3546: 5 Common Diet Excuses Too Many People Make by JC Deen of JCD Fitness on Healthy Eating Habits

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. 5 Common Diet Excuses Too Many People Make by JC Deen of jcdfitness.com and I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now, what I like to do every Wednesday is give you a little bit of inspiration. Since today is Wednesday, here we go. Quote,

[00:01:29] Every moment of your life, including this one, is a fresh start. R.J. Marshall Alright, and with that, now that we're in the right frame of mind, let's get right to today's article and start optimizing your life. 5 Common Diet Excuses Too Many People Make by JC Dean of jcdfitness.com Many people feel they don't have time to eat right because of their busy lives.

[00:01:59] I don't have time is a common phrase these days. When it comes time to work out or eat better or make dinner or breakfast or lunch or track calories, it's easy to write yourself off as having too much going on. The truth is we do have time. Our problem lies within our priorities. The saying, where there's a will, there's a way, holds a lot of truth. The people who want to make something happen typically do.

[00:02:25] But instead of me giving you an earful of existential reasoning as to why you're not cutting the mustard and choosing to not have the time, I'm going to show you how to buy some time back and make your fat loss diet much easier on yourself. To address all these concerns, we'll look at each excuse individually. Excuse number one. I don't have time to cook every day. Easy. Easy. Plan ahead by cooking enough for the next day or cook for the entire week.

[00:02:54] One of the best ways to ensure you hit your macro targets is to have a plan. When I used to work at the call center, I would cook my dinner at night and then make some extra for lunch the next day. In the mornings, I would make a smoothie with protein powder, milk, and bananas to cover my breakfast. This way, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were always covered. Dinner, most always served as my post-workout meal. Make sure each meal has some protein, carbohydrate, and fat in it.

[00:03:24] Excuse number two. I don't know how to cook. Learn. Teach yourself. YouTube has tons of easy tutorials on how to cook various dishes. I always recommend starting with scrambled eggs. The next best place to start is to get a great cookbook, particularly one that suits your tastes and preferences. Alternatively, take a local cooking class. There are many happening all over the country all the time. Heck, even when I was living in Thailand,

[00:03:51] we had plenty of cooking class options if we wanted to participate. A quick internet search will do the trick. Excuse number three. There's too much social pressure to eat and drink heavily. There is a lot of pressure, especially in America, to go celebrate with lots of food and drinks. I'm not going to tell you to cut that out completely, but if you're serious about your fat loss and physique goals, then something has to give. At first, learning to set some limits for nights out is a good idea.

[00:04:19] For instance, if you declare you'll stop at three drinks, then stop at three drinks. If you know you have a big party with lots of finger foods and craft tequila to binge on, make sure you skimp on the food earlier in the day and make room for the calorie bomb later. You could even plan to work out earlier to create somewhat of a sink. Now, please do not get this confused with punishing yourself with exercise because you couldn't control your appetite or you decided to throw some back with your boys. Oh, and one thing to ponder.

[00:04:50] Food is typically bad entertainment. Excuse number four. I don't have time to track calories. Ah, I get this one a lot. And I have to say my response is, what else are you going to do? Most people don't have an answer to this question. They typically expect me to say, that's okay, we'll make it much easier by, insert whatever they had in mind here. When it comes down to it, you can use simplified rules for portion sizes, but tracking calories is mostly necessary

[00:05:19] for those who want to lose fat and do it steadily. Without a plan of attack, you're left guessing. When you guess, you usually get frustrated. When you're frustrated, you're stressed. And when you're stressed, your body fights back. And excuse number five. I never know what to eat on a daily basis. Oh, this is easy. First, determine three to four healthy meals and three to four snacks you can have consistently.

[00:05:46] Second, have them very, very often. Do it uniformly. When you already know your diet ahead of time, it's really hard to mess it up. You just listened to the post titled, Five Common Diet Excuses Too Many People Make by JC Dean of jcdfitness.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Best thing that's ever happened to you financially. Go. Easy. Sold my car on Carvana. Amazing offer.

[00:06:16] Really? I hit 200 on the scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No. How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win. Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly. Inexplicably good. Offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply. Your heart can tell you a lot about your health.

[00:06:43] Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds with the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, can tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. The features described are for wellness purposes only and not for medical use. iPhone 11 or later required. Based on Apple conducted study of heart rate accuracy, August 2026. Visit apple.com slash Apple Watch Series 12. Dr. Neil here with my commentary.

[00:07:13] Let's talk about that last excuse JC mentioned. Excuse number five. I never know what to eat on a daily basis. JC gave us a great solution to this excuse. Identify some healthy meals and snacks you can eat consistently. Then stick to those for a while. I know meal planning can feel like a chore at first, but once you try it, it feels amazing. After a long day, I love not having to use extra mental energy trying to figure out what I'm going to eat for dinner.

[00:07:42] It's stressful and exhausting not knowing what dinner is going to be. Instead, coming home, knowing the menu, and having most of the ingredients prepped relieves so much stress. I usually spend time over the weekend planning three to four nutritious meals for the following week. After I pick up the groceries for that meal, I try and prep the ingredients, especially the veggies, for those meals as soon as I get home.

[00:08:06] I just spent all of that time, energy, and hard-earned money on those groceries, so I better use them. And one way to increase the chances that I use them is to wash and chop fresh produce as soon as I get home. Then I put them in clear glass containers and leave them at eye level in the fridge. Done. Now I see them every time I open the fridge. They're staring back at me, reminding me to use them sooner rather than later. Now, if this practice isn't clicking for you, that's okay.

[00:08:36] Luckily, JC gave us four other suggestions to try. So which one are you going to start with? All right, that'll do it for today. I hope you have a great rest of your day. And of course, I'll see you back here on tomorrow's show where your optimal life awaits. Let's find out. All right. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you.