Healthy Eating | How to Improve Your Eating Habits

Healthy Eating

 Healthy Eating:When it comes to eating, we all have deep-rooted habits. Some are good ("I always have my breakfast") and others not so good ("I always leave the plate clean"). Although we have acquired many eating habits since childhood, it does not mean that it is too late to change them.

Sudden and radical changes in eating habits, such as not eating more than cabbage soup, can lead to short-term weight loss. But these exaggerated changes are neither healthy nor good and will not help in the long term. To permanently improve eating habits, an approach is needed in which to Reflect, Replace and Reinforce.

• REFLECT about all your eating habits, both good and bad, as well as the things that trigger your eating in an unhealthy way.
• REPLACE your unhealthy eating habits with healthier ones.
• STRENGTHEN your new eating habits.

Reflect, Replace and Reinforce: A Process to Improve Your Eating Habits

1.Make a list of your eating habits. Keeping a “food diary” for a few days where you write down everything you eat and the time you do it will help you discover your habits. For example, you may realize that you always want something sweet when you feel your energy down in the middle of the afternoon. Use menu planning [PDF-34KB] to prepare the list. It's good to note how he felt when he decided to eat, especially if he wasn't hungry. Was I tired or stressed?

2.Underline the habits on the list that are causing you to eat more than necessary. Eating habits that can often lead to weight gain are:

• Eat very fast
• Eat everything that is served from the plate
• Eat when you are not hungry
• Eat standing (can make you eat without thinking about what you eat or very fast)
• Always eat dessert
• Skipping meals (or just breakfast)

3.Check the unhealthy eating habits you have underlined. Be sure to identify all the factors that trigger those habits. Identify some of the ones you will try to change first. Be sure to congratulate yourself on the things you do well. Maybe you almost always eat dessert fruit or drink low-fat or defatted milk. These are good habits! By recognizing your achievements you will be motivated to make more changes.

4.Create a list of “triggers” by reviewing your food diary, you will be more aware of where and when “triggers” arise for eating without being hungry. Write down how you usually feel on those occasions. Often an environmental "trigger" or a particular mood is what drives us to eat without being hungry. Common triggers that drive you to eat when you are not hungry:

• Open a drawer and find your favorite snack.
• Sit at home to watch TV.
• Before or after a meeting or a stressful situation at work.
• Get home from work and have no idea what you will eat.
• Somebody offer you a dish that made "just for you"!
• Pass in front of a sweet dish on a counter.
• Sit in the work room near the candy or snack vending machine.
• See a plate of donuts in the morning during a work meeting.
• Spend every morning at the window of your favorite fast food restaurant.
• Feeling bored or tired and thinking that eating something will cheer you up.

5.Circle the "triggers" on the list you face daily or weekly. Meeting with your family on Thanksgiving can be a “trigger” for eating too much. It would be nice to have a plan ready to counteract these factors. But for now, focus on the ones you have most often.

Healthy Eating

6.Ask yourself the following for each “trigger” factor you have marked in a circle:

• Is there anything I can do to avoid this trigger or this situation? This option works best with some triggers that are independent of others. For example, could you take a different path to work to avoid stopping at your favorite fast food restaurant? Is there another place in the work room where you can sit that is not near the vending machine?
• Of the things I can't avoid, can I do something different that is healthier? Obviously, you cannot avoid all situations that trigger unhealthy eating habits, such as work meetings. Under these circumstances, evaluate your options. Could you suggest or bring snacks and healthy drinks? Could you offer to take notes to distract your attention from those snacks? Could you sit further away from food so that it is not easy for you to grab something? Could you eat a healthy snack before the meeting?

7.Replace unhealthy habits with new healthy habits. For example: when you reflect on your eating habits, you might realize that you eat too fast when you are alone. To counter this, agree to have lunch every week with a co-worker or invite a neighbor to dinner one night a week. Other strategies may be to place the cutlery on the plate between snacks or minimize other distractions (such as watching the news at dinner time) with which we cannot pay attention to the time it takes to eat or the amount of food.

Here are more ideas to replace unhealthy habits:

• Eat more slowly. If you eat very fast, it may be that you finish all the food on the plate without realizing that it was already filled.
• Eat only when you are really hungry, instead of eating because you are tired, distraught or with any other mood. If you realize that you are not eating hungry but because you feel bored or distressed, start doing something else that does not involve eating. You might feel better with a quick walk or phone a friend.
• Plan meals in time to make sure they will be healthy and well balanced.

8.Reinforce your new healthy habits and be patient with yourself. Habits are formed over time, they are not adopted overnight. When you see that you are practicing an unhealthy habit, stop quickly and ask yourself: Why am I doing this? When did I start doing it? What do I need to change? Don't be too hard on yourself or think that a mistake will ruin a whole day of healthy habits. You can do it! You can do it one day at a time!

Read Also:7 Habits for Life and Healthy Lifestyle