and then I kept, for like a week I was doing, like trying different recipes and whatever. And, and I tried not to use that four litter word diet, come on, because in the past he did not respond very well. to not having the Doritos and the cabinet, um, and things like that. So I was kind of tiptoeing around that. I said, you know, this is our, we're gonna just start eating, you know, like they do in the Mediterranean. Um, and these types of meals are gonna be, what we're gonna be eating. And then I tried to explain to him, you know, and he likes most of the meals he likes and he's on board.

Brian: 31:32

Yeah. And, and certainly we have not been, uh, 100% compliant. For us it's. The, the concept of a way of eating, so it's a little bit more broad. and also it's something we've been easing into and we'll talk about that, um, you know, on further episodes. But we weren't about to go take all of the food that we had in the cupboards and, and throw them out. It was just a matter of, okay, we'll work through something that maybe isn't necessarily compliant with the Mediterranean style of eating, I guess Mediterranean way of eating. And, but then we're not gonna replace. And. We're gonna talk on future episodes about how it's affecting what we're going to raise and grow on the homestead this year. Um, because certainly what you want to eat, and I've talked about this in the past. You know, raise and grow, what you're going to eat, what you like to eat. And so I'm going to try to take my own words of wisdom and, and apply them, but to really focus on more on growing the things that are within, you know, the realm of, of the Mediterranean, uh, way of eating.

Bonnie: 32:44

And also, um, being more intentional, like how we preserve them. Mm-hmm. whether it be, drying them, freezing them, canning, because we found that, Since we didn't do that, um, last year, um, to match this way of eating, um, it's been very, it's been pretty expensive and I feel horrible about going to the store and buying a pepper or. Um, like zucchini. I'm like, wow, I could have grown that in the garden or more of that in the garden.

Brian: 33:23

That really leads well into the third thing you need to consider if you're going to be successful long term. And that's really affordability, um, affordability of a, either a diet or ah, come on. Uh, a diet plan, um, is, is going to be key. And one of the things that we found is that it was a bad time to. make that change, uh, from the standpoint of time of year because we made this change after the garden was passed, after everything was preserved. A, you know, long after we had made decisions with regard to what we were gonna raise and grow in the garden. And so over the winter, um, The, those choices in combination with the fact that food right now is just very, very expensive and there always has been a cost to eating real food, which is something I've talked about a lot on this podcast. Um, the affordability factor is certainly a, a huge one.

Bonnie: 34:23

Yeah. Um, not to say that we've done everything wrong. I'm loving now that you have helped me learn that I can do, um, the Turkey broth, um interchange it. I'm using that more because we didn't process our chickens this year because we lost so many of the young ones. I don't have any chicken broth left. But we did, Turkey broth and I feel like I'm saving money there and I'm not going out and buying, you know, um, I'm really using it. I'm not buying the herky broth. And, um, as far as like the tomatoes and I, I, that's some things we did. Right?

Brian: 35:09

Yeah, definitely. Now I, if I would've known, because I, I did cut back a little bit on tomatoes last year and last year wasn't a great year for tomatoes to begin with. We just. It was, it was an odd year for, for vegetables last year, but I would've grown more tomatoes because the Mediterranean diet a lot, I shouldn't say the Mediterranean diet, but a lot of recipes within the Mediterranean diet. We use tomatoes almost to the point to where you can kinda get sick of tomatoes. Yeah. Um, but. You know, definitely I would've grown more tomatoes last year, um, had I known that we were gonna be making this transition. But again, that's more topic for another episode. The fact is, regardless of whether or not it's a Mediterranean diet or whether or not you're doing, you know, keto or you're doing paleo, or you're doing the carnivore diet or vegetarian or whatever it is, whatever particular way of eating, uh, you are following the. The fact is that homesteading, I think, can play a role in the the affordability factor. Yeah. Um, especially if you are wanting to eat high quality, fresh, uh, ingredients. And so there's gonna be some things that we're gonna change this year. And again, we're gonna share them on future episodes. There's gonna be some things we're going to add, we're gonna take away. Uh, here on the homestead. We. Do some different ways of growing things here on the homestead, but all in an effort to drive the cost of this way of eating down. So the fourth, uh, thing that we want to talk about from the standpoint of achieving success is you need to take in consideration when you're adopting a new way of eating the lifestyle impacts. right? So when you change your way of eating, it's going to have positive, and it also can have negative effects on your lifestyle. And you need to, to take that into consideration if you're going to have long-term success. Um, if you are somebody who finds the, the way of eating to be a drudgery, uh, or you're following some kind of a, a diet plan and you find that to be a drudgery, chances of a long-term success. I mean, it's just logical. You know, I'm, I'm not really breaking any new ground here, but it's just logical that your chances of long-term success are, are gonna be probably slim to none. Yeah.

