Did you know there are a TON of factors that influence your daily eating habits?
Let’s start with the influences from your childhood years as this was when you started to explore your relationship with food.
This relationship may have been good or bad because of certain limits like food allergies and food intolerances. It could have also been impacted by budget restrictions and other cultural, religious or moral restrictions.
Fast forward to your teenage years. You may have developed a preference for certain flavors and types of food. This can mean spicy food, junk food, sweet snacks, or an unhealthy chocolate obsession.
Then you’re gonna mix those preferences in with your lifestyle habits. These mainly include:
- How much you eat
- What kind of food you eat
- How the food is prepared
- Your cooking skills
- The time of day that you eat
- How you think about food logically and emotionally
Those are just a few of the things that have influenced your eating habits.
Usually, most people don’t realize that they have bad eating habits until they have lost or gained a lot of weight due to unhealthy eating habits and they want to change that.
Other times, we successfully make the switch to a healthier diet, only to realize later on that we’ve lost the part of our identity that we’ve attached to food.
That makes it so much easier to lose progress and revert to old patterns.
Personally, I discovered that I had no problems going on a healthier diet because I like cooking and I found some good recipes to work with.
In the weeks when I couldn’t be bothered to cook, my slow cooker and other meal prep ideas on Pinterest always came through for me.
With baking, however, it was a different story. In my social group, I was the friend who was always baking and my friends loved when I made pastries for them. This changed when I decided to change my philosophy on food. Why?
Ever tried making pizza dough with only wheat flour? (It was ok but different) Or tried making chocolate chip cookies with whole wheat flour and coconut oil instead of butter? (I still shudder at the memory of that one)
I’m still working on getting some of the recipes right because I like being ‘the friend who bakes’, but the experience has shown me how much of my social identity and my emotions were tied to food.
Baking muffins at 1 am and then eating them all in a day isn’t good, no matter how healthy they are.
This leads perfectly to the big issue.
What are some bad eating habits?
There is a multitude of sins that we commit when we approach the subject of food. Instead of creating a never-ending list, however, we’re going to look at the main eating habits related to over-eating.
Most common eating habits:
- Mindless eating (during movies, etc)
- Binge eating
- Late night eating
- Emotional eating
- Constant snacking through the day
- Skipping meals
These eating habits are often so integrated into our lives that we hardly see the effects until much later. By taking the first step, we can start being more mindful of how and what we eat.
How can we improve our eating habits?
The two steps to improve your eating habits include clarity and preparation.
1. Clarity
This is where you start because, in order to make effective change, you have to know:
- What you are doing
- Why you are doing it
As I said earlier, your current eating habits were years in the making, so it’s unfair to yourself to expect to change them overnight. Some days, you’ll completely forget about your new healthy eating goals. Other days, you’ll be too tired to care.
This is where willpower, emotions, and intentions get tangled.
The Battle Between Emotions and Intentions
First of all, setting the intention to eat healthily is a great place to start. Like all great feats, it starts in the mind and then manifests in your actions.
But for us humans, we’re tricky.
We are the greatest salesperson in the company of our minds, and we can sell ourselves on an idea if the right emotion is present. You know exactly what I’m talking about.
Remember that time when you managed to convince yourself that you’ll just have one more slice of pizza or one more spoonful of ice cream?
Remember when that pack of chips was supposed to last for the entire journey? And the muffins were supposed to last for the entire week?
But those things didn’t happen because you convinced yourself that eating (insert your craving here) at that moment in time was the right thing to do.
Related: How I Went Sugar-Free For 3 Months
Start to Get Clear
To find out which of the habits you are guilty of, you can use a note-taking app on your phone to keep track of what you eat daily.
It’s also a good idea to note the time that you are eating and to use one word (happy, bored, lonely, tired) to describe how you are feeling at that moment.
Here are some free apps you can use:
- Camera (take the photo if you can’t stop to write it down)
- Journey
- Morning pages
- Google Keep
- Evernote
- Any kind of memo app
It’s important to record every meal so that you can really see where the patterns emerge. After you have your journal entries, you’re going to sit with them and ask yourself some questions. Be honest with yourself.
