Back in 2014, Marie Kondo became a clean up, organizing celebrity sensation, with her mindfulness approach to decluttering homes and her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

As a die-hard minimalist myself, I absolutely loved her approach to decluttering and I take this approach at least 2x a year in my office and home.

Her famous phrase “ Does this item bring you joy?” started to become a popular comment and I even started hearing people use her name as a verb “I need to Marie Kondo my closet”.

Recently, I was chatting with a private coaching client, and we were making a list of foods she loved versus ones she could do without. My client kept saying “ Well I eat a lot of [insert healthy option food] because I know it's good for me” and I kept saying back to her “But do you love eating that?” and after thinking about it she would say back, “well, no not really, but it's healthier than [insert perceived food that's unhealthier]” .

And then, out of nowhere I said, “we really need to Marie Kondo your diet”.

Just like that, my client got what I was trying to have her do.

We went straight to work, “ Ok here are the staples I eat most often,Quinoa , Whole grain pasta, Ezekiel Toast,Brown Rice…” and I would respond back: “ Ok, great and out of those staples which of those bring you joy and satisfaction?” and she would say “ well really I only like the Quinoa.” Great, we are keeping the Quinoa.

And so we went, for the next 40 minutes going through all of her staple foods and picking foods that brought her the most joy. Then if we had categories we needed to add more foods, we did. Together we tried to come up with at least 4 options for staple foods per category (Starches, Veggies, Fruits, Proteins, Fats & Treats)

Why was this exercise such a crucial part of my client’s weightloss journey? Part of creating a diet (way of life) that will last a lifetime, is focusing on foods you will truly feel satisfied by and leaving out the foods that are subconsciously creating more deprivation and restriction.

This doesn’t mean that you might occasionally have to grab foods that aren’t your favorites, but what this will do is allow you to create a refrigerator and pantry full of foods you know you will always love to eat and really eat from a place of abundance. If you hate protein bars, stop eating them! After all, food is meant to satisfy, not just nourish, and when we are not completely satisfied we will fail at creating a diet that supports us forever.

Your turn!

What are the foods that bring you the most joy?

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