BY The journey towards keeping fit and healthy does not hinge entirely on physical activities, in fact, our diet plays a significantly greater role when it comes to achieving and sustaining that desired waistline. Nothing explains the importance of nutrition more succinctly than the 70:30 diet rule. This easy-to-remember concept attributes 70% of the healthy living passage to nutrition and a mere 30% to exercise. It will, thus, be advisable to first place more focus on reevaluating what you tend to put on your plate as opposed to considering what weights to carry in your next workout session.
In this week’s article, I will be discussing some simple ways to overcome undesirable eating habits and pave a way towards adopting a healthy lifestyle that lasts.
Keep a food diary and plan ahead
Nope, not the tedious sort which involves calorie counting or complex nutritional profile analysis. In fact, all that is really required from you is to make a mental summary of the day’s worth of food that has been consumed. Assess the list and pose yourself with these 3 quick questions :
- Am I eating enough fruits and vegetables? (2 servings each per day, as recommended by HPB)
- How sugary was my intake?
- How much of the food was oily and deep fried?
If your answers are generally unfavorable, mentally visualize how you should be planning your intake for the following day, so as to make things better. This simple 5 to 10 minutes daily exercise can have resounding effects, as it makes an individual evaluate the present and make conscious efforts to improve in the future.
Stay committed to the change, one step at a time
Always remember that implementing gradual changes tend to have a more enduring effect in the future. Commit to improve your diet plan by slowly substituting away unhealthy food choices with healthier options. Devise a systematic approach by setting various achievable milestones throughout the weeks to come and stay disciplined in achieving them one at a time. For example, if your goal is to consume more vegetables, start off by adding extra servings to your lunches and gradually extend this to the rest of the other meals.
Conversely, by drastically altering one’s diet over a very short span of time can prove to be daunting and this increases the chances of the person backing out entirely from the program. The crux is to be realistic and do not expect too much too soon. It will take weeks before any new undertaking transforms into a habit.
Keep the junk food out from the house
There is no room for junk in the house, this notion should also apply when it comes to stocking up food at home. If items such as chips, milk chocolate, ice cream, sweet beverages and sugar-coated cookies are removed from the kitchen shelves, no matter how bad a craving, still, you can’t eat them if you don’t have them… right? To add icing to the cake (not literally), by stocking up on healthy wholesome food instead, rest assured that whenever the hunger pang occurs, the only snack that you will be reaching out for will be nutritious bites such as baked nuts, fruits and whole grain bread.
Tell your family and friends about your plans
Do not be secretive about your decision to eat healthy, this is because, the key to successfully curb your bad eating routines might greatly depend on the support from the close ones around you.
For example, like-minded colleagues can encourage each other on and create a culture of healthy eating in the workplace. Family members can also help to change the way home-cooked food is being prepared, such as reducing the use of salt or avoid cooking deep-fried recipes.
This article was re-published with permission from the author. Originally published on Fittener.com, 28th February 2016.
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