Some questions to ask:
- Was this meal the best option available to me?
- Why did I choose to have it?
- Is it going to help me to achieve my health goals?
- How hungry was I?
- Aside from hunger, what emotion was I feeling?
- Did I impulse buy (or make) this?
- How did my body feel 1 hour after I had this meal?
After you answer these questions, move on to the next step.
2. Preparation
In your food journal, make a list of the eating habits that you have identified.
For example:
- Do you eat really quickly, only to realize that you are too stuffed to move 15 minutes after eating?
- Do you always convince yourself to buy a pastry each time you go into a coffee shop?
- Do you buy snacks for the pantry and then eat them all within a day?
- Did you eat the entire ice cream because you felt depressed?
Let’s say that you have a problem with eating too quickly.
A good habit is to get a smaller plate of food and eat slowly. If you’re sure that you’re still hungry after that, have some more. Then stop eating as soon as you are full.
Suffer from impulsive buying in the pastry shop?
Bring the exact change to the store and don’t bring your credit card. Even better? Make your coffee at home.
Or how about constant snacking?
Limit the number of snacks that you purchase, healthy or not. If you purchase 3 kale chips and eat them all in 1 day, you’ll decide that you’re not having any more until the next week.
It’s all about discipline.
You can also find healthier late night snacks or healthy office snacks for healthier munching.
Examples aside, it’s always a good idea to plan and prepare for your meals in advance.
Look at your weekly calendar to identify which days you have to leave home early, travel, go to an event, etc. You can plan meals and snacks with your lifestyle in mind.
Some habits can be a quick fix, like buying healthier foods and planning your meals. Others, like processing negative emotions in healthy, non-food related way, will take more time.
5 Healthy Eating Habits to Start
Related: 11 Real Reasons Why you’re Not Losing Weight
1. Change the way you see food
This is the most important one. Do you view food as fuel or as an emotional crutch? Food should be used primarily as fuel and nourishment, with a healthy amount of pleasure and community mixed in. It should not be used primarily for pleasure and emotional healing.
2. Plan your meals
How are you going to start eating healthier? Will you plan your meals to achieve your health goals and then grocery shop accordingly?
If you are too tired, You can utilize a service like this healthy meal planning service* to take care of the planning for you.
Or you can use a meal delivery service like Blue Apron* if you are still trying to figure out what meals to cook and what the portion sizes are for you and your family.
Also plan ahead for snacks and any events that may come up. It may sound like a lot, but it’s just taking an extra 10 minutes to do some research and adding the items to your shopping list.
Here are some resources to help you out:
3. Prepare for cravings
If you did the journal exercise, you may have seen some foods that you eat more often than you should. Don’t give them up cold turkey, but limit them and try to find other healthy foods that you can eat instead. Fruits can be a better option.
Also, have some healthy snacks on hand so you can reduce the urge to impulse buy when you get hungry.
Don’t be afraid of what people might say if you start eating a cheese string or a protein bar that you tucked in your purse. It’s your body and you’re doing what is best.
4. Start with breakfast
I know that some people can’t stand food early in the morning, and I’m not about to tell you to change that. We consider breakfast to be the first meal of the day, so don’t skip that meal, and make it healthy and balanced. If you still end up missing it because you’re in a hurry, go back to habit #2. A healthy breakfast also sets the tone for the rest of the day.
5. Only eat when you’re hungry
This one speaks for itself. You don’t need to be snacking throughout the entire movie or any other activity that you are doing. If you decide to do that, however, try to go for the lowest carb options that are available so they don’t negatively impact your goals.
RECAP
Food fuels your body, your brain, and your lifestyle. Bad eating habits also impact those three things, so it’s up to you to start being more mindful of the thing’s your putting into your body and the purpose they serve.
Don’t expect to start to become a master at healthy eating. Start small, with one meal and add habits until you master your entire day.
Remember, the best time to start is now, and every new day is a new opportunity to start over.
Get your food journal and start today!
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