5 Healthy Eating Habits To Implement For Fast & Long Lasting Results

Healthy eating can be one of the hardest aspects to a health & fitness journey. You can conquer exercise and smash out an amazing workout but if you are coming home and snacking on processed foods, take outs and binge eating that will all go to waste. The main reason that people eat unhealthy foods is because they don't know what else to do. Some don't know what kind of foods are carbs, fats & proteins, some don't know when to eat or even how much ! You receive so much information from different sources that you can become so confused and overwhelmed.

Some implement changes that end up being short term, short term change = short term results = back to square one. This can leave you feeling defeated, disheartened and can cause some people to give up all together. I am here to tell you that you don't need any more 'diets', you should enjoy eating and feel refreshed and healthy AFTER you eat. You shouldn't need to cut out food groups or deny yourself those little treats you enjoy. However, you should learn healthy eating habits that keep your eating enjoyable, healthy and manageable for the long term.

Here are a few eating habits which, once you've made them part of your routine, will have you set up for life.

1. Focus on adding healthy foods rather than just taking away

2. Buy a healthy recipe book for ideas and cook for yourself

3. Pack and plan your meals ahead

4. Don't skip or delay meals

5. Make healthy eating fun and pleasurable not a chore.

1. Focus On Adding Healthy Foods Rather Than Just Taking Away

When we start our health and fitness journey the first thing most tend to do is cut out all the unhealthy food and go completely cold turkey. The thing is, it almost always never works. When you have been so stuck in a routine for so long it becomes hard to strip away from (just like implementing healthy habits is hard to learn) so when learning how to eat healthy try to add in more healthy foods instead. When you start adding in more wholesome wholefoods they tend to provide you with the nutrients you need to give you the satisfying feeling of being fuller for longer. When this happens your appetite is content and you won't feel the urge to continue eating. You will also find that when you start experiencing those healthy side effects of eating well you won't want to touch those unhealthy foods because you will want to feel more healthy, fit, happy and clean so you will eat foods that can do that for you.

2. Buy A Healthy Recipe Book

Buying a healthy recipe book can provide so many benefits that you will enjoy. You can buy hard copies or even e-books and you can pretty much find them anywhere ! For one, they provide excellent ideas for meal prepping that are quick and easy and when you are an on the go busy mumma that is what you need ! Not only is it easy to use and great for meal prep ideas it also shows you how many calories are in each meal and the nutritional information. You can use this to count your daily calorie intake and use that as a building block that you need to improve your health and eating habits.

3. Pack and Plan Your Meals Ahead

At the end of the day we can all feel drained, fatigued and just down right have no energy. We are hungry but with little motivation to get up and do something about it we usually opt for take-out or sometimes even nothing. A busy schedule is one of the top reasons people never implement healthy eating or exercise habits. That is why planning and packing your meals ahead of time is a MAJOR necessity! Imagine you finish work you feel tired and just don't have any energy to cook dinner, that is fine ! Because by meal prepping you can have a delicious home-cooked meal in front of you within minutes. With hectic weekday schedules, meal prepping and planning is a great tool to implement as a healthy eating habit. You can do it different each week or keep it the same, there is no right or wrong way to go about it.

Not only does packing and planning your meal ahead of time help with eating healthy it can also save you money, help you time manage, help with weight control and can even reduce stress and avoid rushing.

4. Don't Skip Or Delay Meals

This one should be a no brainer but so many people forget to eat or just simply don't because of either time, beliefs that it helps their weight loss, or just having nothing to eat. When you skip or delay meals you are doing your body a disservice. You become more irritable, your bodies metabolism slows down, and once you do have time to eat or feel like eating you most likely will binge. Ignoring your hunger can make you focus more on food and how much you want to eat. When you do this your bodies blood sugar drops and then you start missing out on key nutrients you need. I mean, how are you going to have the energy to get through the day when your fuel tank is completely empty ?

Take a note from healthy habit #3 and plan ahead. This can be a great preventative measure to take in order to stop delaying or skipping meals. Eating will help your weight loss journey not hinder it.

5. Make Healthy Eating Fun And Pleasurable Not A Chore

For some bizarre reason healthy eating has this dark cloud of judgement over it. You go out to eat with your friends you say no to dessert and you get slack for it, you try to take the time out to meal prep and suddenly everyone needs you and finds that what you are doing isn't important enough.

Eating should be one of lifes greatest pleasures and yet our mindset around eating healthy is so poor. If we want our health journey to be enjoyable we need to change our mindset around that. Instead of comparing the actual food to each other, let's say chocolate and fruit, compare the nutrients, the health benefits and the emotions behind eating either of these. You will find you choose the apple and you will feel better for it. Continue to be excited about every meal you eat, choose foods that you enjoy and provide nutrients you need, cook meals that challenge you in a good way and work with new ingredients you may have never even heard of before. Keep it new, exciting and fresh. This is what will make you look forward to eating healthy !

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And just like that it is the end of another blog post. I hope you all enjoyed this one and if you have any topics you would like me to discuss feel free to message our FIT4U Training Facebook Page and let me know !

- Maraea