Bonnie: 37:32

And you're, when you lose that weight, you're not gonna maintain it. If that purpose of losing weight, um,

Brian: 37:43

Yeah. If, if, if your goal is to lose weight, you're probably just gonna pack it back on because you're going to fall off the bandwagon. You're gonna go back to bad habits. You're, you know, maybe it's gonna be one bag of Doritos comes in and then it's two bags of Doritos, and then you, you know, um, whate, whatever it is, whatever your particular vice is, um, you're gonna fall and, and, and again, level of compliance and so on and so, You know, that's, that's totally up to you. Not, this is a no judgment zone here. Um, but certainly we want you to have long-term success and so you have to factor in. the effects that these things are going to have on your lifestyle, and are you willing to, to, you know, to make those changes? Now sometimes you have no choice. You know, sometimes there is a health reason, you know, there's an allergy or whatnot, and you have to do what you have to do. Um, but by and large, you know, you really do need to. Think through before you jump on the bandwagon of any particular way of eating what the positive and the negative impacts are going to be on your lifestyle. Yeah.

Bonnie: 38:48

And I feel like there are enough, um, examples or ways of eating out there that you could find one. that fits you or like create your own. Yeah. You know, there's nothing wrong with that.

Brian: 39:06

Yeah, no, that, that's definitely a great point. Um, we're certainly not advocating while we are, we've chosen to follow the Mediterranean, um, way of eating. I avoided the D word there. Um, since we've chosen to follow that, we're certainly not advocating that everybody else do. Um, that's what we've found is, is we feel is right for us and was

Bonnie: 39:30

suggested

Brian: 39:30

to us. It was suggested to us, almost prescribed, uh, to you. We're certainly not saying that's the way that you have to eat or, it's just that's what we've chosen to do and so I think it is important to figure out. What's important to you? And that really leads into our final point. And that is, and this is something that Weight Watchers was very, very, um, keen on, and that is understand your why. When you choose a way of eating. You've gotta understand your why.

Bonnie: 40:06

Yeah, because if you don't keep that in your, the forefront, you're going to easily slip back into what you've always done into your bad habits. but if you, remind yourself, Of your why, why you're doing that, and you are, seeing success and accomplishing those goals. you're gonna keep doing

Brian: 40:30

it. definitely. And so, as we think about some of the why's that people might, um, choose a new way of eating, some of the ones that come to my mind are things like religious and ethical reasons. So maybe somebody decides to adopt a new religion and so would that come certain dietary restrictions. And so that's going to drive. how somebody eats or what somebody eats. Uh, but certainly there can be ethical concerns. a friend of ours, a dear friend of ours, became, a vegetarian, because she saw a documentary on the commercial meat supply, and she was like, I can't support this any longer. And so she became a vegetarian and she's not become a militant, Individual that, tells everybody else what they have to do and what they can and cannot eat. That's not her at all. But she has chosen that just over ethical reasons and, and I totally respect that. Mm-hmm. Um, so that's her. Why? Um, another reason why people may choose a new way of eating, in particular, getting into home setting, we already talked about this, but is food security. Maybe they, they've been the grocery store, they've seen empty. They're like, I don't wanna rely on, processed foods any longer, because who knows if I'm gonna be able to get them, or they look at. The, ingredient list on some of those, processed foods and like, I don't want that. Um, but certainly food security or, a desire for a healthier diet certainly could drive somebody to choose a new way of eating. Another major driver, and this is one that we've already talked. and that's weight loss. Um, I think, you know, that really does play into a lot of people when they decide that, I've been packing on pounds and, I'm not doing this anymore. Mm-hmm. they go to the doctor and the doctor says, uh, Mr. So-and-so, uh, you're not obese, but uh, you don't need to gain. Um, but they may be obese and they're like, no, I'm done with this. You know, I, I've, I've gotta take better care of myself. Um, and certainly for me as we went on this, the weight, whole weight loss thing was not, um, a consideration. I was doing it more to support you, but I've lost weight. Um, in fact, I jumped on the scale yesterday just to see how much I had lost and I, I don't track it every day. I don't get on the scale every week, but I, I was actually, um, I was, I was actually surprised. I I, I'm down quite, quite a few pounds and, and the thing is, is people have have noticed it. They've said to me, oh, you, you've lost some weight, um, and you've lost weight as. um, as we've gone onto this not

