LifeHacker's "Seven Signs your Nutrition Plan Works for You": Listen and learn from the best source possible - your body!

Having just returned from a glorious week's vacation in Martinique (where delectable French pastries and creamy, Nutella-filled crepes are plentiful), I'm ready to get back to my standard fare of healthy eating.

While we did spend most of the vacation in bathing suits, basking on beaches like this one (which always seems to curb snacking), I took a slightly different approach to sweets and treats this vacation. Unknowingly, I found myself shunning my previous "I'm on vacation, so anything goes" mentality. I didn't gobble up fresh pain au chocolate just because they were available. I didn't order dessert simply because vacation is an excuse to indulge. Instead, I listened to what my body needed, enjoyed dessert (or chocolate for breakfast) when I really wanted to, and ate plenty of fruits and veggies along the way. It wasn't denial. It was actually listening to what my body really wanted, rather than what my mind said was standard vacation practice.

This idea of reminded me of this Life Hacker article I ran across a few weeks ago entitled "Seven signs your Nutrition Plan actually Works for You".  With all of the nutritional hubbub out there of what miracle food you must start eating, or what evil food you absolutely can't ingest, I love this article for what it is. It's a self-awareness gauge of what a healthy, personalized nutritional plan that's right for you should feel like. Broken down into seven helpful guidelines of what benefits you should be getting from the food you choose to eat, it certainly rings truer for me than any diet, fad, or "must" that I read about on twitter.

If you find, like me, that a couple of squares of dark chocolate after dinner make your world a better place, stick with it. If you feel a life without sugar (or gluten, or dairy, or what have you) is the way to go, stay on track. Just make sure whatever healthy eating plan you embark upon, it lives up to the basic needs involved with mental and physical well-being. Many of which are included in the article's list below!

Here's a quick list of the "Seven Signs your Nutrition Plan Actually Works for you", but be sure to read the full article here.

1. 
   
2. 1) You feel satisfied after meals. 
3. 2) You have more energy. 
4. 3) You sleep better. 
5. 4) Your clothes fit just a little looser (or tighter if you’re trying to gain).
6. 5) You’re in a better mood. 
7. 6) You’re stronger and have more endurance. 
8. 7) You don’t feel like you’re on a diet.