The purpose of this quiz is to help you determine if focusing on this area of your health is right for this season of your life. One of the hardest questions clients have tried to answer is “how do I determine what to start with?” because when it comes to getting healthier, there is so much to consider which makes it so easy to become overwhelmed and even start to shut down (and risk never starting at all!) I have come up with a series of questions to answer that will help you decide if exercise, nutrition, maintenance or stress management is the right focus for your current season of life. We’ll use a “red light, green light!” method to determine if that specific focus is where your focus could or should be.  Lots of “green lights” means go for it! Lots of “red lights” means you might want to consider starting somewhere else. And if you get a mix of both, you can choose whether you want to start there or maybe focus on something else. I advise you to pay attention to any feelings of overwhelm and indecisiveness because this can be an indication that you may not feel confident enough yet to tackle that focus. If you are truly unsure of how you want to answer, ditch it and move onto a different focus questionnaire; you may not even be in the headspace to address this area of your health right now and that’s okay!

 

How to score each focus season quiz: 

1 or 2 “Green Lights” = not a recommended focus to start with.

3 “Green Lights” = this is a possible focus to start with. 

4 or 5 “Green Lights” = this is a great focus to start with.

 

You can always take another quiz to see if it scores more green lights. If another quiz scores more, start with that one and place this season as the “runner up” focus (the next one you’ll tackle!)

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QUESTION 1: What will this require of me?

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A healthy kitchen. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say “I hate my kitchen” or “I don’t have enough room in my kitchen.” Feeling this way about the place you can create healthy meals for yourself is a major motivation and success buzzkill. The reality is, if you want to improve your health and nutrition, you have to do the best you can with what you already have. What will you allow to be more important to you, the distaste you have for your kitchen or the dedication you have to getting healthier? If you’re willing to do a little “spring cleaning” and reorganizing, then you’re ready for a focus for your nutrition. 

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

Learning about food. As a society, we are so confused. Mostly because between the people we love and trust and the media, we have been sent mixed messages about what is healthy and what is not that we don’t know what to believe. It’s easier to believe someone about nutrition if we’ve seen them have success with their own diet and nutrition so we tend to try what works for others only to find out that it’s not that simple. Our bodies are unique to us so we have to be willing to learn through trial and error, document the process and educate ourselves on what adequate nutrition feels like for our bodies. That will look like learning how to read nutrition labels, about macronutrients and how our bodies use calories for our daily activities. Are you willing to find resources such as YouTube videos, books or even hiring a nutritionist, coach or dietician to help you learn this information effectively? 

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

Grocery Shopping. It’s a non-negotiable and an absolute truth that if you have no healthy foods in your house then you cannot eat healthy. Duh, right? But this one task can be one of the fastest ways people are unable to follow through with getting healthier. If you miss shopping day, the whole week can go awry because you’ll be left fending for yourself in convenience stores and drive-thrus. I believe that Instacart has been a God-send for people who either A- don’t like to shop for groceries, or B- don’t have time. I highly recommend giving yourself 2-3 days to create your shopping list before your grocery shopping day and shopping on the same day every week. If shopping creates anxiety for you, you’ll need to plan the day you go during the week when the stores are less busy (think early or mid-morning or early afternoon while most people are at work.)

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

Time to meal prep. “Meal prep” is portioning out healthy meals and snacks in advance so that you have them to grab-and-go. It makes eating healthy a breeze but it can be time consuming as you learn how to do it efficiently. It’s worth noting that if you’re not familiar with meal prepping that you will need to be able to commit some time daily, twice a week or weekly according to what fits well in your schedule. This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to up to 2 or more hours depending on how experienced you are and how many meals you choose to prep at one time. If you feel you don’t have the time to commit to this but you can financially commit to hiring a meal prep service that offers pre portioned healthy meals then you can still give yourself a “green light.”

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

Time to cook. Let’s cut to the chase; not everyone likes to cook and not everyone CAN cook. Despite this truth, it is still our responsibility to eat well and we cannot rely on restaurants and drive-thrus to provide our bodies with adequate nutrition. So we have to commit to creating healthy meals to the best of our abilities and there is a solution for almost any nutrition obstacle. Realistically, can you commit to setting aside time to learning a few new recipes and experimenting with putting meals together? If yes, then we’ll get into the details of what this can look like and ways to save time in the kitchen in the nutrition section of this book. If your willpower already looks like it’s taking a nose dive into the ground and your white flag is waving “I surrender!” then you may want to give yourself some grace and peace about it and give your “red light” an honest check-mark.

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

QUESTION 2: How realistic is this time commitment in my life right now?

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

QUESTION 3: On a scale of 1-4 (1 being most important, 4 being least important), how important is achieving success in this area of life to me?

• 1-2: Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• 3-4: Green light (I can handle this) 

 

QUESTION 4: Am I ready to dedicate 12 weeks to this being my new focus?

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Look ahead in your schedule; are there vacations coming up? Big work deadlines that require more of your time? A new baby here or coming? Are you getting ready to move or start a new job? If the answer to any of these questions (or other circumstances) is “yes” then you may need to start in a different season. If you can say that your calendar looks good then you can give a “yes” to committing the time required for this season focus.

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

 

Can I financially afford to invest in the help and support I’ll need to accomplish this well?

 

I am betting that this is not the first time you’ve tried to eat better. No doubt, you’ve invested in something diet related before, whether that’s meal prep containers or packaged diet foods. Even better groceries, even to find yourself throwing away good produce and not eating what you invested in. So in an effort to keep this cost-effective, what have you learned from previous experiences that might save you money this time around? There are a ton of free resources such as Pinterest for recipes and meal plans as well as YouTube for cooking tutorials and inspiration. There will be different approaches and resources you’ll try over the course of 12 weeks to find what works best for you. The question is, are you willing to commit to the one that fits your budget right now (even if it’s not the one you want most like someone to cook for you!) and allow it to be enough until you have more room in your budget to do more? 

• Red light (I can’t see myself currently committing to this)

• Green light (I can handle this) 

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So, is this the right time in your life for you to focus on nutrition? If yes, then click here to view our nutrition coaching services. If “no”, then take one of the other focus questionnaires to determine where to start. Each questionnaire contains the same questions with details as to how it pertains to either exercise, stress management and maintenance.