Bonnie: 43:13

quite as fast. Um,

Brian: 43:15

but, and it's not a race, it's not a competition. No, no. Uh, no. But you know, that certainly is, um, a component to

Bonnie: 43:24

it. Yeah. And as you, as you lose the weight, um, other things, Blood pressure goes down, your blood sugar changes. if you have diabetes, you know that changes and you have more energy. So, yeah, that's helpful there.

Brian: 43:45

And that really leads into the fourth reason why people might want to, uh, find a new way of eating, and that's health related things. Um, so people may find that they have a gluten intolerance or gluten celiac sensitivity, celiac disease. Mm-hmm. um, or lactose intolerant, um, you know, Rachel, you know, your sister, our sister-in-law, I guess we should say. Mm-hmm. she's lactose intolerant, so that affects, you know, what she can eat from the standpoint of, you know, dietary things. Um, and in your case it was that you were diagnosed as pre-diabetic. And so that was a health concern. I, I, when, when the doctor prescribed this, um, you know, as a, as a way of eating, I was like, well, if that's what the doctor says and that's gonna help keep you around. Um, then I'd like to probably keep you around.

Bonnie: 44:37

What a guy he's Yeah, that's exactly what he said. He is like, I want, I want you to be around for a few more years, at least a few more years. But

Brian: 44:45

then as we got through the winter and I started seeing. The cost of the grocery bill. Then I started to rethink that because as a farmer, it's like when you have an animal, a cow or a sow, and you're like pumping a lot of money into'em, there comes a point in time to where it's like, do I just send it off to the slaughterhouse? And

Bonnie: 45:03

living on the edge, living on the edge.

Brian: 45:09

Oh yes, that was good. Uh, no, it wasn't obvious sleeping on the couch tonight, but no, um, certainly, you know, health concerns I is a big part of the reason why, and all of those are good reasons, but there's a fifth reason that sometimes people use as their why. And in my opinion, this is the worst reason why someone might choose a new way of eating. What is that? a fad. Absolutely. Uh, you know, people jump on diet. and, and, and it almost becomes a status symbol. Um, it, it, it kind of drives me nuts. And, you know, the, the joke is, you know, how do you know if somebody's vegetarian? Uh, don't worry about it. They'll, they'll let you know, But, but some people, I mean, it really does, it becomes a, a fad and almost a, a status symbol. And I think that's a really, really poor reason. Now, at the end of the day, if that works for you and it gets you eating healthier, okay, great. But I just don't see that as being a great, why. To achieve long-term success if you are going to change your way of eating, uh, on a permanent basis. And I see it happen even in the home setting community where, you know, a particular influencer will be doing the GAPS Diet or the a i P diet. Oops. I got, got a two those. Um, and you know, and so people are like, well, so-and-so's doing that. I've gotta jump on it. Well, they may be doing it for some health related reasons that you don't have. They may be doing it, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, don't, don't get me wrong. But again, I, if you're just doing it because other people are doing it, that in my opinion, is just a really, really, reason. Yeah. You're not gonna, you're

Bonnie: 46:54

too judgemental. You're not gonna stick with it because when they change the way they eat, you're gonna change the way you eat.

