Healthy living is something that should never be taken for granted no matter what you do or where you find yourself. Just as the common saying Health is wealth implies staying healthy ensures a wealthy bankroll. One of the main contributors to healthy living is healthy eating habits. The kind of food you eat goes a long way in determining how healthy you’d be. However, lots of people do not feed well due to bad eating habits. It starts with one little bite or bowl then it becomes a food you eat every day.
Many of us tend to have unhealthy eating habits over a long period, such that when you decide to change and begin to eat healthily, it becomes difficult and a lot of people end up going back to the bad old habits. Developing healthy eating habits is about slowing down, taking small but basic steps, and planning out your meals. No worries at all, we know the process can be daunting, hence the reason for this write-up.
Prepare, Plan and Surround yourself with Healthy Foods
Since you are trying to break a habit, it is very important to map out a plan so you do not get swayed or carried away easily. You are to carefully take stock of the right kinds of food and get them at grocery stores, then plan the meals ahead of time. You can start with daily plans, then move to weekly and later monthly. Take an inventory of the relevant ingredients and ensure you stick to them when you buy. Before planning the meals, plan the ingredients as your discipline will begin from there. When it comes to “superfoods” not everything you read about online may be available in your country. Quinoa, for example, is a popular superfood in the United States and Europe but virtually unknown in Japan, and Spirulina Algae is much easier to find in Thailand and other parts of Asia than it is in the United States. For special foods like this, it may be helpful to know where they are commonly used and then visit local shops that specialize in foods from that country or region; some may even be available to order online.
Identify the Bad Eating Habits
Forming healthy habits starts from identifying unhealthy eating habits. Find out what your eating habits are and determine the ones that make you healthier and the ones that do not. When you understand these habits that lead to unhealthy eating, then you are gradually embracing healthy eating. Eating food too quickly has you eating more than necessary; one of the unhealthy eating habits. Skipping meals is also an unhealthy eating habit that you should look out for. When you skip meals, you tend to overeat and overindulge because you are very hungry. Try as much as possible to establish a consistent eating schedule. Another habit is eating just one kind of food frequently. When you do that, you prevent your body from getting all the nutrients needed for healthy living. Also, ensure you do not eat when you are not hungry. Eating out of boredom is a very bad unhealthy eating that should be stopped. Desserts after meals should not be frequent as they eventually add extra fat and empty calories to the body.
Make Use of Smaller Serving Plates, Bowls, and Utensils
One way to form healthy eating habits is to manage your food portions by deciding to use smaller plates, utensils, bowls, etc. You can measure how healthy your food is by the portion of what you eat. Research has shown that most times we tend not to leave any space in our plates when we serve. That simply means that the bigger the plate, the more you eat, the smaller the plate, the less you eat. Incorporate this and know you now a step from eating healthily.
Replace the Unhealthy Habits with Habits
As soon as you have identified the unhealthy eating habits you have, you can work towards replacing them with healthy eating habits. Here are some eating habits and what you can use to replace them. Instead of skipping meals, ensure you eat three times a day, replace cookies and pies with fresh fruits. Make a schedule of your meals and enjoy them ffqor at least 20 minutes, no rushing. Do not continue eating once you know you are full and save snacks for times when you are really hungry.
Forming healthy eating habits does not fall on someone, it can only be possible when you take conscious steps to that end. Be prepared to try out different things knowing full well some might work and might not. You can get a meal planner to plan and record all you eat and drink so your eating habits can be monitored. Go over your eating habits every week to see how good they went or how bad they went. If it went well, continue with what you’ve been doing. If it did not go well, do not give up, try to push a little bit harder but steadily.
