How to eat healthy by making a pivot to your current eating routine.
If the idea of changing your diet to be healthy seems daunting, realize that changing your behavior means not only breaking bad habits but adopting healthy eating habits as well. These strategies can help with both:
1. Be present during your meals.
Practice being present. Minimize disruptions such as you’re the television, phone, media, etc. Pause enough between bites to put your fork down for each bite and give un-distracted attention to enjoy your meal. Eating is supposed to be enjoyable, after all!
2. Journal.
Whether you are changing your diet to feel healthy or lose pounds, you should try to implement long-term, meaningful changes. One of the first steps to create a food journal of the foods you’re eating. Write down every snack, meal, and bite you put into your mouth. This will show you clearly: how many calories you’re consuming, and where you can reduce calories.
3. Control your environment.
Our surroundings strongly weighs on what we do. If you tend to follow an unhealthy behavior when you’re in a certain time of day or place, change up your routine to avoid the temptation.
4. Don’t skip meals.
Skipping meals just sets you up to eat more to compensate for lost calories. Try to remain on a regimen of three meals per day.
5. Utilize your phone to help.
Many smartphones have software apps that automatically help you track water intake, calories, carbohydrates, exercise, and even sleep. You can often even use certain phones as pedometers to calculate the number of daily steps you taken.
6. Eat only one serving at a time.
Practice savoring one serving- your first and not going back for seconds. When you are at home likewise, serve plates in the kitchen rather than bringing serving plates and bowls to the table where you will sit to eat.
7. Eat smaller portions.
Begin to allocate and learn exactly what 1 cup of food looks like. This will help you visualize to make informed choices about proper portion amounts.
8. Use smaller plates.
This one is quite obvious. It’s harder to super-size your meal when your plate can only hold a certain amount.
9. Don’t tempt yourself.
Know thyself, this includes your weaknesses, so don’t bring foods home that you know you have a weak spot for that you might binge on.
10. Replace habits.
If abolishing a habit is difficult, substitute it with a new habit. If you have urges for snacks, that are not healthy, replace the custom with something else that’s better: enjoying art, music, a brisk walk, time with a friend, comedy.
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