Brian: 47:02

Yeah. And, and I, I think that if you're not coming into it with the right reasons, understanding the why in the most positive way, you're going to find whatever way of eating or whatever diet, ah, come on to be a drudgery and you're just not going to achieve long-term success. And I certainly, uh, the. is going to apply to homesteading in general. Um, understanding, you know, the reasons why you're doing homesteading is going to help you keep going when the crops don't come up, when the animals die. And we've talked about that on past episodes. But as we think specifically about this change for us here, On our homestead this year. I think it's gonna be very, very important that we keep in mind why we are doing this. Why did we adopt this way of eating? Because that's going to help us when we maybe are gonna be a little tempted to, and I'm not necessarily gonna say stray, because again, we're not approaching this from being 100% compliant and y you know, we've gone to people's houses. and, uh, me and my mom and dad's house, my Aunt Vanessa's house, and they knew that we had adopted the, the Mediterranean way of eating, and they were like, well, what can you eat? We're like, no, no, no. That's not, not what this is about. You know, we're coming to your house. We don't have any kind of physical problems from the standpoint of, you know, uh, lactose intolerance or gluten intolerance. Like, we're not going to hurt. Um, as a result of. You know, whatever you, you serve us. So, no, it's not about that. You know, for us, this is a way of eating. This is what we choose to do, but we're not gonna try to force this on other people and go to their house and be like, oh, you have to do this. Um, and, and that's not to say that again with our sister-in-law, Rachel, you know, she comes to our house, we know that she's lactose intolerant, right? So we, you know, mashed potatoes that are specifically for her. And you know, we will make things without cheese specifically for her. We try to be sensitive to that because for her it's not just a choice. Mm-hmm. Um, but there are.

Bonnie: 49:19

It's not consequences if she eats the certain. Yeah,

Brian: 49:22

exactly. Right, right. So, you know, we sort try to be sensitive to that, but in our case it's not that. Right. And so, um,

Bonnie: 49:29

yeah, just as long as we don't like go over there too much, you know, because the blood work, the blood work would come back, you know? Yeah. It would not. Be what the doc would want it to be.

Brian: 49:40

Exactly. 100%. And so, but again, it's, it's really looking at it and I, and I've really so much found the concept of way of eating very helpful. And it's, and it's helped me. it, it's helped me as we've gone and we're still going through this transition to not allow this to be a negative thing or something that, you know, kind of grates on my nerves and, and, gets me upset. Um, but I, it's really helped frame it in a more positive way for me. and so, hopefully people will find that concept if they find nothing else here. Helpful. Hopefully they'll find that concept, um, a helpful one. So anyhow, let's just kind of run through it real quick to, to summarize, saying if you're gonna have long-term success as you adopt a new way of eating, you're gonna need accountability. You're gonna need support, you're gonna need to take into consideration, affordability and do what you can to make it affordable. If it's, uh, you know, something that's gonna stretch your budget, uh, you need to consider your lifestyle impacts both positive and negative, but most importantly, you need to understand your why. You need to be doing this for the right reasons, not jumping on a fad. And so, Bonnie, any closing words of wisdom that you'd like to offer people before we sign off?

Bonnie: 51:00

I would just reiterate, you know, the why, like, know your why. That's going to, keep you on track. And keep you doing that. Um, keep you from straying or eating, you know, too many cookies or too much ice cream. In my case, I love ice cream, so like, yeah. So I'm wanted ice cream, so I'm going to settle for sherbet, tonight's, because I have to think about like my why. Um,

Brian: 51:30

and instead of having a half a gallon Yeah.

Bonnie: 51:33

Like I, yeah. And I want to eat. I feel like I could eat, you know, emotional eating. It's been a rough day for me. Um, like emotional eating. I wanna just have a whole half gallon, half gallon of ice cream. Um, but I'm going to have the Sher bird and not a half gallon of it.

Brian: 51:50

A hundred, right. So again, making some good choices here. Not 100% compliant choices, but that's okay. But that's okay. That's okay. That's it's way. Okay. And, uh, so that's what we're doing here and I hope that, uh, you found this helpful. If you got any questions or comments, reach out to me, Brian, at the homestead journey.net. You can also reach out to us via our social media accounts. all of those are in the show notes. If you've got any kind of comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you. If you feel like we've missed the boat on this, let me know that as well. I'd be more than happy to correct the record. All right. Thanks so much, babe, for being here. Looking forward to the next one. Okay. On the next episode, we're gonna be talking about the Mediterranean way of. and why we chose that. Until next time, everybody, thanks so much for joining us and keep up the good work