How to Build Healthier Eating Habits

Healthier eating habits are the choices that you make every day around food that help your body be healthy over the long-term, not just for the moment. This includes consuming a diverse diet of whole foods, serving sizes, proper hydration and minimal processed foods. Healthy eating habits are not hard and fast diets, but rather small, consistent changes which can be made over time. The intention is not to restrict or perfect. It’s about developing a positive association with food that will help you sustain your energy, aid digestion, and decrease your risk of chronic disease over time.

Why Eating Habits Matter More Than Diets

Dieting is geared toward fast results. Habits are about lasting change. Most diets fail within a few months because they are rigid rules that will not last and can make you feel pressured to fail.You eliminate the all or nothing pressure of most diets when you develop habits rather than rigid rules.

Consider other life habits. You don’t have to make a decision every morning about whether or not you’re going to brush your teeth. It’s automatic. Once eating habits are formed, they remain unchanged. You quit on willpower and begin counting on routine.

The importance of this change is that health is determined by what you do most days, not occasionally. One slip-up won’t jeopardize months of healthy eating. However, over the years, poor daily decisions can slowly add up and become a risk for weight gain, fatigue and future disease.

Start With Small, Specific Changes

A common error is attempting to make a complete changeover in eating habits at one time. This usually backfires. It might be better to select one or two changes and just abide by them until they seem natural.

Some examples of small changes that add up:

• Swapping sugary drinks for water or unsweetened tea
• Adding a vegetable to one meal a day
• Eating breakfast instead of skipping it
• Choosing whole grain bread over white bread
• Reducing added sugar in coffee gradually, not all at once

All of these seem achievable. There is no need to make a life change for any of them. After the first change is regular, typically within a couple of weeks, you can introduce another change. This progressive strategy creates momentum gradually, but doesn’t result in a ‘burnout’ effect.

Plan Meals Without Overcomplicating Them

Planning meals doesn’t have to be a daunting task, it just doesn’t have to be a lot of work. In essence, planning is about making decisions ahead of time when you’re not hungry and knowing what you are going to eat before you get hungry.

The plate method is a quick one that many people use. Half your plate should be filled with vegetables, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with whole grains or starchy vegetables. This system takes the guesswork out of eating and provides balance on its own without any calorie counting.

Cooking on the weekend can also be helpful during the week. Those meals can be ready in no time, with a big batch of rice, grilled chicken or roasted vegetables to make blocks of meals. This helps to eliminate the urge to take out because there’s nothing prepared at home.

Planning is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It can be as simple as eliminating friction, so healthy choices are the easy choices, particularly on days that are very busy and when decision fatigue is a factor.

Pay Attention to Hunger and Fullness Cues

A number of people consume meals on a schedule, in response to their feelings or on a habit.Others consume food on a schedule, on a feeling or on a habit, instead of in response to the sensation of hunger. One of the most overlooked aspects of adopting healthier habits is getting to know your body’s cues.

Ask yourself if you’re physically hungry or eating because you are bored, stressed, or because it is easy to get. This is not a complete abstinence from cravings. It involves putting in a gap between automatic eating and actual eating.

Pacing foods helps, too. Your brain takes about 20 minutes to take notice of fullness. If you eat fast, then you are likely to have eaten more than you need by the time you get to that signal. Eating slowly and swallowing between bites, or leaving the TV off while you eat, can allow you to become more aware of when you’re truly full.

Make Room for Flexibility

Guilt is caused by rigid rules and rigid rules create guilt. Healthy eating behaviors are best accommodated when there is flexibility, not when they are all good or bad foods.

At a birthday party, if you’re hungry and want cake, have cake. Just one meal is not a pattern. Issues emerge when it becomes a pattern of indulgence instead of a pattern of reasonable social interaction, rather than when it is indulgence instead of social interaction.

This attitude also helps someone stick to a healthy diet in the long term. Those who ban a food altogether have increased cravings and are at a greater risk for overeating. Eating is easier when we can be flexible, which reduces the psychological pressure and helps to make eating fun instead of stressful.

Build a Supportive Environment

The environment has a greater impact on your decisions than you think. When there’s chips and soda in the cupboard, you’re going to grab them during a hectic week! When stocked with fruit, nuts and easy-to-grab vegetables, then those are the preferred options.

Some little changes in your environment can have a big impact:

• Have healthier food options out and easily accessible, such as on the counter or at eye level in the refrigerator.
• Keep less healthy foods away or in places that are difficult to reach.
• Chop vegetables or fruit ahead of time for snacking
• Don’t buy food when you’re hungry.Do not do grocery shopping when hungry, which means you will make impulsive decisions.

People are also part of the environment. When people around you are eating balanced meals it becomes easier for you to do the same, and if you are around all the time at work or home eating fast food or junk food, it can be difficult for you to change your eating habits. Making a few changes around you may take less effort than simply trying to make things happen by willpower.

Final Thought 

It’s not all or nothing or a rigid diet.It’s not a set of rules or a diet of perfection. It’s about changing a little bit at a time that is sustainable in real life. Make one change at a time, like drinking more water, adding vegetables to a meal or eating slower. Make this a habit first before introducing the next change.

All of these little changes make a difference over time and help you maintain a healthy way of life without a struggle. The idea is to make improvements that you can sustain for years—and not for a few weeks. At its very essence, healthy eating is all about making the good choice – a little easier, each day.