Two things happened the day before I started my 14-day Bright Line Eating Challenge. I had gone to my favorite small taco shop in town and ordered way too much food knowing I was starting my big lifestyle change the next day. Can you see why I needed a change? I laugh at this now.
To make sure I was well stocked I also went to the grocery store and got more fruit than I ever have. I basically never ate fruit before I started this plan. My cart was loaded with my favorite vegetables from both the produce department and freezer aisle. I tossed in whole plain yogurt, cottage cheese, mixed nuts, hummus, avocado cups, and my favorite meats. As I put away all my groceries I hoped I was truly ready for tomorrow where I planned to give up coffee, yikes, all sugars including artificial, and all flours including corn flours from like tortillas.
Bright Line Eating – 4 rules.
Here is my wording:
#1 Let go of sugar!
This one makes sense. If you read the studies on sugar in the American diet today you can understand why this needs to go. If you watch the videos from Bright Line Eating you will learn that artificial sugar of all kinds needs to go. This is not the exact quote or science but basically, when you eat artificial sugars you can still crave sugar. It doesn’t satisfy the craving. Artificial sugar could make cravings worse. Read the exact science here behind all this from Bright Line Eating here, https://brightlineeating.com/research-publications/
#2 Goodbye to all flours!
This one also makes sense but includes other grains broken down into flours because they lose their nutrition in processing. When you eat grains you want to get the full nutrition so rice cakes, puffed corn, oatmeal, potatoes, plus a more included just not corn flour, rice flour, etc.
#3 Regular Meals Takes the Burden Off Willpower
I can tell you since the first time I started my first diet until I began processing this Bright Line Eating lifestyle change. I thought about food all the time. It consumed me. I could be thinking about what I was cooking for dinner, what salad I was going to create, or what restaurant I was going to head to but the food was constantly taking up space. This rule is what changed everything for me. This rule is about preplanning every bite after dinner the night before.
#4 Quantities – Take Your Judgement Out Of The Equation
This rule is all about measuring your food with a digital scale. Make sure you not only get the proper measurement of food but also establish trust with yourself by honestly measuring exactly what you are eating. In one of the videos, this digital food scale* is recommended because when you weigh a salad you sometimes need a big bowl. This one stays on longer and the display pulls away from the scale so you can see it better.
The Bright Line Eating Plan consists of 3 meals a day.
Breakfast – 1 protein serving, 1 fruit serving, and 1 grain serving
Lunch – 1 protein serving, 1 fruit serving, 1 fat serving, and 6 ounces of vegetables
Dinner – 1 protein serving, 1 fat serving, and 14 ounces of vegetables
So I grabbed a journal, I love this one* and wrote my first journal entry for day 1 with the quantities equation. I added a few additional notes regarding food suggestions based on my grocery shopping. I then set my digital food scale on the counter and was ready for day 1.
My next post will be all about how day 1 went. You will probably be surprised by the results so be sure to check it out!
*Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.