Do you constantly feel like you don’t have the energy or motivation to change anything in your life? Are you constantly struggling to try to lose weight? If so, it’s time for a serious lifestyle change. This blog post will introduce you to the 3V Method, a comprehensive resource that provides practical advice and the support needed to maintain better health.
With this approach, you’ll adopt healthy behaviors like eating nutritious foods and exercising regularly, while tackling unhealthy habits head-on. By following the 3 Vs of Consistency, Variety, and Value Reinforcement, you can finally make healthier changes in your life and discover how much easier it is to lose weight when you do it right!
The 3V method: what is it?
The 3V method is a practical rule used to designate plant foods, varied and true. It proposes to best meet our dietary needs by consuming unprocessed foods that come naturally from the earth, such as cereals, fruits and vegetables, with the aim of diversifying our diet so that it is both rich and balanced.
This approach ensures that our body receives all the nutrients it needs to function properly without having to resort to overly complicated or difficult to prepare meals.
Real foods are those that are in their natural, minimally processed form, with no added chemicals or preservatives. Plant foods include a wide range of grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables that provide the body with essential vitamins and minerals. A varied diet covers all food groups and provides the variety of tastes, textures and colors necessary for optimal health.
The 3V method encourages us to consider power as a whole; not just as something we eat for pleasure, but as something essential for our health. It allows us to make conscious choices about what goes into our bodies in order to enjoy greater physical well-being, prevent disease, and promote long-term vitality.
Weight loss by the 3V method.
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Track what you eat:
Tracking what you eat can provide very valuable information to someone wanting to take control of their health. It doesn’t have to be a long and tedious task: the simple fact of keeping a food diary for a few days can give remarkable insights into our diet and eating habits. You can easily identify the source of your calories and find out what you’re actually taking in. This is especially useful if you are looking to slim down!
Unfortunately, relying on the apps’ algorithms based on your height, weight, and gender isn’t enough to know exactly how many calories you should be eating, as they don’t take into account individual metabolism levels. Fortunately, having a food diary handy provides much more detail on how many calories you need each day.
It’s recommended that you write down what you normally eat for 3-5 days (no restrictions!) and then subtract 100-250 calories from that average. This way, your new calorie goal will match your metabolism, and be achievable in the long run (it doesn’t make sense to diet 1200 calories a day and then go back to your “normal” eating pattern and gain weight, right?)
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Reduce starchy carbohydrates:
Note that “eliminate” is not simply “reduce”! Deprivation does not help at all to achieve your overall goals. Reducing carbohydrates in the diet has been significantly proven to:
- Reduce your appetite.
- Lead to faster weight loss compared to high carbohydrate diets.
- Boost your metabolism while losing weight if you eat enough protein.
What are starchy carbohydrates? Starches include grains such as bread, rice, pasta, and quinoa, as well as starchy vegetables such as beans, peas, corn, and potatoes.
Starchy scoops typically contain 120 calories and are equivalent to a thicker slice of bread, 1/2 cup of cooked rice, quinoa or beans, or 1 cup of starchy vegetables like corn.
The best way to lower your starch content is to make substitutions that feel equivalent to you. A medium sized russet potato has approximately 30 g of starch. A medium sweet potato contains only about 8 g. When you make this substitution, you can still include a potato in your meal.
Eat your veggie burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. You keep your favorite lunch, with a little modification to better meet your goals.
When you start tracking your calories, pay attention to how many servings of starchy foods you eat. Can you eat 1 or 2 fewer servings without feeling deprived? Can you replace a dish with a lower-starch option and still enjoy your favorite dinner?
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Add volume by incorporating non-starchy vegetables:
Non-starchy vegetables are a great way to add bulk and nutrients to meals while keeping the calorie count low. Adding different types of non-starchy vegetables to your meals is an easy and economical way to keep you full longer.
For example, replacing 1/2 cup of rice with 3 cups of cauliflower rice not only decreases the amount of carbohydrates ingested without sacrificing volume, but also significantly reduces the number of calories. These kinds of small tweaks to your eating habits will ensure you feel a greater sense of satisfaction at every meal, without having to resort to too many snacks later on.
