Do you try, but never manage to establish a regular and nutritious eating routine ? Well, you are not alone, this is the reality for most people. That’s why we decided to show in this article what the difficulties of adopting a healthy diet are and how to overcome them. Follow along!
What are the difficulties of adopting a healthy diet?
1) Take your stress out on food
Many people take their stress out on food. When they are nervous, they either eat too much or too little. So, how can we improve this?
Emotional eating and other various types of compulsions are often part of a pattern of behavior triggered by a specific experience – a thought, feeling and/or situation.
If you can identify the trigger, you can stop the behavior pattern and make different choices.
Try to understand if the compulsion to eat arises during a situation that generates anxiety , such as:
- After a stressful day at work;
- After an argument with someone you like;
After identifying what is generating the intense desire for food, try to rationalize what is happening before devouring an entire package of cookies.
Ask yourself: “Do I really need to eat or do I just want to kill time or fill another kind of void?”
Writing down what you eat throughout the day can also help you understand whether your hunger is real, your body really needs nutrition, or whether it is just a result of your anxiety.
2) Not planning meals
The truth is that most people have busy routines and don’t plan what they are going to eat, not today, not tomorrow and much less for the rest of the week.
As a result, most decisions are made when hunger strikes and the choice is always made for the easiest, quickest to prepare or even ready-made food .
Whether it is nutritious or not does not matter as there is no time to think about it.
Setting aside a day to plan what you are going to eat during the week is essential for anyone who wants to adopt a healthy diet.
You can, for example, do your grocery shopping on Sunday morning and take advantage of the afternoon to prepare seven days worth of breakfast , lunch and dinner (main meals), storing them in containers and leaving nothing to chance.
3) Eating too fast
Eating too quickly and not chewing enough means your body doesn’t understand that it is full and demands larger amounts of food.
This happens because the stomach does not have time to send signals to the brain that it is full and the person ends up eating more than they need.
Furthermore, eating quickly can cause other problems such as poor digestion, heartburn, gas or a bloated belly, for example.
Chew your food well, eat calmly and consciously. This will generate a feeling of satiety for much longer, which will contribute to a regulated and healthy diet.
4) The irresistible treats
Maybe you like cookies, or chocolate, or anything that’s full of sugar. And usually, it’s not just the sweetness that pleases your taste buds.
It’s a devilishly delicious combination of sugar, fat and salt that makes certain foods almost irresistible. There’s even a special name for them: hyperpalatable .
In fact, food manufacturers use this flavor formula to create products that you won’t stop eating. After all, it’s great for sales.
The biggest challenge with these foods is their availability: they are everywhere, including your pantry. Which makes this one of the main difficulties in adopting a healthy diet.
So remember: if one of these treats is in your house or in your possession, you will eventually eat it.
On the other hand, if a healthy food is nearby you will end up eating it too.
So what would happen if, when you went to the supermarket, you bought fruit for dessert instead of a huge bag of sweets? Try it and see what happens!
5) Not knowing what to put on your plate when “eating out”
There will be days when you won’t be able to prepare your meal or there will be an invitation for lunch or dinner with someone you enjoy being in the company of.
So, what to do in these moments?
With so many temptations on restaurant menus, it’s natural to feel a little tortured and unsure of what choices to make.
First, answer the following questions:
- It’s a special occasion and you want to indulge in the famous “put your foot in the jackfruit”?
- The food is incredible at this restaurant and is it really worth going off your diet?
If the last question is yes, then make the same choices you would make when putting together your meal at home and try to follow these tips :
- Assemble a dish rich in vegetables;
- Choose a lean protein (chicken breast or fish);
- Avoid breaded and fried foods;
- Eat slowly (as noted in topic 3);
- Stop when it is 80% full (as shown in topic 6).
6) Eating more than necessary
Between your parents instructing you to “clean your plate” as a child, the abundance of hyper-palatable foods, and the trays full of options at restaurants, eating more than necessary can seem completely natural.
Eating an appropriately sized meal may seem difficult, at least until you get used to it, and it takes practice.
A simple way to get started:
Eat gently, and stop when you’re 80% full. Do this regardless of how much is still on your plate or how uncomfortable it makes you feel.
This won’t be easy at first, and you may wonder, “Am I 80% full or 70%? “Or am I already 110% full?”
Don’t worry about it, the goal is to gradually become more aware of your body’s signs of satiety. This takes time, and like any skill, you improve with practice.
7) Lack of time
In fact, this topic is related to all the previous ones, since if you don’t have time :
- This generates anxiety, which makes you eat what you shouldn’t and in excess;
- You go long hours without eating and when you go to eat you overdo it because you are very hungry;
- When you find a little time in your schedule to eat, you don’t think about whether what you’re going to eat is healthy, you choose what’s most practical;
- He eats too quickly because he needs to get back to his tasks.
And this is something that is absolutely understandable when we take into account the busy routine of most people.
You deserve some time to relax, and if that means ordering food from an app so you can sink into your couch for at least 30 minutes, that’s totally fine. Just don’t let this become the rule rather than the exception.
Starting to adopt a healthy diet is complicated, it requires patience, dedication, discipline and time. But it’s completely possible if you really want to change your habits.
You don’t need to start doing everything at once. For example, if you’re preparing zero meals right now, can you find time to prepare at least one a week? If you’re preparing two meals, could you find time to make three?
Discover your rhythm, start doing what you are capable of now. Even though it doesn’t seem like much, you will already be taking an important step towards a healthier life.
This is how real, lasting transformation happens: one small step at a time, not trying to change everything overnight.
Now that you know what the difficulties of adopting a healthy diet are and how to overcome them, make an effort, within your time and conditions, to adopt a healthier lifestyle!